More Tidbits

I love tidbit posts. It gives me an excuse to page through my hundreds of gardening books and pull out the best of the best. Or at least the most interesting! Most of these are from Jerry Baker's Old-Time Gardening Wisdom.

You can make wine from dandelions! For FIVE GALLONS you only need 12 pounds of sugar, four diced oranges, four diced lemons, four gallons of water, 4 gallons of dandelion flowers and one ounce of bakers yeast. ~ Dandelion wine doesn't sound terribly appealing to me, personally, but apparently it's an old time recipe of Jerry Baker's Grandma Putt. If you want to try it feel free to come over and gather dandelions in the spring before the lawn care man shows up!!!

Milkweed saves lives! During World War II they stuffed milkweed into Navy life preservers and Army/Air Force flight jackets. Who knew??

Lightning greens up your garden! During a thunderstorm the electrical charges in the atmosphere turn oxygen into nitrogen feeding the plants. Use metal objects in and around your gardens to super charge your plants during a storm!

A bar of Irish Spring Soap keeps slugs off your hostas! This one is not Grandma Putts remedy, but one I learned from Mary Butler. Chop bars of Irish Spring soap into cubes and place the cubes under your hostas. Slugs hate the smell. I know a lot of people that drown slugs in beer in their gardens, but I like the smell of Irish Spring better!

Yarrow, Chamomile and Dill could help save your garden from pests! These three common garden plants attract lacewings, lady beetles, and parasitic wasps into your garden to feed on the destructive bugs.

Do you have any tricks to share??