FLORIDA GARDENING HINTS & TIPS

FLORIDA GARDENING HINTS & TIPS

Control Weeds With Newspaper!
Rather than the expense of the purchase of expensive landscape cloth, herbicides or your labor spent in hours on your knees pulling weeds, the good old fashion newspaper is actually the best substitute to control pesky & ugly weeds. Simply spread several sheets of newspaper in exactly the same manner you would do with your landscape cloth. Cover the paper with soil, mulch or landscape gravel. This will allow moisture to penetrate into the soil as well as blocking most weeds for at up to 3 years. Needless to say that the thicker the layers of newspaper the longer it will do the job! From the ‘GREEN’ standpoint, newspaper will eventually compost into your soil. You may also run old newspaper through your paper shredder and than add it to your compost pile. It will turn to compost within 30-45 days.

Saving Space In A Flower Pot!
When you are putting a plant in a large pot, place a plastic pint or quart-size depending upon the size of your pot cottage cheese container, yogurt, butter, sour cream or whatever upside down in the bottom of your large pot. The add your potting soil mix and then your plant. Your plastic container fills up wasted space in the pot so you do not have to use as much potting soil mixture. You will also note that it makes a large pot much lighter than if it were filled completely with soil!

Get FREE Seeds For Your Garden!
You may contact the folks at Wintersown at their web-site to take advantage of their offers of free seeds for only the cost of a SASE and two stamps. By simply going to their web-site you can find & get the details to get your free seeds. You will receive a lot of seeds for the cost of only 2 postage stamps. They also have a seed sharing program and both are worth the stamps.    http://www.wintersown.org

Free Garden Labels!
Simply use damaged Mini-Blind slats or pick up one used blind in a garage sale. Cut the slats into 8” lengths, cut one end into a point, then use a water-proof marker on other end  to write your label. Even a small mini-blind can make more markers than you will use in 20 years! Place them in bunches of 50 in a zip lock bag then store them for next 20 years.

Use Plastic Forks As Garden Labels Or Holders!
You may simply use inexpensive, old or recycled plastic forks to hold seed packets to identify seeds and then plants in your garden. Laminate the packets for water-proof them. Use may also use a water-proof marker to write the Labels on the forks as well and all for FREE!

Packaging Your Seeds
You can make seed packets by cutting and taping or gluing business-size or letter envelopes to the size needed to contain your seeds. You can find on the Internet all sorts of resources for free printable seed envelopes. You may also buy & use small Ziploc-type bags at office supply stores. You must also know that seeds MUST be completely dry before placing in any type of plastic bag. You can also make seed-tapes out of toilet paper. Just sprinkle the seeds along a length of toilet paper then fold the paper over & seal with some masking tape. Plant this as a whole unit as the toilet paper will biodegrade as mulch for the seeds.

Water Conservation Aids
We all have broken clay pots in our gardens. Most people just throw them away! That is not the smart thing to do at all. Save them, break them into pieces then soak them in water. When potting a plant place a handful of these pieces, wet into the bottom of the pot to act as a gravel filter. They will trap & hold moisture when the plants are watered then act as a moisture-source when the plants be come dry. Extra pieces may be soaked then placed into the soil in a potted plant when you are going away for a few days to provide moisture for your plants.

Copyright © 2009 Donald R Houston, PhD. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the author's consent.