One Weird Trick

[veggiechicken]

A "proper" poster does not hang troughs of odd socks on their fence, Baldy
Sorry, you've have to keep waiting for someone sensible to come along.

[burnie]

Is there a tumbleweed emoticon?

[Potstubsdustbins]

That would be an awful long wait VC unless its a sash weight.

[craftymarie]

Sensible not weird suggestions.

Bent paperclips are just the right size for pegging down strawberry runners into little pots so you can grow new plants.

Pound store/shop green gardening clips can be used to hold mangetout up against netting while they learn to cling on! They also hold runner and French beans in place up bamboo canes, hold netting down, clip temporary net shading up in the greenhouse ... lots of uses.

A large plastic bin makes a cheap alternative for a water butt. Cut hole in lid for down pipe and fit in a tap at the bottom which costs a couple of pounds. We did this recently for the greenhouse.

An old electric toothbrush can aid pollination if you rub the vibrating head gently over the top of flowers like tomato flowers.

[Penellype]

Bent paperclips are just the right size for pegging down strawberry runners into little pots so you can grow new plants.

Yes, I do this too. I bend them into a U shape (ie straighten out 2 of the bends) otherwise they can be a nightmare to get out when the runner has rooted.

A large plastic bin makes a cheap alternative for a water butt. Cut hole in lid for down pipe and fit in a tap at the bottom which costs a couple of pounds. We did this recently for the greenhouse.

I have a black plastic dustbin in my garage for collecting water for my blueberry bushes. Its not that my garage leaks, its just I don't have a suitable downpipe or the space for a proper water butt so everything that I have that holds water securely is filled up when it rains and stored in the garage. This means that my paths are littered with drip trays when rain is forecast, to catch as much rain water as possible. I've even been known to scoop up puddles with a compost scoop to fill up the bin. It helps to pour the water through a sieve to remove any debris. I even once ran out after a hail storm and gathered about 1/2 a bucketful of hail stones before they melted.

Sorry, Craftymarie, I've hijacked your sensible suggestion for one of my weird ones

[Penellype]

A "proper" poster does not hang troughs of odd socks on their fence, Baldy
Sorry, you've have to keep waiting for someone sensible to come along.

Just to show that the socks do the job, they are in the 2 long troughs underneath the fuchsias, which don't seem to mind:

[chris_m]

A large plastic bin makes a cheap alternative for a water butt. Cut hole in lid for down pipe and fit in a tap at the bottom which costs a couple of pounds.

Hehe, I've got nine of those. I'm going into competition with United Utilities

I started out with 2 water butts taking water off my outbuilding and back porch and had 2 waiting to be installed off the workshop downpipe but we had a shedload of rain and I ended up adding the 2 to make a bank of 4. Then I bought another four for the outbuilding.
Another bout of heavy rain and they were all full so I took a few empty dustbins that I'd bought with the intention of planting stuff in next year and syphoned water into them from the butts. Still not enough so I bought a few more, then thought "S*d it" and cleared my garden centre out while they still had the cheap bins

I now have a bank of four butts collecting off the outbuilding and back porch, and a bank of five collecting off the workshop and greenhouse - each bank is interlinked by hoses on the taps. Down the sideway I have nine dustbins interlinked with syphons.

If I want to transfer water from either bank of butts to the dustbins I have a dunkable electric pump, which also provides sufficient pressure for the watering hose and spray head. It's handy for dishing out soluble plant food too - I just isolate one empty bin or butt, bung in the feed, fill the butt from the others with the pump, transfer the pump to the "feed" butt and spray away - beats lugging loads of watering cans-ful around

We do get a lot of rain here in South Cumbria but it, inevitably, doesn't come when it's wanted - either looooads all at once or none for ages so I'm grabbing/storing as much as I can when we do get it.

The only slight snag is that I now need to buy more bins for planting stuff next year.

[sparrow100]

I've started using maxicrop - it's wonderful stuff. Soon to be teamed with SB plant invigorator in the greenhouse.

I don't think I do anything weird, sorry. I like the socks idea, and my pumpkins are called Elvira and Murgatroyd. I do talk to my plants...

[Jimmy]

I use old guttering to start of my peas or french beans.

Also the seed tray inserts the you grow bedding plants etc in.
When beyond re-use there are normally say 6 x 2 still usable so I cut them out and then use them for successional lettuce sowings.

Jimmy (Aka scrooge , never like to chuck owt)

[Teabag]

bought diatomaceous earth for dusting the chickens and coop.. not sure if this has been covered so sorry if this a repeat.

on the front, this is what it says :

suggested usage for animals:cats/dogs over 25kg 5-10g (1 or 2 tsps) cats dogs under 25kg 5g (1 tsp) chickens 5% of daily feed, sheep/goats 1 % of daily feed cattle 2 %of daily feed horses 100-150g daily (1feed cup)

PEST CONTROL(!!) dust sprinkle/rub into animals coats, kills mites and fleas and improves coat condition,Apply to bedding, crack, joints and voids, kills fleas, mites, ticks, ants, cockroaches, bedbugs, beetles SLUGS, SNAILS and any pest that has a waxy exoskeleton

Horticulture: mix with compost/soil, protects and provides essential trace elements. absorbs moisture/nutrients and releases to plants when needed. provides an inexpensive lightweight quality growing media for any horticulural need

I thought it was just for red mite.. so having read this I sprinkled liberally round my plot and garden and over my cats

Also I think everyone knows the epsom salts one? Trying it for myself on tomatoes.

[Penellype]

I've used diatomaceous earth for controlling clothes moths, and it works very well. A couple of years ago I had some irritating small grey beetles on my brassica seedlings, which were eating the leaves. I sprinkled some of the diatomaceous earth onto the plants to try to kill the beetles. It had absolutely no effect as far as I could tell, apart from the fact that the brassica seedlings died. I think they would have died anyway from being eaten.

As I understand it, the powder is very dessicated, and loses its effectiveness at killing insects if it gets wet. You also want to be a bit careful about breathing it in as it is a very fine powder.

[damian1225]

I use a few magic potions such as instant compost tea with Nano, Mycorrhizal fungi, pepper feed with Nano, epsom salts, and a few dustings of blood fish and bone and a liberal sprinkling of chicken manure pellets whenever I got the hoe out and I can hoe them in.. although I wouldn't think of them as tricks as such though just all aids to better soil.. and at the end of the year throw all the spent compost on and rake that over and then leaf mould over the top let the worms work their magic and sit back and smile while watching everyone double digging in spring lol

[Cadalot]

Looks like this thread is attracting the nutters!

I just found it so you may be correct!

[Cadalot]

Watering at depth

I have pop bottle watering feeders & plugs in my fruit trees that are in large buckets buried in the ground to restrict the roots as they may not be miniature stock as they came from lidls



I tend to put holes in the cap and the bottom pop bottle with a mapping pin. I use the same technique using 2 litre bottles and stack them but no plug in amongst veggies that grow tall like potatoes, cabbages etc.

[happyhumph]

I read posts on this forum - is that weird enough?