Comments on: Garden Remedies: What’s the Appeal? (Tell us and win a free book)

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hctwnrsa opfjebh — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:34:26 +0000

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By: Congratulations, Dee! | Cold Climate Gardening

Congratulations, Dee! | Cold Climate Gardening — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:15:35 +0000

[...] I said when I announced the free book, one of the commenters would be chosen randomly to receive a copy of The Truth About Garden [...]

By: Curtis

Curtis — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:27:27 +0000

I only use two with varied success. Gallon of water, 1 tablespoon of veggie oil and a teaspoon of soap to smother bugs. This mostly burned my plants but I have used it on some plants with success.

The other a gallon of water, a tablespoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of dish soap. This works alright as a mildew preventive and cure.

By: Apple

Apple — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:49:59 +0000

I’m hesitant to use chemicals because I have a butterfly garden. The kids love to pick beetles off of plants and toss them into a bucket of soapy water. I had good luck last year with urine to move the voles out of the garden. It may have discouraged the deer too. I have used salt to discourage weeds between the bricks on my mother’s patio. I’ll have to try vinegar this year. Newspaper saves me a lot of money on mulch.

By: mss @ Zanthan Gardens

mss @ Zanthan Gardens — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:46:29 +0000

I think the appeal of homemade recipes is two-fold: they provide the feeling of being in control (you choose the ingredients and make the mixture) and they put us in touch (even if only in our imaginations) with nearly lost knowledge.

This attraction of the arcane could be interpreted as a form of feminism. After all, we sometimes perceive scientists as unfeeling men in cold laboratories concocting unnatural solutions to conquer and control nature. In contrast we see ourselves following the sage advice of those old wives, brewing esoteric concoctions of herbs in order to work with nature and as part of Her.

By: kerri

kerri — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:38:25 +0000

I’m happy to use a home remedy which involves something simple that I have in stock. Saves a trip to the store and the price of expensive packaged remedies, often containing poison. A great way of getting rid of Japanese beetles is an empty cool whip container of warm water with a dash of dish soap. Just hold it underneath and quickly give those beetles a nudge. They fall in and drown.
Hot or cold vinegar works great to kill weeds, especially in the patio cracks.

By: carolyn

carolyn — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:50:38 +0000

Back in the day in rural areas of the South folks used what was readily available . My Father was known as one of the best farmers in our county. He never used a chemical on anything he grew . If there was a problem with insects in the large field of crops he would use tobacco dust to repel them.

When I got stung by wasps he would take tobacco, wet it and apply to the sting and it relieve the pain and swelling.

I watched in disbelief one day when he showed me his wasp repellent. He’d been working in the fields all day and was sweaty. He reached under his shirt, rubbed his armpit and held it up to the nests full of wasps. They all flew away. I know that one worked but how he knew it he would never tell.

By: wiseacre

wiseacre — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:26:27 +0000

My wife is my secret weapon in the vegetable garden. I let her pick the pests by hand. I do get upset sometimes when I find a bucket full of june beetles ‘composting’ in the woods.

For tent caterpillars I use a propane torch.

When it comes to ill plants – they get dug up and tossed in a roaring bonfire.

I’ve used buttermlk and moss mixed in a blender to paint hypertufa planters and rock. It seems to work since moss is growing on them

Broken concrete/cement buried in the root zone of Clematis to keep the soil sweet.

By: Mr. McGregor's Daughter

Mr. McGregor's Daughter — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:59:04 +0000

I think some people like to use these home remedies because they like the cachet of a secret receipe. (Kind of a bragging rights thing.) I think they’re messy, smelly & inconvient, and so are the remedies. Teehee!

By: jodi

jodi — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:50:21 +0000

Although I have been conducting the battle of the goutweed, and testing out the usefulness of solarizing vs glyphosate vs vinegar and salt, I’m otherwise a pretty laissez faire gardener when it comes to pests or diseases. We encourage beneficial insects and other creatures, so we don’t spray for anything–except water on the roses and honeysuckles that attract too many aphids. We also have a perfect deer repellent in the form of our donkey-from-Mars, Jenny. She’s a weird looking creature, and about as dumb as lint, or suffering from Donkey Alzheimers, but she thinks deer are longlegged coyotes and keeps them off the property. Coyotes and dogs, too.