More interesting planting techniques ………….
Ice Cubes
Ice cubes are a great little mini quick fix irrigation system. You may have just planted your hanging baskets or your containers and it’s a blistering hot day and you need to go out. Perhaps you are worried the plants will dry out, all you need to do is get hold of a carrier bag, and again you can get these free from most markets.
Poke the bag to make a couple of holes in the base of the carrier bag, put in your ice cubes, tie a knot and rest it on the surface of the soil. Make sure of course that the ice cubes don’t touch any of the plants and as the day progresses and the heat rises they slowly melt and provide that essential amount of water to keep you plants growing. All for free.
Oranges
I love oranges. They give my fish a great deal of fun. I cut them in half and bob them fleshy side down on the surface of the water. The fish come in suck the vitamin C out, it almost looks as if they’re playing football with each other, a great deal of fun and a bit of nutrition for the fish.
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is a great leaf shine because most mayonnaise consists of an egg white; it does add a gloss. For your cheese and rubber plants, begin with a wipe over the houseplant leaves using a damp cloth, then apply the mayonnaise over the top of the leaf very thinly and it does shine up the plant a treat.
Beer
Beer is pretty good in three ways.
One, you can actually use beer as a foliar feed for house plants, particularly any glossy leaved houseplants.
Dip a little beer and wipe the underside of the leaf that is taken up by the stomacher which the plant pours and actively becomes a foliar feed.
Two, you can fill half a cup with beer; you can pick these free cups up from most Starbucks or Costa Coffee, and sink the cup into the soil. It is like a dinner bell for slugs and snails, they are attracted to the beer, and they fall down into the beer and drown. What a way to go!
Finally, if you’ve designed your garden and you are standing out there and surveying the scene and you don’t like it. Drink a lot of beer and I can tell you the garden looks one heck of a lot better.
Cat food
Cat food is another great carer for the garden. Basically it’s not for the cat but putting a few bowls out of cat food can help in a variety of ways.
One, it does attract hedgehogs; and hedgehogs are fantastic because they eat loads and loads of slugs and snails. Frogs and toads also devour slugs and snails. So by having little frog and toad boxes in the garden also helps to fight against slugs and snails.
Secondly, you can also put the cat food into a bowl and place it into the garden and it does attract all the slugs and snails to eat the cat food itself. All you need to do then is collect them all up and tip them into the bin.
Plasters
If you get a break in a Geranium branch that is really a structural plant itself, you can tease it back together again. Add a plaster around the outside and in some circumstances it does aid the plant to re-seal itself.
Read some more of my light hearted tips.
Unusual Planting Techniques – Part 1 »
Unusual Planting Techniques – Part 2 »
Unusual Planting Techniques – Part 3 »
