The Holistic Gardening Series: Organic Helps & Solutions Part 3

Rhubarb Pesticide (For Ornamentals Only)

The rhubarb plant is one we are all familiar with: Eat the stalks, not the leaves. Why? The leaves contain large amounts of oxalic acid, not good for people, and also not good for bugs! Pick rhubarb leaves, place them in a pan, add just enough water to cover them, boil, and strain. Add a few drops of dishwashing liquid, and add to an old window cleaner bottle and spray your plants to ward-off insects.

8 to 10 drops liquid detergent
1 gallon vinegar

Combine the salt and vinegar in a pan and heat until the salt is dissolved, then cool. Add detergent. Use a spray bottle to spray the vegetation only. Do not apply until it is dripping onto the soil, simply apply to get the leaves wet, and take care not to apply to beneficial plants, as this will kill everything!

Birdbath Algae Preventer

--Bundle lavender wands (the stems and flowers of lavender) together, place the bundle in a clean birdbath to prevent algae from forming. Good for about one to two weeks, then place more bundles in the birdbath to keep it safely algae-free!

--Add bundles of Barley straw to birdbaths and ponds. Add the straw to burlap bags or nylon hose, weighed down with a few stones, and sink to the bottom of the birdbath or pond.

Spring Tonic For The Garden

Our great-grandparents used to give their kids spring tonic, so why not borrow the idea for your plants??? Here is a little organic pick-me-up for the plants in your yard!

3 tablespoons of liquid seaweed or sea kelp
3 tablespoons of Epsom salts
3 tablespoons of fish emulsion
1 packet of dry baking yeast
1 tablespoon of baking soda
3 tablespoons of blood meal powder
3 tablespoons of bone meal, finely crushed
1/4 cup of molasses or 1 can of regular cola

***If you can get your hands on some, add a teaspoon of SuperThrive to the mix. This natural product has plant vitamins and natural hormones and micronutrients that really get seeds, seedlings, and established plants, "jump-started"!***

Mix together in a 2 gallon watering can and fill with warm, not hot water, use to water all your plants. You can dissolve the materials and save them in a quart jar, strain, and put in a hose end sprayer and adjust for two gallon dilutional proportions. Use in weather below 75 degrees.

Herbal Tea For Plants

--Comfrey makes a great garden tonic, and is just loaded with wonderful minerals and nutrients that plants can utilize! It really is wonderful as a nutrient booster for plants. Take comfrey leaves, chop them up, and add hot, not boiling water over them. Let this steep until the water turns brown or greenish brown, then strain, and mix 3 parts of water to 1 part of comfrey tea concentrate and spray on your plants.

Aquarium Water Fertilizer

When you remove some of the water from your freshwater aquariums, don't pitch it down the drain! Use it to fertilize houseplants and potted plants.

Garden Elixir...Garden Beer!

Stinky to people, but plants crave it:

Use a 32 gallon plastic garbage can with a lid.

Add about 6 pounds of alfalfa pellets, 1 pound of Epsom salts, and 1/4 pound of cheleted iron, and 1/2 cup of liquid seaweed and toss in 6 packages of yeast.

Fill the garbage can with water and let it stew with the lid on. Take the lid off, stand back 'cause it is potent smelling stuff! Draw off about a gallon for roses, and water other plants liberally with this brew. When you get down to where you can't reach the bottom, just fill with water, top off with more seaweed and yeast as before, and let it stew again for a few more days. This is good for about two go-arounds. You can add the silage to your compost pile or around your plants. This elixir for some reason also helps to strengthen plants and protect them against powdery mildew and other diseases.

Epsom Salt Bloom Booster

1 - 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts mixed with a gallon of water can be applied as a foliar spray to plants at bloom time and again 10 days later to encourage better fruits and flowers, peppers and tomatoes. Also use this before the first flush of blooms and after the first flush of blooms on roses. It provides both magnesium and sulfate, and is better taken in by the plant as a foliar spray than when added to the soil.

Honey Water Rooting Solution:

1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup boiling water

Combine and cool. Place cuttings in this solution for a couple of days to help them root. This may be refrigerated in advance for two days.

Willow Water Rooting Solution:

Take the young branches, still greenwood, from pussy willows, since they water root so readily. Mash them up, and pour cold water over them in a jar, and do a sort of sun tea on them: leave them out in the sun to infuse for a day. The water should be a pale green. Root cuttings in this water.

Confectioner's Sugar Powder Rooting Stimulater:

Dust the freshly cut ends of stems with confectioner's sugar to help new cuttings root.

As with any program of organic or inorganic pest, disease, and weed management, common sense should be your guideline. Wear goggles and masks. While many of these products are in themselves not harmful to humans, they could cause problems or discomfort if inhaled from close exposure. This holds true for any chemical or organic compounds or sprays. Also, always test an organic remedy on a small part of a plant first. Do not apply remedies during the hottest part of the day, avoid spraying anything when the sun is directly overhead, or when plants are in the sunniest part of the day.

These are only a few weapons in our arsenal that we can use when combating pests and diseases. There are many more products, and there are excellent organic sources, both mail order and online for organic controls. It does take a bit more effort to use organic techniques. But, please try a few in your garden. They are well worth the effort, and will give you a feeling of satisfaction with knowing that you can control your problems without having to resort to harmful synthetic chemical solutions!