Pot Pourri of Gardening Suggestions by Monica Skinner

We heard many great suggestions from Monica Skinner at our last meeting!

Here are some of the great tips she shared.

When planning a new garden here are some things to consider:
- Check where the drainage and water flow goes on your property. If you are wanting to put a garden in the path that the water would take make sure you provide a way for the water to get around it.
- Travel Paths - make sure that you provide for paths to essentials such as sheds, pools, barbeque, play places, sand box etc.
- Make sure that all levels are incorporated - Depth, width and height
- Walls or trees for privacy - make sure that if you have a play area you can still see it from the house
- Soil type - do you need to add things to make your soil better? See the chart below that she shared


Basic Gardening Tips
- Sprinkling borox around beets provides boron
- 2 tbsp epsom salts with 1 gallon water provides magnesium to tomatoes and peppers when they flower
- Emptying coffee grounds near carrots may prevent root maggot
- Do NOT fertilize in late summer or fall as plants are getting ready for winter
- Create compost tea and use it to water plants
- Ground up egg shells will give brassicas much needed calcium if your soil is acid
- For deer and rabbits - mix 1 egg with 1/4 cup of water. Put into a 1L bottle and fill with water. Spray 2 -3 times a year. (Rain does not wash this off)
- A piece of No-pest strip laid on the soil of house plants will catch spider mites and white fly. Keep tape away from the stem.
- Steep 5 rhubarb leaves in 2 -3 quarts of boiling water. When cool spray on fungus, black spots, aphid, and june bugs.
- Sprinkling cinnamon on the soil of house plants gets rid of mouldy soil and prevents fungus
- Mix biodegradable soap with water and spray on plants to kill aphids, white flies, spider mites
- Don't prune in the fall
- If you prune fir, pine or spruce trees no new growth will come on the pruned area
- Mix up flowers and vegetables to confuse the bugs
- Parsley is a good edging plant for roses
- House plants do better on fertilizer with trace nutrients in them

Purchasing new plants
- Don't buy plants that are flowering, if they are flowering cut the flowers off so that the plant can focus on its roots when it is transplanted
- Check the root system in a plant before buying
- She prefers root balls on shrubs and trees

Reuse, Recycle
- Use styrofoam cups and then large yogurt and ice cream containers for seedlings so they roots have lots of room to grow (make sure you poke holes in the bottom)
- Cut up old vinyl blinds and use them to label your seedlings each year. You could also use model paint to color code them.
- Use a dish soap container to gently water seedlings
- Create cut worm barriers by cutting up old vinyl blinds and create a square around the seedling. This can be reused each year

Growing from seed
- Use different grade screen to separate potting soil.
- Use the heavier soil in the bottom of the seeding containers and pre-moisten this soil. Fill the container to the level leaving the seed planting depth at the top.
- Put seed in the container and then cover the seed with the finer soil
- Finally use a spray bottle to spray water on the seedlings
- As soon as the first green pokes through the soil put the seedlings 6 inches under lights for at least 16 hours per day

Children in the Garden
- Preschoolers like to get dirty and love texture. Let them squish their toes in the dirt
- Have them squish leaves, find worms, pick and eat vegetables.
- Build things with sticks
- Dig holes for the flowers you are planting
- Let them water the plants
- Harvesting vegetables
- let them have their own plot to plant and take care of

Thanks for all the great tips Monica!!