When you are working in the garden, spray your boots with insect repellent. This will prevent you from having the Ants from crawling onto your shoes and up your legs and bit you. This is a really goood trick and in Florida the Fire ants are horrible.

By JANINE on 10/6/2009

The older I get, the harder it is to kneel and weed. I bought a fold-up low stool with pockets for my gardening tools, and it is much easier just to sit and bend down to weed or dig.

By Patricia on 10/6/2009

Compost is a great way to add nutrients back into your garden or flower beds.  It really helps to cut down on the weeds.  Why throw out all the fruit and vegetable scraps that you paid for.  

By Rita on 10/6/2009

Get big handy buckets from the bakery department at the grocery store for free. They get their icing in three or four gallon buckets that are handy for all sorts of garden uses. I use them for transporting manure and coffee grounds for my compost pile, weed clean-up, and planting container gardens.

By Carolyn on 10/6/2009

I use my old coffee grounds for my Roses. It has nutrients that they use, it also keeps the ants down. Those ants bite hard.

By Patricia on 10/6/2009

To keep the weeds down between the rows in your garden, put down several layers of newspapers.  Spray with water and top with lots of mulch or grass.  Spray with water again to keep it all in place. It will last all summer.

By Carol on 10/6/2009

As tomatoes grow through the season and they have overgrown the cages, etc, I use old panty hose to contain the long heavy branches.  Cut the hose into loops and tie the branches to your cage or stake as they grow.  The hose doesn't cut off the food supply to the branches.

By Laura on 10/7/2009

question...i received a banana plant and need to bring it in for the winter.  do i just put it in my furnace room til spring and do i need to water it all winter?  light, no light?

By Kathy on 10/7/2009

wow!these are great garden tips!keep them coming--thankyou!

By Foxgloves on 10/7/2009

• Carol said:

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  To keep the weeds down between the rows in your garden, put down several layers of newspapers.  Spray with water and top with lots of mulch or grass.  Spray with water again to keep it all in place. It will last all summer.

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trying this today at the neighbors!  Sounds perfect, she is not a weed puller and i live across the street and don't like to look at the weeds.

By Kathy on 10/7/2009

I always put an unlit match in the hole as I transpant tomatoes and peppers. The sulfer is supposed to give them a "kick start". And if your soil is more like clay than soil, save your eggshells, let them dry, then crush them and add them to the soil-I throw them on all year then when it's planting time, they get worked into the soil as you work.

By Cheryl on 10/7/2009

• Kathy said:

  ---

  question...i received a banana plant and need to bring it in for the winter.  do i just put it in my furnace room til spring and do i need to water it all winter?  light, no light?

  ---

I don't know where you live but here in Georgia, mine stay out,  and then come back in the spring.  After they produce, they also die but new shoots come up from the main plant  If you bring it in, it will need the winter rest so I would leave it alone and just take it out again in the spring, cut back the dead stalk, water, fertilize and see it come to life.  Of course, I don't pretend to be an expert but I've had bananna plants for years.  Best of luck to you.

By Gail on 10/7/2009

A friend told me about a fish fertilzer that works wonders.  I tried it this year and had more vegies than ever before.  It is called Alaska Fish Fertilizer.  It was hard to find, I got it at a local Ace hardware store, the big home improvement stores did not have a clue what I was talking about.  If they did know, they could not keep it on the shelves as it is a miracle!  The early girl tomatoes were big like the beef steak kind.  I swear by this product. Costs around $9 but will last for 2 seasons for me.Ann P in Flint Mi

By Ann on 10/7/2009

• Cheryl said:

  ---

  I always put an unlit match in the hole as I transpant tomatoes and peppers. The sulfer is supposed to give them a kick start. And if your soil is more like clay than soil, save your eggshells, let them dry, then crush them and add them to the soil-I throw them on all year then when its planting time, they get worked into the soil as you work.

  ---

A tablespoon of Epsom salts in the hole works great for tomatoes.I have done that for years!Nancy, MD

By Nan on 10/7/2009

• Rita said:

  ---

  Compost is a great way to add nutrients back into your garden or flower beds.  It really helps to cut down on the weeds.  Why throw out all the fruit and vegetable scraps that you paid for.  

  ---

i also compost cat hair and tea bags (remove the staple and paper) with my veggie scraps and egg shells .. if you have tomatoes that you love, be sure to compost the seeds - you never know what surprise tomato plants wil emerge in the spring!!!

By Shelley on 10/7/2009

• Ann said:

  ---

  A friend told me about a fish fertilzer that works wonders.  I tried it this year and had more vegies than ever before.  It is called Alaska Fish Fertilizer.  It was hard to find, I got it at a local Ace hardware store, the big home improvement stores did not have a clue what I was talking about.  If they did know, they could not keep it on the shelves as it is a miracle!  The early girl tomatoes were big like the beef steak kind.  I swear by this product. Costs around $9 but will last for 2 seasons for me.Ann P in Flint Mi
• 
  
• How much do you use?
• 
  

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By Diana on 10/7/2009

I heard banana peels are great for roses, so I tried it and I had the best roses. It's the potassium. But do this in spring. For Fall I have many hints when it's time to start planting bulbs and cleaning up for winter. Nature gives us plenty of hints. Fall plants in full bloom, seeing the first leaves start to change color, watching squirrels digging holes to bury food, hearing the many flocks of geese heading south, seeing my neighbors cleaning up their gardens and telling myself I need to do that...etc.. Commercial hints; the bulb nurseries start emailing me with discounts and stores start selling Christmas items in Septmber. Garden Hints: Have garden tools and blades sharpened during late fall and winter when it's off season and garden business is slower. Shop for garden tool at end of the season. Great prices. Now is the time to trade seeds with neighbors for planting next spring.

By M on 10/7/2009

• Kathy said:

  ---

  question...i received a banana plant and need to bring it in for the winter.  do i just put it in my furnace room til spring and do i need to water it all winter?  light, no light?

  ---

your banna tree does not need water or light.When you take the tree in cut off the leaves and put under your house near the furnance to keep it warm. It will go into a dormat state until next spring. Then you take it out,it will look all dried up and dead. Plant ,water and watch. Sometimes the host tree will die but keep watering and new babies will come up.

By Deborah on 10/7/2009

After reading about the post on composting, I remembered that fall is a great time to start composting. I use black plastic garbage cans and start with a little blood meal or bulb feed, a little leftover compost, mix of fall leaves (brown), mulched garden leftovers and grass clippings (green), and then duct tape the tops and roll the barrels to a place that will receives full sun (even in the winter). I roll the barrels once a week until the snow flies, then again when the snow melts. This way I have compost for my spring plantings. I save time by filling the bins as I rake leaves and mulch greens. During spring and summer, I place a bin where it's convenient to dump mowed grass clippings.  

By M on 10/7/2009

• Nan said:

  ---

  • Cheryl said:

    ---

    I always put an unlit match in the hole as I transpant tomatoes and peppers. The sulfer is supposed to give them a kick start. And if your soil is more like clay than soil, save your eggshells, let them dry, then crush them and add them to the soil-I throw them on all year then when its planting time, they get worked into the soil as you work.

    ---

  
  A tablespoon of Epsom salts in the hole works great for tomatoes.I have done that for years!Nancy, MD

  ---

I also use Epsom salts for peppers. Laura, NY

By Laura on 10/7/2009

A really cool "Home Remedy" insect killer that doesn't involve harmful chemicals is tobacco tea.  Sounds gross but it really works.  Boil about 2 quarts of water and steep an ounce of any kind of chewing tobacco in it overnight.  Strain or remove the tobacco and pour the brown liquid in a gallon container.  Fill the container with another 2 quarts of water and then add about a teaspoon of liquid dish soap.  Put the concotion in your hose-end sprayer and hit your lawn, trees, flower beds, and around the foundation of your house.  The bugs disappear almost immediately.  And the kids and dogs are safe to play outside.Jan

By Jan on 10/7/2009

i trid the bluebarry one and i liked it

By Ann on 10/7/2009

• Gail said:

  ---

  • Kathy said:

    ---

    question...i received a banana plant and need to bring it in for the winter.  do i just put it in my furnace room til spring and do i need to water it all winter?  light, no light?

    ---

  
  I dont know where you live but here in Georgia, mine stay out,  and then come back in the spring.  After they produce, they also die but new shoots come up from the main plant  If you bring it in, it will need the winter rest so I would leave it alone and just take it out again in the spring, cut back the dead stalk, water, fertilize and see it come to life.  Of course, I dont pretend to be an expert but Ive had bananna plants for years.  Best of luck to you.

  ---

 I live in central Texas and I have had a banana tree in my house for years and it is beautiful. I gets bright indirect light and I try to keep the soil moist. But I often forget and it always forgives me.

By Deb on 10/7/2009

I plant a border of flowers around my whole vegetable garden. It helps draw pollinators which in turn gives you an abundant amount of veggies. And if you plant marigolds it helps keep some of the less desirable pests out.

By Sarah on 10/7/2009