Gardening Tips and Tricks

Gardening is a great way to have the freshest produce on hand, slash your grocery bill, get some exercise and maybe even make a profit selling the extra vegetables. These gardening tips and tricks will help you have a more productive vegetable garden.

Protect Tomato and Pepper Seedlings from Cutworms

Cutworms can destroy your tiny tomato and pepper seedlings before they even get started good, unless you know this trick – Cut plastic drinking straws in half, then split them lengthwise and slip one around the stem of each garden plant. Press the bottom end of the straw into the garden soil so the cutworm can’t get under it and the garden seedling will be protected from cutworms and a variety of other soil-dwelling garden pests.

Coffee Grounds and Fireplace Ashes

Scatter used coffee grounds around vegetables plants (and flowers) to keep ants and aphids away. Fireplace ashes (cold) scattered on top of garden soil will keep snails and slugs out of the garden. The pests can’t stand the crunchy feel of the ashes and won’t cross them to get to the garden plants.

Rooting Containers

Save all small plastic containers that have snap-on plastic lids, like yogurt cups, sour cream cups and coffee cans, all year long so you will have a stash to start root cutting in come garden season. Cut a dime size hole in the center of the plastic lid, fill contain half full of water, snap the lid into place and gently place the bottom end of a plant cutting through the lid hole and into the water. The plant cutting will be held securely upright until new roots form and the lid can be easily cut away from the new plant when it time to plant it.