All Natural Weed Killer

"{Weed Killer} 1 Gallon white vinegar 2 cups multi purpose epsom salt 1/4 cup regular blue dawn dish soap"

I've had a lot of people asking about this one, and even seen it debated on a few of the gardening forums I read. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that it was the siren's call of gardening that has kept me away from writing recently. If there is one thing I love, it's gardening. But as anyone with a yard or garden knows, weeds are a major hassle to deal with. You can get all sorts of sprays to treat them, from hiring a professional company to many kinds of pesticides sold at gardening and hardware stores. But what if you're looking for a more natural solution? There's always pulling, but some weeds are hard to remove that way, and if you're staring down a yard full of them, it could take way too long not to mention a back breaking job. 

So in today's post I compare two more natural methods up against a chemical weed killer spray I picked up at the hardware store.

I have a patch of weeds that I've been battling for years (in fact if anyone reading could identify them for me, let me know in the comments!) I even installed a weed cloth in the flower bed to try to combat them, but they've grown along the edge and out of the rocks of the bed where the sheet meets the sidewalk (though I wish at the time I knew about newspaper as a weed barrier, it would have saved a lot of hassle and money in the long run for me!) And to make sure these methods work on various other weeds, I also tested out on my embarrassingly bad curb strip, which is plagued with awful thorny weeds. 

So here are the contenders: Boiling water, vinegar/soap/epsom salt mix, and a commercial spray. 

I marked each section I was going to spray, and then I mixed up the solution - 2 cups vinegar, 1/4 epsom salt, and a bit of Dawn dish soap. All of these are on the list of "Cure Alls" that are common on sites like pinterest, so I was a bit skeptical. To make sure the water stays boiling, I poured it into a insulated carafe before bringing it outside.

Here are the weeds in their before state:

And 24 hours later: 

Boiling Water: 

As you can see, the boiling water had the most effect on the weeds. I made sure to pour it as close to the ground as I could. I've actually used this method before with GREAT success, and it's been my go to weed killer this summer. You do have to be careful when using it that you aren't killing the plants around it. I use a carafe with a small pour spout, so I have better control over where the water goes. 

I give it an A. It's both effective, easy to use, and about as cheap as you can get. What's not to love?

Vinegar/Epsom Salt/Soap Mix: 

Much to my surprise, the vinegar/epsom salt/soap mix actually did a pretty decent job! I made sure to soak the leaves as well as the base of the weeds, though the stems of the weeds are still green (compared to the dead stems from the boiling water). 

I would give this a B. I still prefer boiling water - it's easier to make, and I have no idea what this mixture is going to do to my soil, unlike boiling water (which really the only real risk is killing off the soil flora, something easily fixed by either leaving it alone or adding some fertilizer to it)

Chemical Spray: 

And the Ortho spray didn't do a single thing. I'm not even joking. I'm shocked. Utterly shocked. I followed instructions, I sprayed both the leaves and the soil. and they don't look even phased. I honestly have no idea why this didn't work even a bit, you'd expect after 24 hours that the leaves would at least start to curl like they do when they are sprayed with products like this. I give this a big F.

So there you have it.. set down the costly sprays and reach for an electric kettle. Test these out in your own yard or gardens and let me know how it works for you. And if you have any other natural weed killers you'd like me to test out, post them over on our facebook page or on twitter and let us know. 

Good Idea Friday - Paper Weed Blocker

Newspaper Weed Barrier : Rosemary On The Tv 

A fan posted a question on our facebook, asking if this was a legit pin or not. Now I know some of you are probably still facing down piles of snow, but here in the Pac NW spring has finally showed up, so it's not too early to start thinking about gardening.

Well start saving those old newspapers and cardboard boxes, because it does work really well. If you're looking for one of the best ways to prevent weeds from popping up in your flower beds or gardens, look no further. 

Now what about professional weed blocking sheets you ask? They have their pros and cons - if you don't plan to do a lot of planting or plant perennials in that spot, then a commercial non-biodegradable sheet will work just fine. The con is of course that they don't break down fully, so if you want to gut your flower beds or move plants around, it becomes a huge hassle. They also aren't foolproof, and can fail over time which means you have to rip them out and redo it. 

With things like newspaper or cardboard however, it does break down over time, and is generally great for the soil - think of it as compost that helps fight weeds. It can also help maintain a damp soil, since the paper or cardboard will absorb the water and stay moist longer.

If you're interested in reading more about using newspaper or cardboard as a natural barrier, the forums over at Organic Gardening have a lot of comments and suggestions on it. The orginal pin just went to one of the ever so common relinking websites that had little information on the actual image or idea, but I was able to hunt down the blog where the image originated from - Image credit goes to Rosemary On The Tv's blog post about this - creatively titled Manscaping (which gave me a good laugh) You can read her posts about it here. 

Glow In The Dark Planters

"Buy a flower pot that you really like and use Rustoleum's Glow-in-the-dark paint to paint the pot. During the day, the paint will absorb the sunlight and at night the pots will glow." 

I'm completely convinced  that people who pin and share these things on Facebook have never actually tried glow-in-the-dark paint. The first thing wrong about this image is that well, it's not night. At all. The second is the amazing glow the pots are putting off, enough to even illuminate the grass. Glow-in-the-dark paint won't do that. 

You see these aren't just painted pots, they are LED-lighted pots. I've been trying to track down the direct source of  this image, but haven't been able to. However I have found enough variously similar planters to show you, like these from Konstsmide, a German light manufacture:

And just like in other various "Glow-in-the-Dark" pins, people don't seem to take in account that glow in the dark paint is very green/yellow. In fact there is a great review and write up about two different popular glow-in-the-dark paints at Observation Blog. Here is his 2 examples of the paints, which even with 8 hours of charge were barely glowing, surely nothing strong enough to light up the grass around it. 

So once again, put down the paint, people. Sadly this isn't even near what the original image is. And please let me know if anyone knows the source of the original image! I'd love to email the photographer or landscapers who did this and give due credit. 

Soap to Deter Squirrels From Your Yard and Garden

"Irish Spring and a cheese grater. Apparently squirrels hate the smell of the soap, so they'll stay out of your garden. "

I saw this on Pinterest last week and was rather curious. After a bit of a search on gardening forums, the majority of them say it doesn't seem to work. It's been tried on everything from squirrels to deer and even rats, but for the most part it doesn't work as much of a deterrent. I also wonder about the effects of having shaved soap in my flower beds or garden as I wonder if the various additives could affect the plants at all. 

Over at the source of the image, The Cape on the Corner, I decided to ask and see how it was working for her. She let me know that she didn't believe it was all that successful for her, but she only tried it once. 

So what can you do if you're being harassed by squirrels? My biggest suggestion is to try to set up a squirrel feeder if you can. Generally if they have a steady source of food, they'll leave everything else alone. If that's not something you're interested in, the Humane Society has some great suggestions on what you can use around your house and on your plants to prevent squirrel damage.

Epsom Salt to Remove Tree Stumps

"Tree Stump Removal - Get rid of tree stumps by drilling holes in the stump and filling them with 100% Epsom salt. Follow with water, and wait. Live stumps may take as long as a month to decay, and start to decompose all by themselves."

A fan sent me this and I was rather curious since I've done a Good Idea Friday in the past on how plants love epsom salt. It took me a bit but I found the source of the image. Guess what? It's for a chemical powder you add to stumps, not epsom salts. But would epsom salts work? 

I found quite a lot of websites that mention this method, but one thing stood out to me - a lot of them said ether rock salt or epsom salt. But as I address in the previous epsom salt post, epsom salt isn't like table/ rock salt. They have different chemical compositions, "salt" is a quite broad scientific term. I have no doubt that perhaps rock salt would work, but the minerals that make up epsom salt I don't see working as well. 

I walked along my lawn trying to find maybe an old stump I didn't know was there, but alas I had none to test this out on. I looked online assuming since it seems like such a popular idea that there would be people who have attempted this as well, but could only find one blog post that talked about actually using this method. Over at Lisa Earthgirl, she writes about trying this out. I asked how it was coming along but unfortunately due to a damp summer, she's going to have to try it again to see if it shows any results. Most other search results ether pulled up questionable commercial sites, or seemed to be along the lines of  "a friend of a friend tried this with success" 

So I'm not calling this a Bad Idea yet, but unproven to date. Personally I think you'd have far more success with something like rock salt which is known to kill plants. If you've tried this with conclusive results, please let us know! 

Whole Egg Compost

"Fill pot with 2" of soil then place one uncracked raw egg in the pot. As it decomposes, it will serve as a natural fertilizer."

This is a pin that made me do a double take. You see, eggshells are honestly a great compost addition so it's easy to think maybe by tossing in the whole egg, it can work just as well. However, there's a handful of problems that can come up when you just toss a whole egg into compost, let alone in a pot you're planting in. 

Not only do whole eggs attract pests like raccoons, mice, rats and skunks, inviting them to dig up whatever you planted in order to get to the egg, but the egg will go bad before it starts to decompose. Quite a few people have mentioned how when they tossed a whole, uncracked eggs into their compost a few of them over time basically exploded. And that is one smell I wouldn't wish on anyone. Thoughts are mixed on if you should even add whole eggs to your compost pile; those who do it recommend either cracking and stirring it into the compost pile or burying it very deeply so pests can't get to it. That's not an easy solution however when we're talking about pots. 

All in all I'd say this is a bad idea. It's best just to stick with compost or if you feel the need to add eggs, use the shells only to be on the safe side. 

Good Idea Friday - Lemon and Clove to Scare off Wasps

"A way to get rid of wasps! Lemon with 10 cloves or put out a saucer with cloves in it. Wasps hate the scent!"

Lemon and Cloves : Warsztat Mamy

This is a pin that I thought would be easy enough to research and instead has taken me weeks of research and emails to people to collect data on, only to I realized I was focused on the wrong part of the pin. 

You see, I was honestly really skeptical about this. How often do we see natural remedies or pest control ideas on Pinterest (like garlic for mosquitoes) that just aren't effective. Having grown up in a very rural part of the country myself, I have seen the way wasps especially flock towards any fruit (you learn real quick as a kid not to run barefoot near the apple trees) Wasps like the scent of fruits and meat, so I wasn't too sure if a fruit like lemon would really drive them away. I spent some time on google trying to find if wasps really didn't care for the scent of lemon and was unable to find anything regarding it. I decided to go straight to the source. If there is one person who would know if wasps like lemons, it would be the owner of a lemon orchard. 

I sent out a couple of emails and Karen from Lemon Ladies Orchard in California was kind enough to reply. She keeps bee hives next to her orchard (great for pollination) but hasn't noticed any wasps. Is that due to the lemons, or the bees? She sent my question on to other lemon growing friends of her. Susan Burchiel of Birch-Hill Organics replied and said she hasn't seen wasps in the orchards, but does have yellow jackets. Interesting, I started wondering if the honey bees and yellow jackets were chasing off the wasps or if really was the scent of lemons. Yellow Jackets are actually a class of wasps themselves, so I was starting to think maybe this wasn't a true remedy to deter wasps. 

And then I decided to start looking at the clove aspect of the pin and that's where I became surprised. You see, a lot of bugs really do hate the scent of the cloves. In fact, it's one of the most popular form of natural pesticide and is used in even commercial products. (source) It's called eugenol oil, and is found in cloves, cinnamon, basil, and bay leaves. Now eugenol oil despite being natural does come with it's own host of dangers, mainly that in large amounts it can kill you if ingested. (source) But it works, and since this idea uses cloves in their natural form it's probably a far safer method than using just pure eugenol oil or other pesticides. 

So if you're looking for a natural way of combating pesky wasps and other bugs at the picnic table, this is a pin I would suggest trying. 

Good Idea Friday - Nail Polish to Brighten Solar Panels

"Rejuvenating solar garden lights — with nail polish! Brilliant!!!"

How to rejuvenate your solar lights : blog.kriegsman.org

Today's good idea post is going to save me a lot of money. Last summer I noticed my solar lights for the garden weren't as bright and nice as they were when I bought them. I switched out the batteries but no luck, so I pulled them all up and put them away, thinking it was probably time to buy new ones. 

Well I never got around to investing in new ones, and I'm really grateful now for that. A little fine grit sandpaper and clear nail polish is all it takes to revive the solar panels on your lights. You can read more about it over on the blog kriegsman.org 

Penny to Preserve Flowers

"Add a penny with a pinch of sugar into the vase of cut flowers to have them last twice as long!" 

There are a lot of myths out there on what you can do to prolong the beauty of cut flowers. Everything from vodka, bleach, even aspirin is said to help. This one here is an old wives' tale that has been around for so long that I doubt anyone knows where it came from. I remember my grandmother doing this when she bought fresh flowers. But can a copper penny prolong the life of your flowers? No, not really.

Let's start with the water. Tap water is regulated quite strictly; all tap water must maintain a pH level between 6.5-8.5, which is round about the center of pH levels. I've spent quite some time trying to research if copper can alter the pH level of water at all, with no luck of finding any data on this I turned to a chemistry-knowledgeable friend of mine who informed me "Copper does not react with pure water, so it should not affect the pH. If you're talking about tap water, that's a lot more complicated and dependent on the particular contaminants. I'm sure there are side reactions with the other particles that could slightly affect pH, but nothing major since the contaminants are in low quantities."

Why does this matter? Because most cut flowers prefer a higher acidic water. According to a great page by the Horticulture Department of Minnesota - "An acidifier makes the pH of the water more near the acid pH of the cell sap. Most water supplies are alkaline and can reduce the life of cut flowers. The acidifier also stabilizes the pigment and the color of the flower." (source)

Commercial flower preservatives are made up of basically 3 things: sugar, an acidifier to prevent the growth of microorganisms, and a respiratory inhibitor. If copper does not affect the pH levels, perhaps it acts as an antimicrobial in another way, but the results of copper as an antimicrobial are largely debated (source). In large quantities it looks like it might help limit the growth of microbes, but the small amount of copper found on a penny isn't going to do that. It's important to point out that most pennies in circulation today were made after 1982, and are not pure copper. Instead, they are copper-plated zinc and only contain a thin coating of copper on the outside. However, adding a pinch of sugar to the water isn't a bad idea, but it won't get you the same results as a commercial cut flower food will. You're best bet if you don't have any plant food on hand is to just make sure you change the water daily, keep any leaves or foliage out of the water, and a pinch of sugar can't hurt (but leave the pennies in the change jar).

If you're looking on more information on myths of cut flowers, here is a great article by Terril A Nell, PhD, who was chairman of the flower research program at the University of Florida. He touches base on pretty much every flower myth and explains why they aren't true.

Good Idea Friday - Epsom Salt and Plants

I have spring fever, as I imagine a lot of you do. Gardening is by far my biggest hobby, so I'm always looking for quick and easy ways to get my plants and flowers to thrive. Little did I realize a huge helper was right at my feet - literally. 

You see I like to soak my feet in epsom salts and hot water in the evenings, especially in the summer, to help relax and keep my feet looking nice. Afterwards, I would take the water and just dump it over the railing of my porch onto the flower beds below, figuring the water was better recycled than just poured down the drain. To my surprise the roses I had planted there were doing remarkably better than the roses on the other side of the porch! I knew it couldn't have been just the water - it had to be the epsom salts. Sure enough, thanks to pinterest, I've learned a lot of plants, and even your lawn, love epsom salt. It doesn't take a lot to get lush full healthy plants. As little as a tablespoon to a gallon of water is enough to make everything from your grass, roses, and even tomatoes and other veggies happy and healthy. You can buy epsom salts at pretty much any grocery or drug store, though since I use so much as a soaking aid I buy mine in bulk at Costco. 

But why does this work so well? Is it safe to be putting salt of all things on your lawn?

 Well the science behind it is what makes epsom salt different from table salt. Epsom salt is actually magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) vs table salt (Sodium chloride or NaCI). Epsom salt isn't salt the way we think it as - it's actually a compound of magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, where as table salt is sodium and chloride. In scientific terms, salt simply refers to ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base, so a lot of things are technically 'salts'. 

Why this works is because it's not uncommon for the soil to be low in magnesium and sulfur, which certain plants need in order to produce chlorophyll, and sulfur helps with the entire cell structure of the plant it's self, not to mention germination, and even photosynthesis, among many other workings of the plant. 

The official studies are actually mixed on if this works or not, but so far it looks like the top three plants to use it on is roses, tomatoes, and peppers - plants that need a higher magnesium content in the soil are the plants that are going to thrive with a epsom salt water.

"But isn't this salt, and you shouldn't salt the earth?" Good question.  I haven't been able to find much of anything specifically regarding epsom salts and salinization and I imagine that if it was a concern, there would be more data on it out there. If you know you live in an area with high saline content in the dirt, I would recommend using this only in potted plants just to be on the safe side. It's also important to keep the area you've added epsom salts to watered really well, as this helps prevent build up of salts at the root level of the plant, ensuring it doesn't get damaged from any high saline content in the dirt. Another method that I've seen recommended is to just spray the leaves of the plant with water and epsom salt as the salt is able to be absorbed through the leaves, which would be kinder on the soil if that's a concern for you.

  Personally I was able to see just how well it worked, since only one of my three rose bushes was receiving the salted water, that I'm a believer myself.