Inexpensive Tricks for the Gardener

There are a lot of inexpensive things you can do to help your garden out. Some of the things you can use, are things you may already have laying around in your house, or things that are very inexpensive to get. This article will give you some inexpensive ideas that just may help you out sometime!

Aluminum foil can make a great scare crow to keep birds away from certain plants. You can cut out various patterns in card board, (hearts, stars, seashells, etc...), and cover the cardboard cut out with aluminum foil Then hang your foil scarecrow from the branches of berry shrubs and fruit trees. The flashing sunlight reflected from your fluttering scarecrows will frighten birds away. Aluminum foil can also be used to give your houseplants a little extra boost. Once again you will have to cut out, or find a panel of cardboard , and cover the panel with tinfoil. Then position it on a wall so that it reflects the light from a window onto your potted plants. It will not only boost their growth, but it will keep them evenly shaped as well. You can also use aluminum foil to protect young trees from mice and rabbit by wrapping the trunk of your tree loosely in sheets of foil. Wrap them to a height of 18 inches. The glittering, rattling surface keeps mice and rabbits away.

Coffee grounds are another thing you may have in your home, that can benefit your garden. Coffee grounds can be used as a fertilizer for certain plants. When placed into the planting hole, coffee grounds encourage acid forming bacteria, boosting the growth of such acid loving plants as blueberries and evergreens. You can also just add a little of the coffee grounds into the soil around gardenia every few months as well. Gardenia love coffee grounds; just make sure that the coffee grounds are cooled off before using them in the garden. Also make sure that you are only using them on acid loving plants too. You can also mix old coffee grounds with mulch, but never use them alone, they ill cake up.

Newspaper can come in handy too. You can turn green tomato's red by wrapping each one in a sheet of newspaper. You can then store them in crates in a warm spot. They will ripen slowly, giving you fresh tomato's. Newspaper may also be used to protect Young trees from the elements. Just wrap the tree's trunk with newspaper, and secure with twine. Another great use for newspaper is to help keep your plants moist if you are going on vacation for more then a week. You will have to cut a ring from several layers of newspaper, making sure that it will fit around your plant, and also in the inside of your pot. Moisten the newspaper ring well. Then water your plants thoroughly and place the ring on top of the soil in your pot. This will keep the plants moist for awhile longer then usual. At the end of your gardening season, after you have cleaned and oiled all of your garden tools, wrap them up in some newspaper to prevent them form rusting.

Pantyhose can also be put to good use in the garden. If you hang them up from a pipe or a beam, well above the ground, you can store seed and bulbs in them, and the rodents will stay away. Rodents are repelled by synthetic fibers! Pantyhose also make for great rot-resistant ties, Cut the pantyhose crosswise into circles of the desired width and use them to tie tress, stems, and vines to stakes, with a figure eight loop. They won't damage tender plant growth and are easy to snip off when you are finished with them. Pantyhose feet that are filled with human hair, or moth balls, and hung on stakes throughout the garden, will deter deer as well.

Wire coat hangers can also be useful for gardeners. You can make a coat hanger hook by using a wire cutter to cut off the hook part of a wire hanger at it's base. Then secure it to the end of a pole or a broomstick with duct tape. Use it to pull the vines out of trees, or to pull down any out of reach branches in fruit trees too. You can also use a wire coat hanger to protect potted cuttings. Bend two 12 inch section of wore hanger into arcs. Cross them, and insert into your pot. Make sure to leave a little head room for future growth. Cover the wire frame with shade cloth, or a plastic bag, then set the pot in a shady spot and water as needed.

All of these inexpensive ideas are easy to do, and of course easy on your pocket book. You yourself could probably come up with similar inexpensive and easy ways to help yourself and your plants out in the garden. Use a little imagination, and come up with your own garden tricks!!