Sunday, April 27, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Natural Garden Care
Creeping Charlie
Creeping Charlie believe it or not can be used as an herbal medicine. It works to clear up inflamed eyes and it is also used to help stop ringing in the ears!
There are only two ways that I know of to get rid of creeping charlie. The method that you use depends on how much of it you have. If you can, just pull up as much as you can and then overseed the area with grass seed. the grass should overcrowd it and prevent it from growing back. You will get some coming back but nearly as much as you had before.
The problem is, creeping charlie can have roots that are 2 feet long so you can never get the whole thing out. Overseeding works but you may have to pull everything out two or three times before you can get rid of all of it. The second way works but it is kind of an extreme method. You use Borax and make a mixture using water. If you spray it on the creeping charlie, it will kill it. The problem is with this method is that nothing but grass will grow where you spray the Borax. Borax wont damage the grass either, the active ingredient in Borax is Boron and creeping charlie is very sensitive to it, grass is not.
If you have the time and patience, I would pull the creeping charlie and reseed right away, soon enough it should be gone !!Or else, just take five teaspoons full of 20 mule team borax and mix it in a quart of water and spray away. The quart should cover about 25 square feet and then you can say good bye to Charlie !!
Cucumber Beetle
They can be controlled fairly easily. Cucumber beetle can be repelled by plants and herbs, i dont know what you have around the yard but the following plants and herbs will repel the cucumber beetle so pick out whicever is best for your garden, Broccoli, calendula, catnip, goldenrod, nasturtiums, radishes, rue and tansy. The really pungent varieties of Marigolds will work too, if you want to use those then get some of the African, french or Mexican varieties and those should work.
Weeds
Weeds are easy to get rid of. I dont know how many weeds you are trying to get rid of so I will give you several options and each of them will work. if it is one or two stubborn weeds you are trying to get rid of and they just keep growing back then you could pour vinegar on them and they WILL die. Table salt works too but I have always had good luck with vinegar. For one or two weeds you can also pour boiling water right on the weed and that WILL kill it too. But....if there are several weeds growing there then you are better off making up a great home made weed killer. You take a sprayer or a spray bottle and in it you mix one litre of boiling water, 5 tablespoons of vinegar, 6 tablespoons of salt, one tablespoon of lemon juice and two teaspoons of dishwashing liquid, the kind for the machine washers is best. Then you shake it all up and spray it on the weeds and within two days they will all be dead. The best thing to do is to add all the ingredients in the bottle first and then add the boiling water, and then spray right away, the temperature of the water is very important. This formula WILL work
Ants
Actually, ants are really easy things to get rid of, the sage works great !! you can also sprinkle some cinnamon around too and that will add an extra layer of protection but the sage will work great all by itself ! About the bleeding hearts, i have pink and white bleeding hearts, the pink can take the sun better than the white but bith are primarily shade plants. The thing about bleeding hearts is that the soil has to be just righ for the plants to be happy. Heavy, dense, clay is what they hate.
If your soil isnt right then just mix in some peat moss and a little sand to help drainage and the plant will thrive. Bleeding hearts are very sensitive to water and bad soil conditions. Never let the water pool up around the base of the plant either. Are your plants blooming at all? if they are then they are not dead, after they bloom, they will fade away and die off about halfway through the summer, that is just what they do. The have their moment of glory and then go away for the summer and that is too bad because they are so pretty, but if you are not having any luck with them, the odds are that the soil needs to be worked to make it less dense and to improve the drainage.
Creeping Charlie believe it or not can be used as an herbal medicine. It works to clear up inflamed eyes and it is also used to help stop ringing in the ears!
There are only two ways that I know of to get rid of creeping charlie. The method that you use depends on how much of it you have. If you can, just pull up as much as you can and then overseed the area with grass seed. the grass should overcrowd it and prevent it from growing back. You will get some coming back but nearly as much as you had before.
The problem is, creeping charlie can have roots that are 2 feet long so you can never get the whole thing out. Overseeding works but you may have to pull everything out two or three times before you can get rid of all of it. The second way works but it is kind of an extreme method. You use Borax and make a mixture using water. If you spray it on the creeping charlie, it will kill it. The problem is with this method is that nothing but grass will grow where you spray the Borax. Borax wont damage the grass either, the active ingredient in Borax is Boron and creeping charlie is very sensitive to it, grass is not.
If you have the time and patience, I would pull the creeping charlie and reseed right away, soon enough it should be gone !!Or else, just take five teaspoons full of 20 mule team borax and mix it in a quart of water and spray away. The quart should cover about 25 square feet and then you can say good bye to Charlie !!
Cucumber Beetle
They can be controlled fairly easily. Cucumber beetle can be repelled by plants and herbs, i dont know what you have around the yard but the following plants and herbs will repel the cucumber beetle so pick out whicever is best for your garden, Broccoli, calendula, catnip, goldenrod, nasturtiums, radishes, rue and tansy. The really pungent varieties of Marigolds will work too, if you want to use those then get some of the African, french or Mexican varieties and those should work.
Weeds
Weeds are easy to get rid of. I dont know how many weeds you are trying to get rid of so I will give you several options and each of them will work. if it is one or two stubborn weeds you are trying to get rid of and they just keep growing back then you could pour vinegar on them and they WILL die. Table salt works too but I have always had good luck with vinegar. For one or two weeds you can also pour boiling water right on the weed and that WILL kill it too. But....if there are several weeds growing there then you are better off making up a great home made weed killer. You take a sprayer or a spray bottle and in it you mix one litre of boiling water, 5 tablespoons of vinegar, 6 tablespoons of salt, one tablespoon of lemon juice and two teaspoons of dishwashing liquid, the kind for the machine washers is best. Then you shake it all up and spray it on the weeds and within two days they will all be dead. The best thing to do is to add all the ingredients in the bottle first and then add the boiling water, and then spray right away, the temperature of the water is very important. This formula WILL work
Ants
Actually, ants are really easy things to get rid of, the sage works great !! you can also sprinkle some cinnamon around too and that will add an extra layer of protection but the sage will work great all by itself ! About the bleeding hearts, i have pink and white bleeding hearts, the pink can take the sun better than the white but bith are primarily shade plants. The thing about bleeding hearts is that the soil has to be just righ for the plants to be happy. Heavy, dense, clay is what they hate.
If your soil isnt right then just mix in some peat moss and a little sand to help drainage and the plant will thrive. Bleeding hearts are very sensitive to water and bad soil conditions. Never let the water pool up around the base of the plant either. Are your plants blooming at all? if they are then they are not dead, after they bloom, they will fade away and die off about halfway through the summer, that is just what they do. The have their moment of glory and then go away for the summer and that is too bad because they are so pretty, but if you are not having any luck with them, the odds are that the soil needs to be worked to make it less dense and to improve the drainage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
