Raw onions are delicious but can really can cause strong odors in the house and on your breath. Soak the slices or chopped pieces in ice water for 10 minutes, then drain. The onion flavor will stay without the strong odor.
Diluting bleach with water is great for cleaning garden tools. Vinegar is great for removing rust from tools. Beer is a great fertilizer for garden plants, but use it sparingly. Too much attracts pests. Water used to cook vegetables such as corn, potatoes, rice, etc., contains many nutrients your plants need. Used coffee and tea grounds provide valuable nutrients such as nitrogen for your plants. The used grounds are at or very close to a neutral pH. Consider a small handful of powdered milk (great calcium source) on the ground when transplanting and perhaps a couple more times during the growing season.
To reduce soil alkalinity, consider a cup of vinegar diluted with a gallon of water. Use sparingly. Use trap crops to protect your vegetable plants. Plant radishes around cucumber plants. Plant sunflowers among other vegetables, particularly tomatoes. In years past, I’ve counted as many as 21 leaf footed and stink bugs on a single sunflower plant with none on the tomato plants.
Club soda has numerous readily available nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium your vegetable plants love. Try once cup for each plant every other week. When watering, deep watering once a week as slow as possible is best. If you have raised bed gardens deep watering more often is required. If using 5-gallon containers, watering daily may be required.
Including a teaspoon of sugar around each plant perhaps every other week will be greatly appreciated by the soi microbes. The liquid from Banana peels in water for 2-3 days will provide phosphorus for plants.
