Gammy's Garden Recipes

Homemade Deer Repellent

2010-12-16T09:14:00.003-06:00

These little guys are adorable, but they can cause quite a bit of damage in your yard and garden.

Don't remember where I found this one, I think from Fine Gardening. I shared this recipe with a friend and they swear they have never used an expensive brand deer repellent that worked any better.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup peeled garlic
1 cup clear ammonia
1 cup Murphy’s oil soap
1 bar Ivory hand soap (optional)

Directions:
Boil the cayenne in the vinegar for one minute, then strain it through a coffee filter. In a blender, purée the garlic in two cups of water, then strain that mixture through another filter. Combine the two filtered liquids with the ammonia and oil soap in a 3-gallon garden sprayer. Fill the sprayer to the maximum level with water, and spray this concoction around all of the areas you want to protect. For extra stickiness, float a bar of Ivory or Irish Spring soap in the sprayer and let it slowly dissolve over several fillings. For maximum effectiveness, reapply weekly, as well as immediately after every rainstorm. More frequent spraying may be warranted if deer browsing is intense.

Planting Potted Plant Gifts

2010-12-08T21:24:00.000-06:00

If you receive potted gifts this year such as paper-white narcissus or amaryllis, follow these easy steps to plant in your outdoor garden.

After they finish blooming indoors:

1. Quit watering

2. Don't cut stalks, but let the foliage die down until it turns brown and dry.

3. Trim dry foliage off and plant the bulbs in the landscape.

Seed Markers

2010-12-01T23:57:00.003-06:00

If you use empty seed packets to mark your garden rows, clip the empty packet into plastic cardholders. The ones that hold the small greeting card in a floral arrangement from your local florist works great. The empty packet is out of the soil and will last long enough to identify the seedlings as they sprout.

Easy Seed Sowing

2010-10-31T21:17:00.000-06:00

If planting seeds across a large area that needs good contact with the soil such as Indian paintbrush, bluebonnets, pink evening primrose and black-eyed Susan (wildflowers), mix a little cornmeal or sand with the seeds to help broadcast them more evenly.

Indian Paintbrush

Bluebonnet

Pink Evening Primrose

Black eyed Susan

Handy Bulb Storage

2010-10-31T20:15:00.001-06:00

Cardboard egg cartons make handy containers. Use them to overwinter glads and other summer bulbs.

Storing tender bulbs like gladiolus and freesias has always been a challenge. The different varieties have a tendency to mix together, and sometimes the labels get lost. An excellent storage container that eliminates these problems is an egg carton.

Simply fill it with a dozen cleaned bulbs and write the variety name with a permanent marker in the corresponding spot on the cover, the way candies are labeled in a box. The holes in the carton provide essential ventilation, and the individual cells keep mold and other diseases from spreading. The carton takes up just a little bit of space on a basement shelf and adds organization to gardening.

Print PDF

Dividing Bulbs

2010-06-15T20:26:00.018-05:00

Divide crowded daylilies, irises and other spring-flowering bulbs.
Plants will stop blooming if you allow the beds to become too crowded.
When transplanting, water 24 hours before moving to loosen soil.
Be sure to plant at the same depth you removed them from.
Remember, always transplant plants during the coolest part of the day. Early morning or in the evening to reduce stress on plants.
Don't forget to water and mulch.

2010-01-17T21:45:00.001-06:00

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~John Muir

Natural Rooting Hormone

2009-12-01T10:07:00.009-06:00

Raw honey is a good substitute for rooting hormone powder. In fact, many people think it's better. When taking cuttings for propagating plants, dip the cut surface in the honey and it speeds up root formation and hinders fungal growth.

Deter Flies With Bags of Water

2009-08-20T17:41:00.004-05:00

It Really Works!

A housefly bases its sense of direction on the direction sunlight comes from. Some entomologists believe that when these complex eyes experience refracted light, the insect becomes confused and flies away.
I ate at a restaurant the other day that had ziplock bags filled with water to which one penny was added (to keep the water looking clean). They tied off the top and hung them with strong string from rafters on their outside patio.
I had just eaten at this restaurant a few weeks prior and fought off flies the entire time. On this visit, not one fly came around. It worked so well, I made some water bags to hang outside my back door. While a few still find their way inside my home, I don't have the BIG problem I once had.

Commercial devices can be purchased such as this one, although you can make your own. Check out a picture of one that I made here.

Insecticide Soap Spray

2009-05-14T16:53:00.000-05:00

Keep your pets and wildlife safe.

Ingredients:
1 T liquid dish soap

Instructions:
Put soap in a one gallon sprayer and fill with water.
Apply liberally on top and bottom of leaves.

Make sure that you re-apply if it rains. Repeat in 1-2 weeks.

Newspaper Away the Weeds

2009-04-22T07:46:00.004-05:00

Why risk the safety of your children's or pet's health by using chemicals in your garden.

Smother weeds with a thick layer of wet cardboard or newspapers. Layer around the plants, overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds.

They will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.

Goodbye Fruit Flies

2009-02-11T08:48:00.006-06:00

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, fill a small glass halfway with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. Mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Thanks Betty!

Convenient Containers

2008-12-26T15:46:00.000-06:00

Save large mouth plastic containers such as a plastic coffee containers, to disinfect your garden tools between cuts and immediately after working on or near an infected plant by dipping the tools in container filled with alcohol or bleach and then rinsing in clean water. Seal for next use.

Squirrel away!

2008-10-27T00:07:00.000-06:00

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle them with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

I use cayenne pepper in "The Dirt Doctor's" Pepper Spray Recipe. Works on all kinds of pests in your garden. Gammy

No More Mosquitoes

2008-09-27T00:27:00.002-05:00

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Organic Fire Ant Control

2008-08-15T19:19:00.000-05:00

My favorite garden advisor is Howard Garrett, The Dirt Doctor. Here is one of Howard's fantastic recipes for completely controlling fire ants in your yard.

Liquid Fire Ant Control - mix one part compost tea, 1 part molasses, and one part orange oil. Mix at 4-6 ounces of the concentrate per gallon of water for treating fire ant mounds.

Get Rid of Fire Ants for Good!

2008-07-15T18:22:00.000-05:00

Apply beneficial nematodes throughout an area where fire ants are a problem. Very effective and environmentally safe!

St Augustine Grass Remedy

2008-06-15T18:13:00.000-05:00

Treat brown patch in St. Augustine
lawns with baking soda and water.

Bug Off!

2008-05-09T17:45:00.000-05:00

Try this to keep aphids from destroying your plants.

2 cloves garlic

1 pint boiling water

Mince two cloves of garlic and in 1 pint of boiling water.
Cool and strain garlic bits. Discard garlic. Reserve water.

Place liquid in a spray bottle and spay the little buggers away.

Hummingbird Nectar Recipe

2008-04-03T13:17:00.009-06:00

The birds seem to prefer the homemade nectar over the powdered kind you mix with water.

1 cup sugar
4 cups water

Boil 1-2 Minutes
Cool & Store In Refrigerator

Do not use:

Honey- causes sores in the hummers mouths when the nectar is not changed enough.
Artificial sweeteners- absolutely NO food value
Red food coloring- suspected to be harmful to birds.

Homemade Flower Preservatives

2008-03-17T09:49:00.002-06:00

Homemade Flower Preservative

This is a great EASY mix that you can make at home.
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon household bleach
2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice
1 quart lukewarm water

Compost Tea

2008-03-02T14:20:00.006-06:00

Compost tea (Manure compost tea) is effective on many pests because of certain microorganisms that exist in it naturally. Here's how to make compost tea at home.

Use any container but a plastic bucket is easy for the homeowner.
Fill the 5-15 gallon bucket half full of compost and finish filling with water.
Let the mix sit for 10-14 days and then dilute and spray on the foliage of any and all plants including:

fruit trees
perennials
annuals
vegetables
roses

and other plants, especially those that are regularly attacked by insects or fungal pests. It's very effective, for example, on black spot on roses and early blight on tomatoes.

How to dilute the dark compost tea before using depends on the compost used. A rule of thumb is to dilute the leachate down to one part compost liquid to four to ten parts water. It should look like iced tea. Be sure to strain the solids out with old pantyhose, cheese cloth, or row cover material.

Add two tablespoons of molasses to each gallon of spray for more power.
Add citrus oil for even greater pest killing power.

Compliments of Howard Garrett, The Dirt Doctor

Organic Herbicide

2008-01-02T00:46:00.000-06:00

Vinegar is a non-selective herbicide. It will kill just any plant if made potent enough.

Ingredients:
1 gal Vinegar (10%-20%)
2 teaspoons dish washing soap
1/4 the cup of Orange oil
1 cup of Concentrated Lemon Juice

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a bucket.

You can spray the herbicide on any unwanted plants with a garden sprayer, but as always when spraying herbicides, do so on a calm weather day. Wind will carry the product and potentially harm other nearby plants.

I recommend soaking a cloth which has been attached to a broom handle or measuring stick with masking tape and selectively applying to unwanted plants, weeds. Product may be applied by dousing, but be careful that other nearby plants will not be in contact with the herbicide, (e.g., weeds in sidewalk, border edges)

Repeat as needed until plant roots have died. 2-3 applications may be needed.

I actually prefer weeding by hand, but time doesn't always allow for everyone.

*Note- As with any herbicide, use during the hottest time of the day.