Garden Maintenance
TIPS IN THIS CHAPTER
22. Self-watering plant containers
26. What greywater is good for
MANURE TEA
ITS USES ARE MANY, BUT ITS PRICE IS NOT STEEP
The effectiveness of manure tea is a hotly debated garden topic, yet the fact that this technique can reuse animal waste in a very positive way to grow flowers and vegetables is a strong argument toward a greener garden. While many scientists contend that manure tea is not an effective soil amendment, the vast hordes of gardeners who have applied a dose to their plants disagree vehemently because they have seen the positive results. Manure tea is filled with aerobic bacteria and has been used for centuries as a valuable and economical fertilizer. Typically, it is made from aged, composted, nitrogen-rich manure. This creates a positive soil amendment for heavy garden feeders that require additional nutrition throughout the season, such as asparagus, tomatoes, and peppers. Do not, however, use fresh, non-composted manure as it may contain pathogens.
Remember: Do not drink this tea. It’s only to be used as a soil conditioner for your plants. Water your plants with the tea, and be sure sprinkle it on the leaves as it is also absorbed through the leaf system.
Homemade manure tea The best manures to use for homemade tea include cow, horse, goat, and rabbit manures. Put a shovel-full of rotted, composted manure in a large burlap or cotton sack and close the sack by tightly tying it shut with twine. Fill an 18.93 liter (5.1 gallons) bucket with rainwater. Put the manure sack in the water. Stir occasionally. Steep in the water for 3 to 5 days until the tea is a deep brown color. Dilute your homemade manure tea by half so you do not burn your plants. Use 1 to 2 times per week throughout the growing season when watering.
Pre-made manure tea bags Purchasing commercially made manure-filled tea bags is a no-fuss and no-mess way of making manure tea. Simply fill a watering can or 18.93 liter (5.1 gallons) bucket with rainwater, toss in a tea bag, and let steep for 1 to 3 days until the tea is a deep brown color. There is no need to dilute this tea; pour directly into a watering can and water your thirsty plants.
Fill a watering can or bucket with rainwater, toss in a manure tea bag, let steep, and then feed your plants with manure tea for a healthy garden.
COFFEE GROUNDS COMPOST
COFFEE GROUNDS DO NOT ADD ACID BUT DO ADD HUMIC PROPERTIES
Common coffee grounds are piling up in landfills around the world. Tons of coffee grounds are generated each year, and recycling them into your compost pile and garden beds can have many beneficial effects on the garden.
Coffee grounds appear to suppress some common fungal rots and wilts, and at the same time they have proven to be an effective replacement for peat moss (an endangered resource). But the best use for this ubiquitous kitchen waste is simply to add it to your garden compost. If you are not a regular imbiber of coffee drinks at home, go to your local coffee shop and ask them to save their coffee grounds for you—they are usually happy to get the coffee grounds out of their waste stream and also to keep them out of the landfill. Add coffee grounds (you can even include unbleached paper filters) to your compost pile liberally, but the volume of grounds should not exceed 10 to 20 percent of the total volume of your compost pile or bin.
Coffee grounds are an excellent compost ingredient. Add to your compost at a 10 to 20 percent ratio to the total volume of the pile.
SOAP-BASED INSECTICIDE
MIX A BATCH OF SOAP-BASED INSECTICIDE
Without a doubt, the best way to prevent insect damage to your plants is to discourage them from coming to your garden in the first place. This can be accomplished with a few simple steps: keep plant foliage as dry as possible. Clean up weedy undergrowth, and pull weak plants that might be diseased (insects often attack the weak plants first and live in the messy undergrowth and garden debris). Compost all plant material, rotate vegetable and herb crops annually, and encourage beneficial insects.
When prevention does not work, however, look for organic solutions, such as handpicking larger pests or spraying off aphids with a powerful hose burst; these are effective treatments with no negative side effects. Another option is homemade insecticidal soap. Free of chemicals (and practically free to make), soapy water is my favorite treatment for soft-bodied insects, such as whiteflies, aphids, mealybugs, mites, and thrips. Fatty acid from the soap melts the insects’ cell membranes, so spraying directly on the bug is critical for this all-natural solution to work. The soapy film left behind on the plant leaves also discourages other insects from taking a bite. By making your own insecticidal soap, you can reuse the same spray bottle many times and keep plenty of empty plastic bottles out of the waste stream.
Pure castile soap mixed with water makes a wonderful homemade insect-icidal soap that will help rid your garden of insects.
Supplies Needed
Gather these ingredients:
Clean spray bottle
Pure soap; all-natural or castile works well, do not use oil-based dish soap
Water
The recipe is so simple:
1. Mix 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of soap in 1 quart (0.95 l) of water in a spray bottle.
2. Shake well.
3. Spray.
EASY EARWIG TRAPS
TWO SIMPLE TRICKS TO COMBAT THESE GARDEN PESTS
Earwigs are scary-looking insects. In the Middle Ages, they were rumored to use their pinchers to crawl into the ears of sleeping people, burrow into their brains, and lay eggs. This is, of course, a myth. Earwigs are not known to bite or attack humans. But they can do plenty of damage to your garden. My favorite way to take care of these pests is by using the secret recycled newspaper tip below.
Earwigs are outdoor nocturnal insects that feed on rotted or decaying plant material that is usually found in damp areas beneath old wood, dead leaves, and mulch. They also attack tender- leaved plants, such as hostas and new vegetables. Earwigs can do serious damage to an entire crop, so must be controlled immediately when discovered.
Earwigs might be the pest that is attacking your tender plants in the garden; they are notorious for leaving holes in the leaves and can damage entire crops overnight.
The first signs of earwig damage are usually cut holes in the leaves that look a lot like slug damage. To determine whether you have earwigs or slugs, use a garden hose to wet down an area in your garden that is showing leaf damage. Wait until late night, then go out to the garden location with the lights off, raise your leaves up, and shine a light on the plant. If you see earwigs scurrying away, you will know they are the root of the damage, not the relatively slow-footed slug. If instead of a pack of earwigs you see slimy slug or snail trials, focus your abatement plans on these creatures (see Tip 20, shown here, for how to keep slugs out of containers).
Once you’ve determined that you have earwigs in your garden, here are a couple of easy ideas you can deploy to dispense with them:
Baited traps Put a mixture of 3 parts water, 1 part soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon molasses in a small container—such as an old yogurt or butter container—and shake it up. In the evening, dig a hole in the area where the earwigs are attacking your plants and sink the small container in the soil so the top is level with the ground. Gently pour vegetable oil over the top of the liquid so it forms a very thin layer. Come back the next morning and discover hundreds of earwigs in the container. Discard the pests.
Rolled-up newspaper trap Lay a sheet of newspaper flat and roll it up length-wise. Take it to the problem area in the garden in the late evening. Place it on the ground, then soak the paper and the entire area well with a water hose. Go out in the very early morning and collect the newspaper. Either shake the earwigs out in a soapy bucket and compost the paper, or throw the newspaper away in a plastic bag tied tightly so no bugs can escape.
Keep in mind that earwigs are attracted to moist areas, so cleaning up wet or damp spots in the garden can help keep them away from your plants. Female earwigs can lay 20 to 60 eggs per season, so one session of trapping will not work. It is essential to lay traps repeatedly every night for a week, then repeat the process again in a few weeks’ time in order to seriously reduce the earwig population.
USES FOR WORM CASTINGS
HOMEGROWN OR STORE-BOUGHT WORM CASTINGS WORK MIRACLES
Worm castings are actually worm manure. Known to increase microbial activity around a plant root zone, worm castings are filled with beneficial micronutrients and trace minerals. Fertilizing with worm castings is a perfect way to use natural waste in a creative way in your garden. Plus, if you build your own worm composting bin (called a vermicomposter) and feed your worms kitchen scraps and shredded newspapers, you’ll be reducing waste in yet another way. Worm castings do not have an odor, hold 2 to 3 times their weight in water, will not burn your plants, are safe for pets and children, and are water soluble and immediately available to plant life. Worm castings are so amazingly powerful that you will need five times as much potting soil to provide the same nutritional and water-holding qualities as natural worm castings.
One surprising aspect of worm castings is that they have the ability to fix heavy metals in organic waste, which means when used in quantity, worm castings will prevent a plant’s absorption of heavy metal chemicals. Use them liberally mixed in with your mulch, and follow the instructions below for compost and soil amendments.
Compost To mix the correct ratio of worm castings in a compost bin, add 1 pound (4.5 kg) of worm castings to your compost pile by sprinkling it on top of each layer of brown materials.
Ground planting Mix 1/4 cup (60 ml) into each planting hole for all plants to assist them with root establishment. Also use the castings as a topdressing for outdoor plants.
Container planting Mix 1/4 cup (60 ml) of worm castings into every gallon (3.8 l) of organic soil. Because worm castings have the remarkable ability to absorb and hold moisture, this addition can strongly improve a drought-tolerant container planting. Additional top- dressing throughout the season is beneficial for container plantings.
Worm casting tea To make worm casting tea, mix 1 gallon (3.8 l) of water with 1 pound (.45 kg) of worm castings. Shake or stir. Use immediately if you like, or let sit for 24 hours for a richer tea.
Worm castings should be mixed in with your soil at planting time or made into a manure tea for an added dose of organic nutrition throughout the garden season.
SOLVE YOUR SLUG PROBLEMS
HERE ARE SEVERAL SOLUTIONS TO SOLVING A SLUG PROBLEM
Slugs are bothersome and destructive garden pests found all around the world. Technically, a slug is a mollusk that lacks a shell and secretes a slimy covering of mucus for protection. While some slugs are predatory and eat other slugs, worms, or snails, most species prefer feeding on a wide variety of organic materials, particularly prized plants in your garden. Once your garden is infested with slugs, it can be hard to get rid of them because a slug lays between 20 to 100 eggs several times a year and is hermaphroditic, meaning it has both male and female reproductive organs. One individual slug can produce more than 90,000 grandchildren.
Handpicking is a great way to control slugs. Introducing predators, such as chicken and ducks, also works.
Beer bait, iron phosphate bait, and diatomaceous earth are also successful organic controls. These techniques are simple:
Instead of throwing out stale beer or beer left at the bottom of the cans after a weekend party, pour it in an old tuna tin that has been buried so its top is level with the soil. The old beer attracts the slugs, and they drown when they crawl in to have a taste.
You can try an eggshell barrier, which is created by sprinkling crushed eggshells around plants to cut the skin of a slug. But this technique has a 33 percent failure rate.
Diatomaceous earth, or DE, is made from diatoms (fossilized algae), which are finely ground into dust. In order to prevent slugs, apply a 1- to 11/2-inch (2.5 to 3.8 cm)-wide band of DE around plants after a heavy rain. When either slugs or snails crawl over the dust, it sticks to them and causes their bodies to dry out. Be sure to use goggles, gloves, and a dust mask during application.
Prevention is the best control for slugs, which means eliminating dark, moist hiding areas around the garden and increasing air circulation. Trimming and limbing-up trees to get stronger sunlight exposure can help. Clean up rotting undergrowth and excessive mulch from the garden.
One reliable way slugs can be readily controlled is to handpick the creatures out of your garden.
INTENSIVE PLANTING
INTENSIVE PLANTING BOOSTS YIELD AND SAVES WATER
Intensive planting techniques, such as layering up compost and natural soil ingredients without tilling, while planting closely together in elevated and ingredient-rich beds, are practiced to help minimize soil compaction. These techniques allow you to plant in challenging or difficult locations, solve drainage issues, eliminate the need for tilling, increase vegetable and herb production, and conserve water. With many parts of the world suffering from drought, it is critical to find ways to use less water and still grow more produce in less space. Intensive planting enriches soil so you use less fertilizer and helps shade the soil to prevent water loss due to evaporation, keeping more precious water from going to waste. Most importantly, you can contribute to a no-waste garden with intensive planting techniques because they allow you to reuse more natural ingredients, such as compost, leaf mold, and crushed hardwood mulch. Intensive planting techniques can accomplish all these things and more.
Preparing your soil for a no-till garden situation is vitally important to an intensive-planted garden (see Tip 1, shown here) because the basis for a garden such as this is a deeply fertile and well-drained soil. Using organic mulches, rotted manure, and rich compost as soil amendments is the foundation to a fabulous intensively planted garden.
There are several long-standing techniques for intensive planting that have proven to be very successful, including square-foot gardening and bio-intensive gardening. The no-till, richly fertile technique of bio- intensive gardening, combined with simply planting more plants, creates a special environment for your vegetable or herb plants that helps hold water at the roots for a longer period of time. This, in turn, creates a setting in which the plants help support one another. In this photo you see three raised beds packed full of plants—collard greens, mustard greens, and celery—all growing quite successfully with minimal water.
Careful advanced planning is the key to success with this water-saving technique. Plant herbs and vegetables in strips 1 to 3 feet (.3 to .9 m) wide using elevated or raised beds that are about 1 foot (.3 m) above ground level. Leave the side of the beds open or use a raised bed system. Packing the plants closer together without overplanting is important. Mulching and thinning the plants as necessary to prevent disease and pests is also critical because tightly planted gardens also have reduced air circulation. Succession planting will help extend your gardening season.
Here are three raised beds filled with collard greens, mustard greens, and celery utilizing the intensive-planting technique. Plants share space and use minimal water.
SELF-WATERING PLANT CONTAINERS
TWO POTS AND A PLASTIC CUP ARE ALL YOU NEED
Watering plants in containers can be a time-consuming chore, particularly in the heat and wind of summer. It also generates a lot of wasteful run-off. Making your own self-watering containers is a great way to create a watering system that helps conserve water and eliminate run-off. Typically, commercially available self-watering garden containers have an area to hold the plants and soil, then a bottom pot or reservoir that holds the irrigation water. Some form of wick will link the inner and outer pot so that water in the reservoir is drawn up to the plant roots as the moisture level in the soil decreases.
Building your own self-watering container is easy. One great way to repurpose is to turn old storage bins, tubs, buckets, or plastic flower pots into self-watering planters.
1. Find two planting containers around the same size; one will be the planter pot, and one will eventually be the container pot. Drill some extra holes in the bottom of the planter pot.
2. Place a yogurt tub, bucket, or other solid container (depending on the size of your planter and container pot) in the bottom of the container pot to create a water reservoir.
3. Feed a piece of cotton rope through one of the holes in the planter pot so it will run between where the soil in the planter pot will be and into the water reservoir where it will wick up water.
4. Fill the reservoir with water, then place the planter pot with wick on top.
5. Plant in the top pot. Try to keep the wick centered.
6. You will periodically have to refill the reservoir. Just lift off the planter pot and add water.
This technique works great on a balcony, fire escape, or patio. Filling your reservoir with rainwater when possible is a wise choice as there are fewer chemicals in rainwater compared to city water or softened water. Never use softened water in your container gardens because the dissolved salts are toxic to your plants. Most self-watering containers are food safe, but do your research and make sure this is true before planting in a self-watering unit.
Self-watering containers are a time-saving garden idea because you spend less time watering and more time growing.
DIY DRIP LINES
THIS EASY DIY PROJECT SAVES COUNTLESS HOURS OF HAND-WATERING
Watering your containers and raised gardens with hoses leads to a fair amount of water waste due to evaporation. Reduce water waste by running drip lines to your container gardens. You can save an immense amount of water and will be more successful with your container plantings with far less effort. There’s no need to hire a professional landscaping team to install your system: you can put this project together yourself easy-peasy and take the worry out of wasteful watering, especially if you add a timer.
Industrial container drip systems have long been used in greenhouses. Most systems have a filter to keep particles from clogging the tubes; cleaning this filter is the only consistent maintenance chore related to drip systems.
Drip lines for garden containers, living walls, and raised beds are easy to assemble if you lay out your units and follow package directions for the drip system product. Illustration credit: This illustrative drip line design is for the Living Wall Planter 2 container system from www.woollypocket.com.
HARVEST THE RAIN
RAIN BARREL WATER ISN’T JUST FREE, IT’S ALSO BETTER FOR YOUR PLANTS
To take advantage of free rainwater, install a rain barrel system with one or more rain barrels, or create your own rain barrel for next to nothing by converting a trash can.
Harvesting rain is very important to you and your community. Collecting rainwater for use in your garden means you don’t have to purchase that water. Also, it costs millions of dollars of taxpayer money to maintain and repair public storm water and sewer systems. By collecting your own water and withholding it from storm water systems, you save yourself and the community money. Approximately 1 inch (1.3 cm) of rainfall on a 2,000-square-foot (186-square-meter) roof creates 1,250 gallons (4,732 l) of water that can be reused by your household. Over time, it is possible to collect thousands of useable gallons of water for free from your rooftop.
Plants watered with rainwater are not exposed to chlorine and other chemicals added to tap water. While rainwater cistern is considered non-potable because it has not been chemically treated, it is magnificent for use on plants, as they will not have to absorb additional chemicals.
WINE BOTTLE WATERING CANS
HERE’S A QUICK TIP TO PROVIDE SLOW-RELEASE WATER
All gardeners have a few plants, either in the garden or in a garden container, that require a little extra water attention. What is a gardener to do when faced with travel and/or an active lifestyle and no time to water? Keep garden watering going even if you are on vacation by using a wine bottle watering system: it is a fantastic way to recycle wine bottles and conserve water—helping you lead your best, no-waste lifestyle—while assisting those fussier plants with a little conservation-oriented water love.
Wine bottle watering works with a trickle-down principle to provide a consistent and steady supply of water to the plant’s root system. There are several watering spike systems that allow you to connect a water, soda, or wine bottle to a pointy spike that is then inserted into the soil. Included in this genre are terracotta stakes (see photo), plastic screw-on tops, or bottle lid adapters. Any of these are easy to use unless the garden container is too small; the weight of a bottle filled with water can tip the container. Therefore, this tip is best used in larger containers or directly in the ground.
To use a bottle without a spike adapter, simply dig a small hole about the size of the neck of the wine bottle next to the plant that needs a little extra love and tender care. Do not disturb the plant’s roots, but place the hole as close to the root system as you can get. Water the area well before you place the bottle in the soil. Fill the bottle with water, then quickly turn it upside down, and insert the neck into the hole and backfill around the bottle with soil so it is well supported.
Watering frequency with this technique depends on the rate of water trickle, how large the bottle is, and what the weather conditions are at the moment. Test it out the first week or two by putting your fingers on the ground between the plant and bottle. If it is cool and slightly moist, the bottle is doing its job. If it is dry, the bottle needs to be refilled with water and replaced in the hole.
Creating a bottle-watering system is easy and can be quite decorative if you use bottles with bold, attractive colors.
WHAT GREYWATER IS GOOD FOR
REUSE YOUR COOKING WATER IN THE GARDEN
Throwing out your cooking water without recycling it is wasting an opportunity to conserve in three ways: you lose a nutritional supplement for plants, as well as valuable moisture and a weed killer. Finding creative ways to reuse water means you are doing your part for the betterment of the environment. Try these easy ideas.
Provide nutrition and fertilizer Depending on what you are cooking, nutrients leach into the cooking water from your food. If, for instance, you make hard-boiled eggs, there will be an excess of calcium in the water. Let the egg water cool, then use it to water your calcium-loving plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos. Boiling greens, such as spinach or chard, will produce iron-enhanced water. Potatoes and pasta starches are also good for your garden, but do not use salted water.
Save water In areas of the world where drought is a concern, using your cooled cooking water as an additional source of water is genius. Simply remove whatever you were cooking, let the water cool to room temperature, and then carry it to the garden and distribute it. This same idea can work with your dishwater if you use an all-natural, non-oil-based soap. Wash dishes within a dishpan in your sink and when you are done, simply toss the dishwater out into the garden where your plants need it the most.
Kill weeds Boiling water is a great weed killer. Have a driveway or sidewalk filled with weeds? No problem. Remove whatever you were cooking in the pan, then heat the water up again to boiling. Using hot pads, carry the boiling water to your weedy sidewalk and slowly pour the water over the crowns of the weeds.
ORGANIC WASP CONTROL
IF YOU CAN’T IGNORE THEM, TRAP THEM
Outdoor life on patios and in gardens means you sometimes run into a wasps. Wasps are very good for the environment because they function as pollinators and help manage certain pests. So as a general policy, try not to harm wasps. However, for the safety of your pets and family, if you have to control wasps, there are ways to do it without chemicals. Eliminating the things that wasps are attracted to is a great way to prevent stings. This includes rotting garbage, fruit from fruit trees, sweet foods and drinks, compost piles, heavy perfumes, and pet food.
When you see a wasp, do not run or swat. If there are only one or two wasps, stay calm and very still. Wait for the wasps to fly off. If there is a swarm of wasps and they have stung already, calmly cover your face with your hands and slowly back away from the swarming wasps. Do not run, even if you feel panicked. Seek treatment immediately.
When a wasp lands on you, do not run or swat. Gently wipe the wasp off of you with paper or cardboard—not your hand. Slowly walk away without panicking.
While it’s best not to kill wasps, it is sometimes necessary. In those instances, it is much safer to use a trap rather than insecticide. While the insecticide is deadly to the wasps, it is also harmful to humans when inhaled and not good at all for the environment. The following unique and easy-to-make wasp trap uses two repurposed plastic bottles to capture wasps and keep them away from your picnic table.
Wasp nests can be found in the smallest of places. While wasps are great pollinators in the garden, sometimes controls must be taken to manage them.