Improve Your Vegetable Garden Naturally

Don’t throw out the water you boil your eggs in. This water contains tons of calcium that your plants will love. Just let the water cool and dump it on your plants.

Use baking soda in the garden in several ways. Sweeten your tomatoes by sprinkling baking soda near established plants to make your tomatoes sweeter. Sprinkle baking soda on the soil in your garden.

Rabbits, ants, silverfish and roaches do not like it and will stay away.  Kill slugs by putting it right on the pest. (don’t get it on the plants, though.) Kill Cabbage worms. Mix equal parts of baking soda and flour and dust plants such as broccoli, cabbage, and kale that are attractive to cabbage worms. The worms will eat the mixture on the leaves and die in a day or so.  Repeat the process as often as needed.

Every morning when you make eggs, save the shells for later on, they are great for adding calcium to the soil. All you need to do is blend them and sprinkle it over the soil. Eggshells are a great source of calcium.

If you want to garden but don’t have enough space to do so or live in an apartment this trick is for you. Use a Rubbermaid Container to start your mini garden. It’s lightweight, easy to store on a balcony.

Epsom salt is rich in magnesium and sulfate which are crucial to plant life. If you want a healthy glowing garden, make sure to use it. Add a tablespoon to the soil while plants and sprinkle some over the soil once the plants are mature.

When you boil vegetables, some of the nutrients get into the water, which makes it perfect to use when fertilizing your plants. Wait for the water to cool down.

Seedlings will thrive off the nutrients in a citrus peel. Start your little garden there then later transport the whole thing into the soil, just don’t forget to poke holes in the peel to help with drainage.

Seedlings need a good base to grow well; an egg shell is full of calcium. Starts your little garden there then later transport the whole thing into the soil, this is a money saving idea.

A little pinch never hurt anybody. Pinch your herbs to give them a good healthy glow and a boost in growth.

Natural Weed Killer 1 gallon vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, a dash of dish washing detergent (makes it stick to the weeds). Mix well, spray on weeds in the morning, rejoice in their death that evening. This works best on a sunny day.

Did you know that cutting leaves from tomato plants can make your plant healthier and produce more tomatoes?

Don’t throw out those used coffee grounds.  There are lots of ways to put them use in your garden.  Hydrangeas, Camellias, and roses love them! Used coffee grounds work great right away by digging them into the soil near your nitrogen loving plants for extra nourishment. You will have healthier plants and will also save money on garden fertilizer, and know that you are being good to the environment as a gardener. Blueberries, cranberries and other citrus fruit like used coffee (and tea) grounds added to their soil since they help to bring it closer to the 3.0 -5.0 PH that these plants need.

Coffee grounds are known to deter slugs and snails, so sprinkle them around plants that these pests love, such as hostas and broccoli and Brussels sprouts.  They are the perfect organic DIY snail deterrent.
Rooting hormone. Much cheaper than the chemical stuff they sell in the big box store and just as effective! Just apply cinnamon powder to the stem when you plant the cutting.

Gardeners love cinnamon, but ants do not like cinnamon! Sprinkle it in your greenhouse or around your garden beds. It will not kill the ants, but they will stay away from it. Sprinkle it by your doors if ants are coming into your house. They really hate to cross a line of cinnamon!

Cinnamon for plant wounds. Overzealous pruning or a slip of the weed whacker and you'll have a plant with a wound that needs to be fixed up. Simply dust cinnamon on the wound to encourage healing and prevent fungal infection at the same time.

Cinnamon get's rid of molds and mildew in house plants too. Simply sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on the soil. It will also get rid of gnats if you happen to have them buzzing around your house plants. These are the same gnats seedlings get; the cinnamon destroys the fungus they feed on and they will die.

I hope the tips above help boost your plants' growth! Enjoy your harvest my friends!

Backyard Farming in the Summer of 2016

After getting a very late start planting this spring, my vegetable garden is finally starting to provide me with a healthy variety of delicious vegetables that I love. I would advise you to only plant things you love or are pricey at the grocery store.  

I decided to start as many plants from seed as I could and prepared the soil with organic soil amendments such as humus and manure.  I have been building the soil up for the last three years since starting the garden patch.  This year I also extended my raised garden bed and it has been a big success as you will see in the photos that will follow.

I planted the seeds in seed starter trays and kept the trays moist but was careful not to over water and drown them.  After they grew to a strong healthy size, I began taking them outside during the day and back indoors at night to get them acclimated to the cool spring weather. Eventually planted them in late May, about three weeks later than I usually do.

Watering daily and weeding often as well as feeding the plants with compost tea bags (soak in a watering can overnight) was very important in growing healthy and pest free plants.

I have been able to harvest spring onions, summer straight neck squash, basil and peppers so far. Because I planted a few weeks later, my tomatoes have not turned red yet.  The eggplants and cucumbers are now coming in as well as the pumpkins and watermelon.

It is amazing how fast the squash and cucumbers grow.  You really have to check under the leaves well so your vegetables don't get too huge. They tend to be tough and seedy if you don't pick them when they are tender and not overgrown.

Working in the garden is so rewarding as well as very therapeutic for relieving stress.  The Vitamin D from the sunshine and getting a workout while I do what I love is fantastic! I look forward to sharing more updates and photos on my backyard farm soon! Stay cool in the summer heat my friends!