CHAPTER 9

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Having an outdoor space to call one’s own is undeniably a blessing, one that countless city dwellers envy. For while it’s true that an urban lifestyle provides many social and cultural perks, the biggest sacrifi ce is the inhabitants’ inability to experience nature whenever they want. With a growing body of research showing that exposure to greenery, and to trees in particular, is benefi cial to mental and physical wellbeing, it is no wonder that city planners around the world are trying to fi gure out ways to bring more plants and trees into the urban setting. Plus if you have outdoor space, you probably also have your own garage or parking spot too. So if you are one of the people lucky enough to have outdoor space to call your own—whether it’s a backyard, terrace, patio, porch, or neighborhood vegetable patch—the rest of us salute you (and, by the way, wonder when you’re going to invite us over for a backyard barbecue). This chapter, which contains suggestions for cleaning, tidying, and maintaining your “outdoor rooms” using all-natural ingredients, should give you all sorts of reasons to spend more time in the great outdoors.

Red-Brick Cleanser

The use of bricks—compacted blocks of dried clay, sand, ash, and other minerals (including iron oxide, which gives red brick its color)—is nearly as old as human habitation itself, dating back to around 5000 BCE. Many ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, used bricks made of clay and straw that were dried in the sun to build their cities. One of the great strides in the manufacturing of this now-standard building material was the innovation, around 3500 BCE, of firing the bricks in a kiln to harden them, making them even stronger. This led to widespread adoption of the brick as a building material, with the civil engineers of the Roman Empire spreading its use throughout central and western Europe. Today bricks are still used around the world in countless building projects. As durable and beautiful as a red-brick fireplace, wall, or patio is, though, it still needs to be cleaned regularly.

• In a large bucket, mix 1 gallon (4 L) water with ½ gallon (2 L) white vinegar. Using a clean sponge mop, spread this vinegar-water mixture across the surface of the bricks. Wait 10 minutes and then scrub the surface with stiff, long-handled brush.

Teak Furniture Reviver

If you have untreated outdoor furniture made of teak or another close-grained hardwood, it is important to clean and reseal the surface once a year to maintain its resilience to the elements. Treated with care, hardwood furniture will last for many years.

• Remove any upholstered items from the furniture. Using the scouring side of a sponge, begin by cleaning the surface of the hardwood furniture with a mixture of 1 gallon (4 L) warm water and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) liquid Castile soap. When the surface is completely dry, use a sanding block wrapped with fine-grit sandpaper to gently scrape away the gray surface of the wood, exposing the golden wood beneath.

• Using a small funnel, pour 2 cups (500 mL) grapeseed oil and 1 cup (250 mL) white vinegar into a clean 1-quart (1 L) spray bottle. Replace the spray nozzle, then shake the contents and squirt the mixture onto the surface of the wood. Give the bottle a shake after every second or third squirt to keep the mixture from separating, spraying until the furniture has been covered. Wait for 10 minutes, then mop up any excess sealant with a clean, dry rag.

Barbecue Grill Cleanser

Though nothing symbolizes the warmer months of the year like the smell of barbecue wafting through the air, lots of home cooks use their grills year-round. If you frequently prepare meals on your barbecue, you know the importance of keeping the racks as clean as possible (just as you probably also know that it is not safe to scrape the grills with a wire brush—small bits of wire can break off and become lodged in the food you cook next).

• In a clean 16-ounce (500 mL) glass spray bottle, mix 1 cup (250 mL) water and 1 cup (250 mL) white vinegar. Replace the spray nozzle and shake well.

• Remove the greasy cooking grates from the grill and lay them on top of flattened-out cardboard or newspaper. Sprinkle the grates liberally with baking soda on both sides. Spray the grill with the water-vinegar spray until the baking soda begins to foam. Wait 10 minutes before using a balled-up sheet of aluminum foil to scrub both sides of the grates. Using a clean rag, wipe any remaining grime and moisture off the grates. Apply grapeseed or canola oil to both sides of the grates with a paper towel or rag to season.

Driveway and Garage Oil Stain Remover

As any automobile owner knows, many of the fluids that enable these modern conveyances to run are petroleum-based, which means they are greasy. And since cars (like the people who drive them) occasionally leak fluids, your driveway or garage is likely to bear the brunt of these leaks. If you notice an oil stain, use this technique to clean it up immediately—the sooner you address such a spill, the more likely you will prevent it from becoming a permanent feature.

• In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup (250 mL) salt and 1 cup (250 mL) baking soda. Spread this mixture liberally over the stain. Wait 10 minutes.

• While the baking soda is absorbing some of the stain, fill one bucket with 1 gallon (4 L) white vinegar and a second bucket with 1 gallon (4 L) hot water. Dip the end of a stiff, long-handled brush into the vinegar and scrub at the stain, reapplying frequently. When the paste stops foaming, dip the brush into the water and scrub the stain clean, reapplying as necessary. Rinse away the grime with a hose.

Car Deodorizer

According to the latest research, the US market for car air fresheners (including aerosols, sprays, gels, and the little pine tree cutouts that dangle from the rearview mirror) is estimated to be around $240 million. If this eye-watering number tells us anything, it’s that our cars must smell pretty good despite all the traveling, sweating, eating, and (occasionally) sleeping we do in them. But there’s no reason to buy a commercial product made with chemicals that aren’t that good for your health (and may cause actual distress to people with respiratory issues) when you can custom-make your own from natural ingredients for far less than what you’d pay at the gas-station convenience store.

• Remove any mats from your car and place them on the ground, preferably in sunshine (which is powerfully antibacterial). Liberally sprinkle the mats with baking soda while you tackle the rest of the car. If you’d like to add a scent to the car, add 10 to 20 drops essential oil of your choice to every 1 cup (250 mL) baking soda before sprinkling.

• Clean the trash from the floors, under the seats, and in any of the side pockets of the doors before thoroughly vacuuming the interior of the car, including the seats. Sprinkle a light dusting of baking soda on the floor and the seats. If you’d like to add a scent, add 10 to 20 drops essential oil of your choice to the baking soda before sprinkling.

• Using the All-Purpose Cleanser (this page), spray the dashboard and inside surfaces of all the windows in the car. Using a clean, lint-free cloth dipped in a bucket of clean warm water, rub the dashboard and windows clean of any residue.

• Vacuum the baking soda off the floor and seats of the car. Vacuum the mats and place them back inside the car.

Windshield Wiper Blade Cleaner

It is alarming when you turn on the windshield wipers while driving in the middle of a rainstorm, only to find that the wipers can’t clear the water from the glass well enough for you to see through it. To keep your wipers in working order, clean and condition them every four to six weeks.

• Lift the wiper arms up from windshield and check for cracks or splits in the rubber blades; if you see that kind of damage, they need to be replaced.

• If the blades are just dirty, pour some white vinegar onto a clean, lint-free cloth and gently but firmly rub the cloth up and down the length of each wiper blade, reapplying vinegar to a clean section of the cloth and wiping again until it stops leaving dirty residue behind. Once the blades are clean, put a few drops of olive oil onto a clean section of the cloth and rub up and down the length of the blade, reapplying as necessary. This is to “seal” the rubber and keep it from drying out (and squeaking). Wait for 10 minutes.

• While the olive oil is soaking into the wiper blade, clean the windshield glass using All-Purpose Glass Cleaner (this page) and vacuum the channel below the windshield to remove any leaves, branches, or other debris.

• When the 10 minutes are up, run a clean section of the cloth up and down the blades one last time to remove any excess olive oil. Place the wiper blades back against the windshield.

Chewing Gum Remover

If the sidewalk in front of your home or the driveway has been “decorated” with unsightly squidges of gum, try removing them with these two straightforward techniques.

FRESH GUM

• If the gum splotch is of recent vintage, the easiest thing to do is freeze it into submission. If the sun is out, set up an open umbrella to cast shade over the gum. Fill a plastic bag with ice, seal it, and place it on top of the gum. After about 15 minutes, the gum should be a solid mass that can be easily dislodged from the ground with a spackling blade or other metal scraper. If not, give the ice a few minutes longer to turn that gum into a hard chip.

O.G. GUM

• If the sidewalk or driveway is covered in blackened, hardened discs of ancient gum, removing them will take a little more work. In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon (15 mL) baking soda, 1 tablespoon (15 mL) coarse salt, and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) cornmeal. Spoon a small mound of this mixture over each disc of gum and sprinkle with white vinegar. As the mixture foams, use a wire brush to scrape the scouring mixture across the surface of the old gum. Repeat as necessary until all the fragments come up.

Sidewalk De-Icer

One of the remarkable qualities of salt is that it lowers the boiling point and freezing point of water. In cold climates, this handy feature means salt can be used to treat sidewalks and pathways that have become coated in ice (though at ambient temperatures below around 15 degrees F, or -9 degrees C, the ice won’t melt). The larger the salt crystal, the better—even if the ice doesn’t melt, the large chunks of salt will add texture to an otherwise frictionless surface, making it less slippery and safer to walk across.

• Fill a large bucket with rock salt (also known as halite, the mined form of salt, which contains many other trace minerals and can come in a variety of hues) or coarse kosher salt (the refined version of halite) and scatter handfuls of it across the walkway you are treating. In minutes, you will see the effects of the salt, weakening the ice and causing it to melt. This will make it much easier to chop the ice and scatter it to the side.

• If you need to clear the ice more quickly, fill a large bucket with 1 part rock or coarse kosher salt and 3 parts boiling water, stirring to combine. Pour this boiling saline solution over the ice you are removing from your walkway. Chop and scatter the remaining ice.

Mosquito Repellent

The most common ingredient in commercial insect repellents is the chemical known as DEET (or diethyltoluamide), developed by USDA scientist Samuel Gertler in 1944 to help the US Army slow the spread of insect-borne diseases that had proven deadly to American troops operating in the Pacific theater. DEET is effective but controversial: some studies have shown it to be toxic while others suggest it is perfectly safe when used properly. But all the warning labels say not to wear it under clothing and to keep it away from infants and young children, so why take the risk when there are other effective, all-natural ingredients that keep blood-sucking insects from feasting on your flesh?

• In a clean, resealable 16-ounce (500 mL) glass jar, add the peels of 4 lemons and pound into the bottom of the jar with a long-handled wooden spoon to release the fragrant oils. Add 1 cup (250 mL) 70 percent isopropyl alcohol (or enough to cover) and seal the jar. Store the jar at room temperature for 2 weeks, then strain the lemon peel-infused alcohol into a clean 8-ounce glass jar.

• Using a small funnel, pour 1 cup (250 mL) witch hazel, ½ cup (125 mL) lemon peel-infused alcohol, and 50 drops citronella essential oil into a clean 16-ounce (500 mL) glass spray bottle. Replace the spray nozzle and shake well before every use.

All-Natural Weed Killer

Whether growing between the pavers of your patio or among the vegetables in your kitchen garden, weeds are the unwanted guests of the plant world. They can cause damage to physical structures and choke out the plants you are actively trying to grow. Their persistence, however, is a testament to nature’s endurance. But all green things can be torn from the earth or sent on to meet their maker by other means.

NOTE: With this spray, you hold the power of life and death in your hands—use it wisely, because it will wipe out any plant you spray with it and diminish the fertility of the soil into which it soaks.

• In a large bowl, mix 3 cups (750 mL) white vinegar, 3 tablespoons (45 mL) fine salt, and 1 teaspoon (5 mL) Castile soap. Stir until the salt dissolves and, using a funnel, pour into a clean 32-ounce (1 L) spray bottle. Replace the spray nozzle and shake well. Spritz this solution directly onto the plant you are trying to kill, shielding the plants you want to spare with a piece of cardboard when you do. Within a week, the sprayed plants should be dead.

Ant Remediation

Although this recipe appears in the outdoors chapter, it is really for the benefit of the indoor environment. Ants are remarkable creatures, capable of incredible group and individual feats despite their small stature and minuscule brains (which contain a scant 250,000 neurons to the roughly 86 billion in our brains). They are also prolific breeders and tireless workers, with a knack for home invasion. These instructions—which include a nontoxic method of disrupting these insects’ reliance on chemical signals, called pheromones, to navigate in the world and take advantage of their fondness for sugar—amount to a holistic approach to keeping them outside your home.

NOTE: This remediation program works on so-called sugar ants, the several species of tiny, sugar-loving ants commonly found in homes everywhere. If you have an infestation of carpenter ants or other destructive species, call an exterminator immediately.

• First, find where the ants are getting into the house by patiently observing them as they go about their business. Also try to discover where their nest is by following them away from the house—it won’t be far. Finally, repeat the sleuthing process inside the house to see where they are coming in.

OUTDOOR CONTROL

• In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup (60 mL) cinnamon powder and ¼ cup (60 mL) cayenne pepper (both of which ants dislike); use this 1:1 ratio to make more, if needed. Sprinkle this mixture in a pencil-width line across the edge of the house where the ants are coming in—the longer the line, the better, since ants have infinite patience and will eventually find a way around any obstacle. The best barrier would go all the way around the house. And even that might not do it.

• Finally, if you’ve found the nest, take the ultimate step of wiping out the colony. In a large pot, boil 1 gallon (4 L) water and slowly pour it into the hole of the anthill or nest. This will kill most of the ants inside as well as their eggs. Repeat as necessary.

NOTE: It will take a long time for the ants to return, but have no doubt—they’ll be back, even if you do manage to take out the queen in the deluge.

INDOOR CONTROL

• In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup (60 mL) confectioners’ sugar and ¼ cup (60 mL) baking soda. Place in jar lids or other shallow containers along the path the ants travel inside the house. They will take the laced sugar, a preferred food source, and bring it back to the nest. When ingested, baking soda (a base) reacts with the formic acid in an ant’s digestive system to produce several by-products, including water and carbon dioxide, the latter of which will kill them.

Slug Trap

As any gardener knows, slugs can do immense damage in a garden—they may be slimy, slow-moving tubes of mucus, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get hungry. If you’re tired of having your tenderest lettuces, herbs, and low-lying decorative plants devoured overnight, here’s one way to take a stand. Special thanks to Patrick Dolan and Barbara Pleasant for this genius trap design and bait mixture.

• First, construct the physical trap. Using a permanent marker, draw a line around the diameter of a 1-quart (1 L) plastic takeout container (or other 1-quart plastic container with lid), about 2 inches (5 cm) from the bottom. This is the baseline for the holes that will allow the slugs to enter the container. With a sharp paring knife and scissors, cut four rectangular holes in the container—each one should be about ½ inch (13 mm) high and 1½ inches (38 mm) wide, evenly spaced along the line you drew around the container.

• In a small bowl, mix 1 cup (250 mL) water, 1 teaspoon (5 mL) sugar, 1 teaspoon (5 mL) white flour, and ½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) dry yeast. Pour the mixture into a clean, resealable jar and give it a good shake to combine. This bait takes advantage of slugs’ fondness for carbohydrates and yeast (which is why beer is often used as bait).

• Bury the trap in a hole in the soil of your garden, but only up to the line you drew around the container—the slugs need to be able to slip into the holes you cut at soil level. Fill the bottom of the container with the bait, to just below the windows. Replace the lid of the trap (this will protect the bait from rain). Check the trap in two days—by then it will either 1) be filled with dead slugs or 2) need to have the bait replaced (it gets pretty smelly as fermentation sets in).

Garden Tool Preserver

Because garden tools are used for poking around in wet soil—which is also filled with lots of different minerals—they are prone to rusting. A little iron oxide isn’t going to harm the plants in your garden, but it will shorten the life of your tools.

• Rinse your garden tools with a garden hose and then dry them thoroughly. Pour a little olive oil onto a clean rag and spread the oil all over the metal parts of the tools, reapplying as necessary. When all the tools have a thin coating of oil, let them dry for 4 hours or overnight.

Flowerpot Reviver

At first glance, last year’s flowerpots look like they might no longer be suitable containers for living things. But it is easy to clean up the limescale and caked-on dirt that make them look so unappealing. Plus you’ll also be getting rid of any leftover harmful organisms.

• Place a handful of coarse salt on a clean, damp rag and use it to scour the inside and outside of the pot, reapplying salt and a few drops of water as necessary. When the pot is clean, rinse thoroughly with cold water.

Do-It-Yourself Soil Analysis

Depending on what you want to plant in your garden, you are going to want to know a couple of important facts about the soil you’ll be planting in. First, you’ll want to know the composition of the soil—that is, the percentage of sand, silt, and clay. Next, you will need to know the pH level of the soil—is it alkaline (with a pH above 7), acidic (with a pH below 7), or neutral (pH of 7)? Most (but by no means all) plants grow in the slightly acidic range of 5.5 to 7 pH because this is the range favored by the microbes in the soil that help the plant’s roots absorb nutrients most efficiently.

pH TEST

• Take ½ cup (125 mL) soil from your garden, from a hole that’s about 8 inches (20 cm) deep (roughly where the taproots will be for most plants). Place half the soil in one small bowl and the other half in a second small bowl. Pour ¼ cup (60 mL) white vinegar into the first bowl—if it fizzes, then the soil is alkaline. Pour 2 tablespoons (30 mL) water into the second bowl and add ¼ cup (60 mL) baking soda—if it fizzes, then the soil is acidic. And if neither fizzes, then the soil has a neutral pH. Consult the pH requirements of the plants you want to grow and take steps to adjust the soil accordingly.

NOTE: For a more exact measurement, invest in a digital pH-measuring tool.

SOIL COMPOSITION TEST

• Take ¾ cup (180 mL) soil from your garden, from a hole that’s about 8 inches (20 cm) deep (roughly where the taproots will be for most plants). Place the soil into a clean, resealable 16-ounce (500 mL) glass jar and fill the jar with water to a point 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the top of the jar. Put the lid securely on the jar and shake vigorously. After 1 minute, use a ruler to measure the height of the first layer to fall to the bottom, which is sand. After 90 minutes, use the ruler to measure the next layer to settle, silt. After 48 hours, use the ruler to measure the height of the top layer, clay, as well as the total height of the three layers combined. Divide the height of each layer by the total height to find the percentage of that layer. Consult the composition requirements for the plants you hope to grow and take steps to adjust the soil accordingly.

Rose, Tomato, and Pepper Booster

Although there is some controversy surrounding the practice of adding Epsom salt to soil—regular salt is, after all, poisonous to plants—countless gardeners have long maintained that you will get healthier, better fruiting and flowering rose, tomato, and pepper plants by using it. This is because all three use large amounts of magnesium and sulfur, particularly in the mid-to-late growing season, both of which are provided by Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate).

• At the beginning of the season, spoon 1 tablespoon (15 mL) Epsom salt into the planting holes, whether you are putting seeds or transplants into the ground. Immediately water after planting to dissolve the salt and release its components into the soil.

• When leaves first begin to appear on the plants, or when new leaves start coming in on transplants, scatter 1 tablespoon (15 mL) Epsom salt around the base of each plant once every six weeks until the end of the growing season. Water after every application.

• Later in the season, when fruits and flowers begin to come in, spray the plants’ leaves (not the fruit or flowers) with an Epsom solution, in lieu of watering, once per month until the end of the growing season. In a large bowl, add 2 teaspoons (10 mL) Epsom salt to 1 quart (1 L) water and stir until the salt has dissolved. Using a funnel, pour into a clean 32-ounce (1 L) spray bottle and replace the spray nozzle. This will keep the leaves healthy throughout the season and enable the plants to improve their uptake of other essential nutrients necessary to produce large flowers and fruit.

Powdery Mildew Treatment

One of the most common afflictions in any garden, whether ornamental or edible, is the dreaded powdery mildew, a disease caused by several different species of fungi that attack a wide variety of plants. The gray, powdery mildew is instantly identifiable (and highly contagious) and appears on both the stems and leaves of infected plants. As the furry spores spread, the gray spots grow larger and will eventually damage the health of the plant. If you spot powdery mildew in your garden, immediately start using this solution to stop its spread—if it becomes well established, the best you can hope for is to control it, not eliminate it.

• In a large bowl, add ½ gallon (2 L) water, 2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking soda, 2 teaspoons (10 mL) olive oil, and 2 teaspoons (10 mL) Castile soap and gently stir to combine. Using a large funnel, pour into a clean 64-ounce (2 L) pump sprayer and replace the spray nozzle. Once per week, in the morning, spray every leaf and stem affected by the powdery mildew. Within a couple of weeks, the plants should begin to clear up (or at the very least, the spores should stop spreading).