You Gardeners Out There.

[jok 3,228]

Well it seems like there are a few so here's a little gem for you all. I've a history of growing up on the wild side of many things including a farm on the Borders, Scotland side of course!! We grew everything and didn't seem to need much in the way of help. Just loads and loads of cow muck and nitrogen. No problems. NOW. Got this lovely allotment here in South Derbyshire and it seems every grub, bug, worm, caterpillar, beetle and even airborne virus has decided to decimate our crops. Now to the nitty gritty. A guy who must be the right side of 90 has told me how to solve all of my problems. At this stage of my narrative I should be asking for subscriptions towards the Mortgage, ferret food, dog food, diesel or almost anything. HOWEVER. Since I love you all so much I'm going to tell you all what he said. Sorry but this is definitely going to be an anti climax. (Youv'e all had them). 2 soluble aspirins per litre of water and spray every thing you plant. Follow that one mates. Jok.

[darbo 4,774]

Well it seems like there are a few so here's a little gem for you all. I've a history of growing up on the wild side of many things including a farm on the Borders, Scotland side of course!! We grew everything and didn't seem to need much in the way of help. Just loads and loads of cow muck and nitrogen. No problems. NOW. Got this lovely allotment here in South Derbyshire and it seems every grub, bug, worm, caterpillar, beetle and even airborne virus has decided to decimate our crops. Now to the nitty gritty. A guy who must be the right side of 90 has told me how to solve all of my problems. At this stage of my narrative I should be asking for subscriptions towards the Mortgage, ferret food, dog food, diesel or almost anything. HOWEVER. Since I love you all so much I'm going to tell you all what he said. Sorry but this is definitely going to be an anti climax. (Youv'e all had them). 2 soluble aspirins per litre of water and spray every thing you plant. Follow that one mates. Jok.

How often? i have had a quick read up on this and the results are suprising it works with veg etc and especially on tomatoe plants. Certainly never heard of this before thanks for putting it up.

Edited March 16, 2015 by darbo

[jok 3,228]

Thought you might expand a bit on that one. Geezer says everything on planting so can only assume once. Jok.

[darbo 4,774]

ow to Boost Your Tomatoes Defenses with Aspirin

The salacylic acid of aspirin mimics a hormone in tomato plants. If you do a Google search you will see a lot of documentation on this fact. The hormone naturally triggers a defense response in tomatoes. You are tricking your tomatoes into to triggering a defense response by spraying it with aspirin. The theory is to induce a defense response before diseases arrive. You are boosting your tomatoes defenses BEFORE an attack of leaf spot or blight occur. I have done this for years and believe it works.


The Basic Recipe:

325 mg of aspirin to 1 gallon of water
Spray your tomatoes 2-3 times monthly

You have to use aspirin because you need the salacylic acid to mimic the hormone.

Observations:
I've been doing this for several years and notice thicker stronger tomato leaves. My non-scientific observation is that the aspirin triggers a response that makes the leave less susceptible to the spores of diseases. The spores have a harder time getting established. Try it out.

If you would like more information about using aspirin or want to join the great aspirin tomato experiment... check out my blog The Rusted Garden

or go to this direct link on my blog for some tomato fun The Great Tomato Aspirin Experiment of 2012

[darbo 4,774]

Summer heat and drought can stress new plants badly. In order to promote healthy root growth, we can provide moist compost mulches and water deeply every few weeks. Both practices will encourage the production of deep-reaching roots that can forage effectively for nutrients and water.

However, when plants are failing before our eyes, slow-acting remedies may not be enough. It's often tempting to try to force-feed ailing plants with soluble fertilizers. This is not a good plan, because stressed plants are far less capable of taking up nutrients than healthy ones. In fact, fertilizer can kill a struggling plant that might have been saved by less aggressive measures.

Like what? As good doctors classically suggest, try aspirin first. Aspirin, or salicylic acid, is derived from the willow family (Salix). For thousands of years, native peoples around the world have used willow extracts medicinally. As it happens, plants can also benefit from the willow's naturally beneficial attributes.

Willow water, steeped from chopped willow twigs, has long been used to encourage strong and rapid root growth in cuttings, divisions and young transplants. To make willow water, put a quart or two of chopped willow twigs into a bucket, add water and let steep overnight or up to several days. Use this natural rooting stimulant when you plant, transplant or strike cuttings.

Indeed, you can strike many kinds of cuttings easily in fall or late winter by sticking the cut ends directly into a bucket of willow chips and water. Leave them there until they start to produce roots. Because water-formed roots are not equipped to deal with heavy soil, sift in some compost and soil every few days. When the new plants are growing well, you can transplant them to where you want them to grow.

Today, gardeners are encouraged to share the family aspirin bottle with stressed plants, as well as a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Why? As it turns out, salicylic acid and substances very like it are naturally produced by many plants in tiny amounts. In plants, these benign compounds awaken a number of natural protective responses, from increasing root length and strength to growing denser, stronger foliage.

In a number of studies, plants given aspirin water exhibited many of these protective responses. Treated plants grew faster and were better able to fend off pests and diseases than their untreated counterparts.

In garden trials, aspirin water increased the productivity of quite a few fruits, herbs and vegetables, including tomatoes, basil, peppers, eggplant and lots of others. Last summer, gardeners at the Organic Vegetable Garden at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston sprayed some of their crops with aspirin water and left a control group untreated. Their trials demonstrated that regular exposure to aspirin could indeed help plants grow better quite quickly.

The Kingston gardeners were working with a variety of food crops, all grown in raised beds with compost-enriched soil and drip irrigation. Every three weeks during the summer, some of the beds were sprayed with a blend of three aspirins mixed with 4 gallons of water. This ratio has been found to be the most effective, both for crop improvement and plant health benefits.

A commercial probiotic product called Messenger also has been shown to promote increased growth and better cropping. Messenger works in a similar way, triggering plant-protective responses such as increased root growth and denser foliage, as well as enlarged flowers and fruit. The American Rose Society sells Messenger on its Web site and recommends it highly for those growing roses for competition.

Freshly brewed compost teas also have improved plant vigor and cropping, especially with tomatoes. One grower I know was able to harvest hundreds of pounds of huge, beautiful tomatoes from a few plants treated weekly with fresh compost tea.

In areas where probiotics are hard to come by, the simple aspirin treatment certainly has appeal. Because most aspirin is scored across the middle, the recipe can be halved pretty easily (use 1 1/2 aspirins in 2 gallons of water). Aspirin water should be used fresh, preferably as soon as it is made. For best results, spray plants every three weeks.

Never put aspirin water, compost tea or Messenger in a sprayer that has been used for pesticides of any kind. If you don't have a clean sprayer, use a watering can with a large sprinkling rose (3 to 4 inches across). The type used to water delicate seedlings works well.

To avoid foliage problems, spray early on a warm, still day, so leaves dry off thoroughly before cooler evening hours arrive. To avoid harming bees or other pollinators, spray before these beneficial insects are present (usually before the sun reaches the plants you are treating).

For more information about the Kingston demonstration vegetable garden, you can visit the University of Rhode Island Demonstration Vegetable Garden site at goto.seattlepi.com/r87

[darbo 4,774]

Thought you might expand a bit on that one. Geezer says everything on planting so can only assume once. Jok.

Ive tried to put a few links up thanks again for the information very intresting,

[jocky 198]

Good post jok/brian. im going to start growing some veg again. think you started me off with that beetroot and pickled onion. going to look for a allotment.

[jok 3,228]

Flipping heck. I thought the old boy had lost his marbles. Thing is, all the young guys, take heart and believe what these people are telling us. Put in all the graft, plant seeds or plants, cover with fleece, spray with whatever but give your young plants a dose of aspirin. Now then you guys. What else have you to give us as solutions? Let me grow the best allotment in South Derbyshire and I'll host the best damned party in the same place.Jok.

[darbo 4,774]

ardeners down the generations have passed on tips about the best way to grow flowers and veg.

But with so many new books and the internet, we can all share the best advice...

Soak seeds in a cuppa

To encourage seeds to germinate, soak them in cold tea. Its tannins will soften the casing. Chamomile tea is particularly effective as it contains anti-fungal properties, which reduce cases of ‘damping-off’ — a horticultural disease that weakens or kills seeds before they germinate.

Some species, such a sweet peas, will struggle to get started unless soaked overnight.

From pots to pots!

Keep the water from your boiled eggs, potatoes, pasta, vegetables etc. It contains valuable nutrients that are released during the cooking process.

Before you use it to water your plants, make sure the liquid is cool. Don’t use salted water, which can be harmful to soil, or any that contains cooking oil, which will attract pests.

Keep ants away with curry

To avoid an ant invasion, grow a lavender bush. Ants hate the distinctive aroma given off during flowering. Similarly, many insects don’t like curry plants.

In fact, they avoid most spices and will never cross a line of curry powder or cayenne pepper should you sprinkle it around your flower-beds.

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If you’ve already got ants, place a squeezed orange half on the ground. As they congregate to devour the citrus fruit, put it on a bird table, where the birds will happily eat the ants.

Trusty rusty nail trick

Iron-loving plants, such as rhododendrons, camellias, blueberries or cranberries, will thrive if you water them with a solution that has had nails sitting in it for while. Just remember to remove the nails first.

'If you are attempting to grow roses or sweet peas, or any other plant that requires plenty of potassium, just bury a banana peel among the roots'

Banana-barmy roses

Similarly, if you are attempting to grow roses or sweet peas, or any other plant that requires plenty of potassium, just bury a banana peel among the roots.

The peel’s potassium will give the plant a nutritional boost and should help it resist disease.

Save your tomatoes

Hang brightly-coloured ornaments – such as red Christmas baubles — on tomato plants early in the season.

They will frighten birds away and so stop them from pecking holes in the fruits.

+4

Hang brightly-coloured ornaments - such as red Christmas baubles - on tomato plants to frighten birds away

Too much mint?

Plants that spread rapidly, such as mint, can be contained by planting them in a long hollow pipe, buried vertically.

The roots then have to go a long way down before they can spread out.

Burn that pampas

If you have unruly pampas grass with dead stalks that are tricky to remove, burn it down. The root will remain and the plant re-grow.

Be warned: pampas is very flammable, so don’t do this if it’s close to your house — and make sure you have a hose to hand.

Plentiful peppers

'Plants that spread rapidly, such as mint, can be contained by planting them in a long hollow pipe, buried vertically. The roots then have to go a long way down before they can spread out'

Peppers and chillies demand lots of sulphur to grow healthily — so, when planting them, place two or three unused matches a few inches below the roots.

As the plant grows, the roots will extend down towards the matches and feed off the sulphur, producing a bountiful crop.

Tip-top tools

Fed up with hacking through brambles with rusty, sticking shears? Rub some car wax on the hinge so they don’t get jammed.

Another way to keep (non-electrical) gardening tools in good condition is to store them in a bucket of sand. This will keep them clean, dry and free from rust and corrosion.

Floss for your vines

Due to its resilience, dental floss is ideal for securing vines, such as cucumbers, tomatoes or roses, onto a trellis.

Just be careful not to tie the floss too tightly or it will dig into the growing stems.

Keep green fingers clean

Your nails can be kept clean during gardening by scraping your fingers along a bar of soap before starting work.

The soap stays under the nail and prevents dirt getting in. Afterwards, simply wash using a nailbrush to remove.

See off slugs

To keep slugs off your plants without using pesticides, cover your soil with crushed sea-shells or pistachio nut-shells.

+4

To keep slugs off plants without using pesticides, cover soil with crushed sea-shells or pistachio nut-shells

 

The gastropods will stay away as their slimy bodies struggle to manoeuvre over rough surfaces.

Alternatively, set traps by pouring a small amount of stale beer into an empty bottle and lay it on its side.

Slugs love the smell and will climb in and drown. You can also lay a corn-meal or polenta trap. Again, they love the smell but eating it will cause them to dehydrate and die.

Eggs-tra growth!

A nifty way to sow seeds is to put them in an empty half eggshell, filled with compost, and then placed back in the cardboard egg-box.

Once the seedlings appear, place the carton in the ground.

The eggshell and box will disintegrate and also help to nourish the soil with its minerals, acting like a natural fertiliser.

+4

Put a child's windmill on a mole-hill - the vibrations of the turning plastic blades should deter even the most persistent creatures

 

Scare off moles

Put a child’s windmill on a mole-hill — the vibrations of the turning plastic blades should deter even the most persistent creatures.

They also hate the smell of orange peel, so a few bits scattered on the grass should keep your lawn intact.

Weed them out

Even with the best gardening equipment, it can be tricky removing weeds from tiny cracks and crevices.

Try a grapefruit knife instead — the small, curved blade is perfect for tight spaces.

Feed your plants milk

Surprisingly, plants enjoy milk. Diluted with water, it works as a great fertiliser and anti-fungal agent, containing proteins, vitamin B and sugars that improve crop-yield and overall health.

Don’t use too much, though, as it may produce bacteria that will spoil, resulting in a foul odour and wilting leaves.

Spud-u-like roses

When taking cuttings of roses, chose a stem about the thickness of a pencil. Before planting it in the ground or a pot, push the bottom end into a small potato and bury the whole lot.

This will keep the cutting moist while roots develo lion manureTo prevent cats using your borders as a toilet, buy lion manure pellets, which are made of lion dung, dried then sterilised. Even the bravest puss will retreat when they smell a lion.Alternatively, put down orange peel or ground pepper — cats hate the smell and won’t come near. Epsom salt fertiliser

Encourage green growth on your house-plants by feeding them water mixed with Epsom salts. Simply add two tablespoons of Epsom salts to one gallon of water and then feed once a month.

'Encourage green growth on your house-plants by feeding them water mixed with Epsom salts'

The magnesium sulfate helps seeds germinate, makes plants leafier, produces more flowers, increases chlorophyll production and deters pests.

P.S. Spend a penny

Although not very gentlemanly, peeing on your garden can be beneficial.

Urine contains nitrogen, which is used by plants to produce proteins and nucleic acids, both necessary for healthy growth.

It can also be helpful to contribute to your compost heap. The uric acid present in urine accelerates compost decomposition.

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Edited March 16, 2015 by darbo

[Gaz6br 193]

Cheers Jok

 

Hope my plants are still coming on well my plot is all ready to go

 

Gaz

[jocky 198]

have you got allotment gaz or do you grow in your garden.

[Gaz6br 193]

Little plot in my garden

 

 

Gaz

[jok 3,228]

Another little gem ladies and gentlemen. Do you know any micro brewers? Those lovely guys who make the elixir of life. Well you'd be surprised to know that they are willing to get rid of their spent hops normally just for the sake of collecting them. Now, look up that on Google and I think you'll all be researching local brewers. Watch this space. Loads more little gems coming your way. Jok.