Useful tidbits. Tips anyone?

@Deb: I can't believe you never poked your eye... it's happened to me so many times... Maybe I should look out better when picking a fruit or doing anything in the garden, but I know myself...this helps, and it looks cute too.
Watch your eyes!

Old soda/pop bottles as plant clotchs for young seedling transplants

Hi,

I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned using venetian blinds as garden tags. Cut a piece with cheap scissors and use a pencil or sharpie marker. Bamboo makes makes a good support for bean tee pees. Use zip ties to hold it together. Boiling water will kill weeds in your garden path, upon contact (thus making it very satisfying.)

Patty from Yorktown

I've been grabbing a few extra bamboo chopsticks everytime i get chinese or sushi. I have quite a collection now which makes great plant markers for my seedling pots. Traditional markers are just too big. Just gotta write small.

darn, I felt so brilliant using clear nail polish and was going to suggest it. Oh, well, I should feel happy that I am not alone in the world as the only brilliant person.

Maybe it's not a Tip or trick, but if you keep a journal of your activities and when you did them, you'll have a tremendous aid you can refer back to time and again to refresh or remember specifics and special items which can aid in becoming a better gardener and a steward of the land...

rds1955 wrote:Maybe it's not a Tip or trick, but if you keep a journal of your activities and when you did them, you'll have a tremendous aid you can refer back to time and again to refresh or remember specifics and special items which can aid in becoming a better gardener and a steward of the land...

Wow, I think that's the best tip yet. Larry Sagars, probably the most well known master gardener in my area, likes to say something along the lines of how a dull pencil beats out a sharp mind. Write down what you do at the beginning of the season, and then if all goes well (or bad) you know for sure what you did.

Amy in Idaho wrote:I love the feedback! I especially like the idea of laminating a grid and keeping it in a ziplock next to SFG. Saw an awesome idea today: plastic spoons as plant markers, write on the back. So much cheaper.

Amy in Idaho,
Thanks for the tip on spoons. I used it today. As I am new to this, I am trying to document what I do for future use. I was able to use a sharpie and write the date, veggie, plant or seed and how many I planted.

As for laminating a grid, do you write on it before you laminate it or do you use a dry erase marker after?

Jim

I actually use a WET erase marker after. Just make sure that you are able to wet wipe it off. Some markers/laminated papers work better than other

Hi Jim, good idea keeping a log. I have read that is several threads. Wish I had done it when I first started gardening. This year I am. Laminated grid idea was chocolatepop's. I thought it was great, help me remember what I planted where.

I love the ideas. I use many of them.

Deer deterent....Hang deodorant soap (like Irish Spring....must contain tallow) in net bags or used onion bags, from stakes or fence posts around garden and dwarf fruit trees. It worked for me.
Also take the hair from your dog's brush and clip it to a pole or fence with a clothespin for the same purpose.

Plant markers....I use the venetian blinds, but I also cut plastic foodstuff lids in strips to stick in small seedling pots.

Cutworm collars from a toothpick. Break toothpick iin half and spear into soil on either side of your seedling's stem right up against the stem itself. The cutworm can't wrap around the stem.

Electroculture....Bury tin cans to an inch of their tops, with 2 or 3 small holes punched in the bottom (I use a screwdriver and a hammer) among your plants, fill them with dried manure, compost or alfalfa pellets as a fertilizer boost, fill with water. Each time it rains your crops get a feeding. I understand the electricity in the air during a rainstorm can boost the size and yield of your plants. I'm going to try it this year so I'll let you know how well that idea works.

If you are having, or have ever had problems with your corn pollinating, use a big paper grocery bag to hang over the tassel. Shake the plant by the stalk, remove the bag, then repeat on the next stalk. The pollen falls and is a little closer to the silk when the breeze, if any, catches it.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to share these great tips. I'm sure some of them weren't easy to come by (poked eyes especially) and took much trial and error. Your efforts are educating all of us; especially the newbies, like me.

I tried the milk crates over my sunflower seedlings, but some chimpmunk or squirrel genius' still got to them. I started with 12 and am down to just 5. Here's my tip: put them on a high roof with no nearby trees!

I dug out my old mini-blinds and am going to cut them into nice replacement plant-markers for the caked-on-dirty-rotting ice-pop sticks that are ready for the compost bin.

Large plastic tubs from store-bought salad mixes make nice tall covers in cool weather. They already saved my sprouts in 33 degrees! If they work well enough in the SFG, I won't be buying any more salad mixes until next winter!