Gardening
- Horse radish against potatoe-beetles
If you grow potatoes in your garden you'll have to take care of the dangerous potatoe-beetles. This may sound funny but if one plants horse radish around the bed it'll keep the bugs off.
- Mowing wet lawn
When you're gonna cut high or wet lawn you should cover the knives or your lawnmower with oil. The cut grass won't stick to the knives then.
- Pants don't like foot-baths
When you're watering your plants you should take care that the water doesn't stand in the pot. Wait about half an hour then drain off the water that's not been soaked up by the dirt. Almost no plant will survive in a foot-bath.
- Remove Flower leafes
Before putting flowers in a vase you should remove all the leafes that are under the surface of the water. Otherwise the leafes will rot and the water will get spoiled.
- Water of boiled eggs for flowers
Next time your boiling eggs don't drain the water in the sink. It contains many nutrients which plants need.
- Shock therapy for Roses
Sometimes roses hang their heads shortly after you have got them. Dip the tips of the stems into very hot water. When you put the flowers back in cold water they'll put their heads up again.
- Hairspray for foliage decorations
Foliage you collect in fall or beautiful grass can be preserved over the whole winter when you spray them with amle of hairspray.
- Cigarette ashes against plant-lice
When one of you plants has plant-lice there's no need to panic. Strew some cigarette or cigar asher on the dirt from time to time and the lice are history.
- Testing if seeds are still germinable
It's a pain in the butt if you sowed something that won't germ. You can test if your germs are still germinable: Place a few of the seeds on a hot-plate. Germinables will jump off - others won't be worth sowing.
© 1997 Michael Bouska