July and August, 2009 Gardening Tips

Plants on Windowsills

(Submitted by Aletha)

Did you know when the outdoor temp falls and you have Plants on your windowsills if the leaves touch the window they could freeze and damage the plant? One way to avoid that happening is to do one or two things.

1. You can put Bubble Wrap between the plant and the glass.
2. At night place a cardboard between the plant and the glass.

Natural Mosquito Repellents

(Submitted by Kythera Ann)

Citronella: The old standby-use only pure essential oil of citronella-not fragrance oil. Oils purchased in bulk for burning are not adequate for applying topically to your skin. For your skin it is best to get a high quality citronella essential oil from a natural food store.

Soy oil: The New England Journal of Medicine reported that natural repellents made of soybean oil are just as effective as DEET-containing repellents. Soy oil is inexpensive and easy to find, making it an excellent choice. Plus, it is an excellent body moisturiser. As an aside, research shows that an ingredient in soy can slow the growth of body hair when applied topically.

Catnip: An Iowa State University research group showed that the essential oil found in the herb catnip is about 10 times more effective than DEET in repelling mosquitoes in the laboratory.

NEEM seed oil: Or "neem oil" is extracted from a plant that grows in India. An ingredient in Neem seed oil has also been found to be more effective than DEET by researchers at the Malaria Institute in India. Both the US National Research Council and the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association have confirmed this finding.

Lavender essential oil: Smells great and is a commonly used and effective mosquito repellent. It also repels them when in bloom, so plant it around your outdoor activity areas.

Garlic: Eat lots of fresh garlic-mosquitoes can't stand the stuff. Also planting it near the patio, when it blooms the fragrance drives all the mosquitoes away from the area! I planted the river bank next to my home in the redwood forest with garlic. Worked like a charm!

Gutter Gardening

(Submitted by Aletha)

Have no space to grow plants? You go to the hardware store buy some gutters and put leaves or soil in them as a base for direct planting of your seeds. Now you can mount these to the wall of your house, garage or fence for beautiful gutter gardens. You can grow vegetable micro greens, what are micro greens? They are the first leafy growth of plants like cauliflower, peas, cabbage, arugula, radishes, and mustard plants, for example.

Look you can harvest these in a month's time and you can incorporate them into salads, stews or soups; add them to Pizza, dips and home made bread, wow now that's a good thing.

To give you an idea of how this looks just click here.

         

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