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Moonshadows Organic Garden Witchery Tips For The Organic Garden Witch Plant garlic cloves (just one or two) among rose bushes. Many herbs, such as hyssop, sage, dill, lavender and thyme discourage aphids if planted near to susceptible plants. Nasturtiums prevent woolly aphids infesting apple trees if planted at the base (probably more so if encouraged to grow up the tree). If you have all of the nasturtiums eaten by cabbage white caterpillars, just think of the butterflies you're helping to grow. Deterring Rabbits - A liberal planting of fox gloves around a vegetable garden is meant to guarantee a rabbit-free area (maybe its all the foxes that come around to try the gloves on). They also have an aversion to onions, so a vegetable plot with lots of them around will deter rabbits also. Alternatively you go down the sacrificial plant route and plant some dill in your borders to protect the vulnerable young shoots of many perennials. The idea is that the rabbits ignore the less tasty offerings and go straight for their favourite food. Not sure what happens when they go off to fetch their mates though. Rhubarb soap - shred a couple of pounds of rhubarb leaves into a couple of pints of water and boil for half an hour (don't use your best pan, these leaves contain oxalic acid and whereas it might be ok, I wouldn't risk the cooks wrath!). Strain the liquid, mix in two ounces of soap dissolved in another pint of water. Spray only healthy plants as prevention and affected plants to help get rid of infestations. Nettle manure - Steep stinging nettles (as many as you can) in a bucket of water for about 5 days. Dilute this 1 + 5 with water and spray on plants as a preventative. Gardening Thrift Recycling reduces waste and conserves natural resources by making better use of what we already have. Re-using is the simplest form of recycling and very 'green'. It may just be a matter of choosing re-usable products over disposables - pump action sprayers can be refilled, for example, whereas aerosols cannot. Plastic pots can be re-used indefinitely, but if you have more than you need, you should spread your re-using net to see if someone else locally can make use of them. Re-use also includes finding new uses for waste materials. This is something gardeners excel at, whether it's growing seedlings in yogurt pots, using old windows to make a coldframe or finding new uses for old railway sleepers and discarded pallets. Recycling also involves breaking down one lot of products or materials, so they can be made into something different. Composting is the classic example, making the nutrients tied up in plant and animal waste available to plants again. Plastics can be recycled from, say, coffee cups into garden benches, and waste wool made into hanging basket liners. Ideas For Recycling In The Witches Garden Make imaginative use of discarded containers to grow plants - anything that will hold compost and has drainage holes can be used. Car tyres can be piled up and filled with compost to grow flowers or vegetables - they're great for cascades of nasturtiums, or for easy access potato crops - and let you grow plants even in a concrete yard. Expanded polystyrene packaging can be broken up and used as crocks in containers. If you are putting lots of small plants into large pots you could fill half the container with polystyrene and save compost too, as well as cutting down on weight. Re-use grey water from baths, clothes washing etc for watering garden plants or washing plastic pots. Use unwanted CDs and audio or video tape to add to your repertoire of bird scarers - move or change them often for maximum effect. Grow your own products for reuse. Many shrubs including buddleia and philadelphus provide strong straight shoots which make perfect supports for herbaceous perennials. Hedge prunings can make twiggy pea sticks and willow, dogwood or hazel can make tripods to support climbers such as sweet peas, clematis or runner beans, or be woven into cottage garden-style edging to prevent plants flopping. Save your own seed, and share with others. Reuse newspaper - use several layers as a short term mulch, weighted down with soil, rip it up and mix it into soggy compost to increase aeration, even try making your own biodegradable plant pots - get a pot maker from the Organic Gardening Catalogue 01932 253666. Vegetable trays from supermarkets can be used to store fruit, vegetables and bulbs and for drying pea and bean pods. Look out for robust stacking trays to store small tools and sundries, and shallow ones for use as seed trays. Plastic drinks bottles can be cut up to make mini-cloches, slug-protection rings, funnels and scoops for compost or fertiliser. Larger sizes of water bottles make perfect individual cloches or covers for seed trays. Re-use potting compost by adding it to the compost heap, or digging it directly into the soil where you want to add organic matter without adding nutrients. Use it for permanent container plants mixed 50:50 with garden soil or for short term planting, revitalised with a little grit or perlite to improve structure (a couple of handfuls to a bucketful) plus some slow release fertiliser. Film canisters make great seed storage containers, or discreet cane toppers to protect your eyes. Old carpet makes a comfy kneeler - a strip a couple of metres long means you don't have to keep moving it - and allows you to weed with a friend. Old carpet can also be used to smother weeds, make semi-permanent paths in veg plots or to keep maturing compost warm. |
