Hello Fellow Gardeners,

In this week’s article we’re going to continue our look at natural remedies for your garden. If you are just joining us, natural remedies are an alternative to those expensive chemicals offered at many garden centers. They are simple, homemade, inexpensive, and often made with ingredients already in your own kitchen! Following are a few recipes that have worked well in my own garden, however take a look at Natural Remedies for Your Garden Part 1 for more ideas on ridding your garden of diseases and pests—naturally!

Milk: Bye Bye Mildew!

You know milk does the body good, but did you know that it also works well on your roses!? Mix skim milk in a spray bottle with an equal amount of water, and simply spray on the leaves of your roses, phlox, or any plant that is vulnerable to mildew and blackspot.

Red Pepper and Garlic: All Around Insecticide!

Mix together three heaping tablespoons of crushed garlic, two heaping tablespoons of dried red pepper flakes, and two tablespoons of any type of cooking oil (Canola, olive, etc). Combine the mixture in a glass bowl, add enough water to cover, and cook on high for one minute in your microwave. Finally, add everything to a gallon of water and let sit in the sun for a few days. Spray or sprinkle around your garden to help deter deer, caterpillars, and other garden pests—naturally!

Ashes: Discourage Slugs and Snails!

Enjoyed a few romantic fires with your significant other during those cold winter nights? Besides bringing you closer together, that fire produced a great natural remedy for your garden– wood ash! Wood ash is a great deterrent to slugs and snails! Simply sprinkle a continuous line around your garden, leaving no spaces for those nasty pests to sneak through!

For a great nutrient boost add ashes to your soil!

Check out this article: “Using Fireplace Ashes in Your Garden” by Dawne Howard!

Smoking Gun: Nicotine Spray for Insects!

If you have a smoker in your house, don’t throw out those cigarette and cigar butts, save them! When you get 25 or more, soak them in a half gallon of water for a few days in the sun. Strain the mixture and spray it on your plants when they are infested! Not only will it get rid of nasty insects, but it will also give your plants a bit of a boost!

My husband used to smoke cigars, and I always saved the remnants and mixed them in with my soil. It really helped deter my dogs and my neighbors cats from digging holes in my garden!

If you are interested in more natural remedies I have found a great site: Homemade Insecticides by Bill Richardson! Many of the recipes use flowers found in your own garden, such as Marigolds, Comfrey leaves, Feverfew, and more, to naturally repel insects!

Stay tuned for more great tips, tricks, ideas, and inspiration on cold climate gardening from the Daily Weeder!

Happy Gardening,

Marie Suzanne

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

This is the time of year that the shelves of our favorite garden centers fill up with chemicals that promise everything from increased growth to deterring the most pesky of garden pests! Well, many of these do in fact work very well, but if you’re like me, you are considering more natural alternatives for your garden. Many of these alternatives can give you the same benefits as the expensive products out there but at a fraction of the cost! Best of all, many of the ingredients can be found right in your own kitchen! Today we’ll take a look at a few natural remedies that have worked well in my own garden!

Chamomile Tea

We all know the health benefits of tea for our own bodies, but did you know that tea is also great for your garden! Roses especially can benefit from a good spray of cool chamomile tea on the leaves because it can help deter nasty mildew from taking over your precious plants. The recipe? Simply brew just like you would for yourself, let cool, and spray! Try to aim for at least four tea bags per gallon of water!

Banana Peels

You’ve heard about this one before from us, but it works so well that it bears repeating! Banana peels draped over branches and at the base of a rosebush will help get rid of aphids! Also, chopped banana peels mixed with the top layer of your soil gives a great vitamin boost to your plants, keeping them happy and healthy!

Garlic

Everyone’s favorite spice not only grows in the garden but is a garden life saver—literally! Deer may be nice to look at, but they are your garden’s enemy! A good barrier of garlic around your precious plants will help to keep those deer from using all your hard work as their own personal buffet! Papery peels from garlic bulbs that have been roasted in the oven, raw crushed garlic from a jar (available at your supermarket), or even a raw clove clothes pined to a plant will help! If you don’t want garlic spread all over your garden, another option is to simply place several garlic cloves in a sachet bag or an old stocking and hang it in your garden. The smell shouldn’t be overwhelming, but it should be enough to deter most of those dear deer!

Stay tuned for more natural remedies for your cold climate garden from the Daily Weeder!

Happy Gardening,

Marie Suzanne

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

I’ve been super busy working on checking off my own Spring chores checklist! Unfortunately there’s still a lot more to be done, but I’m happy to be gardening again and spending some time in the sunshine!

If you are checking off your own Spring garden chore list, you may have seen the “pruning roses” chore! Doing a bit of research on the internet, I came across the ultimate rose pruning guide! It contains everything you ever wanted to know about pruning roses! It’s easy to follow, jam packed with great tips, and perfect for old pros in need of a refresher course, or beginners looking for a detailed guide! Best of all, it’s offered in pdf format online for free!

Check out:
John Jons’ Rose Pruning Guide for the Texas Cooperative Extension

This rose pruning guide was designed for the Texas climate, but can be applied to our own cold climate gardens with only three exceptions! Read below…

1. Pruning dates for cold climate gardening is the first or second week of May, or when the Lilacs and Forsythia bloom (basically after the last frost date).

2. In a cold climate garden you rarely need to use fungus spray because the winter kills most of the bacteria!

3. Finally, the bud union for cold climate gardens is usually planted 4 to 6 inches below ground level to offer winter protection (the bud union is the swelling where the rose is grafted on) so you don’t usually have to worry about too many suckers to trim.

I really recommend this guide for its valuable information and detailed tips! As mentioned, the guide is very easy to understand and should take the mystery out of rose pruning for anyone!

Stay tuned for more tips, tricks, ideas, and inspiration on cold climate gardening from the Daily Weeder!

Happy Gardening,

Marie Suzanne