Diatomaceous Earth to Get Rid of Pests By David Wall
An easy, safe, and effective ways to prevent garden pest outbreaks and prevent them from starting, is to use food grade diatomaceous earth (DE). It’s harmless to humans and safe for animals. The pest list thatDE is effective on is long, while the time to control is short. It’s a jack of all trades and master of all of them. For those unaware, DE is fossilized algae in powder form. The fossils were tiny...
Pruning Tomato And Pepper Plants By David Wall
Many have never heard of pruning tomato plants except for those pesky secondary branches and the central stem top a month before frost to force the plant into ripening the final fruit. Now, we’re learningthere’s more to do. For tomato plants, is pruning necessary? For determinate plants, the answer is usually no. They produce a crop and are finished by late July to early August, so why bother. For determinate...
This And That For June 2023 By David Wall
Water availability will continue to be a problem now and in the future. You can help by storing rain water, saving bath water wasted by running until the water gets warm, drip garden irrigation, saving the water from boiling vegetables which contains nutrients plants will love, enlarging ponds when they are very low, and so many more ways. In the NETSEO area, there are probably several hundred thousand gardens. If each of us could...
Should You Prune Cucumber Plants? By David Wall
We’ve discussed pruning tomato and pepper plants, but the literature suggests you should consider pruning cucumber plants. Yes, it seems weird, but better results can be obtained by pruning. The problem is most of us never heard of such pruning. So, how can pruning help? If growing bush cucumber plants, you can probably forget this article. They grow very little laterally, so there’s little to be gained by pruning. Also, if you allow...
Growing Cucumbers In Containers By David Wall
If you don’t feel you have enough garden space to grow cucumbers, consider growing them in containers. It’s easy and you can get a really good crop of this second most popular vegetable after tomatoes (which can also be grown in containers). Since cucumbers have a smaller root structure than many vegetables, there is little worry about them becoming root-bound in the container. Your first requirement is 6-8 hours of...
A Potential Danger In Sweeteners By David Wall
For so many of us, especially for diabetics, it’s important to check the sugar content in products. We normally think “no sugar,” “less sugar,” or “lite” must be better for us, and in most instances, such is smart thinking. Recently, however, an ingredient often found in regular or no-sugar products has been found to be unwanted, an in some case, perhaps downright dangerous. Some years back, I wrote an article about artificial...
What’s the Best Shovel for Your Garden From Master Gardener David Wall
March 26, 2024 – For most of us, a shovel is a shovel is just a shovel, never mind that there are so many types; short-handled, long-handled, rounded, round-point, flat, ditching, long bladed, trenching, and serrated. Additionally, there’s the digging spade, garden spade, perennial spade, and scoops. They’re made from steel, plastic, stainless steel, carbon fiber, and aluminum. And, there’s the price from under $10 to over...
Coffee Grounds in Your Garden Soil From Master Gardener David Wall
March 17, 2024 – Many of you use your “used” coffee grounds for fertilizer in your gardens. You like the results but have to experiment to find the best way to do so. Used coffee grounds for fertilizer is not exactly a new idea. Additionally, many of you put coffee grounds in your compost piles where it mixes with other organic contents, eventually resulting in great soil additives. It must be noted, however, that this is done...
Change is Inevitable From Master Gardener David Wall
March 10, 2024 – Inevitably when gardening, things that were standard a few years ago become outdated or just wrong. For example, the literature used to recommend placing an egg and banana in the tomato planting hole. In fact, you can still occasionally find such a recommendation today. Such recommendations, however, ignored the rotting time needed before the basic elements could be used by a growing tomato plant. Then, placing...
Try Milk in Your Garden From Master Gardener David Wall
March 3, 2024 – Powdered milk is made by evaporating milk until only a powder remains. A major benefit for gardeners is the powder is rich in calcium, and other nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, elements all plants need. If you are looking for powdered milk, be sure to read the contents and choose a product that has been fortified with calcium. Next, read the label, and mix with water according to...