Food pyramids are not only functional and efficient, but also beautiful!

https://www.facebook.com/greenrenaissance/photos/a.781246451893141.1073741835.120085081342618/789485791069207/?type=3&theater

13 Do’s & Do Not’s of Growing Tomatoes

http://gardeningjones.com/blog/2013/05/05/dos-donts-of-growing-tomatoes/

5 May 2013, by gj

Don’t
Purchase seedlings that have flowers on them. You may think you are getting a head start, but really what the plants need to do first is establish their roots, not produce babies. Let them get settled in.

Do
If you started your own plants and they are budding, pinch those flowers off. Really, you’ll get more fruit in the long run.

The tomatoes are ready, is the soil?

Don’t
Over fertilize. It’s fine to give your plants some good healthy compost, but take it easy on the fertilizer. Too much will grow wonderful bushy and green, albeit unproductive, plants. Same goes for your peppers by the way.

Do
Give them a bit of Epsom salts. They love that stuff. If they don’t need it, it won’t hurt. It is good to have it as a preventative measure to help grow healthier plants.

Do
Plant your transplants very deep. ‘Up to their necks’ is what the farmers say. This way they will grow a great root system, as mentioned above. The better the roots, the more productive the plants will then be.

Ready to rumble.

Don’t
Water from above, if you can help it. This can cause soil to splash up on the stems, making them more prone to disease. Try to use a soaker hose whenever possible with tomatoes.

Do
Mulch, especially if you are watering from above. This helps prevent that soil splash just mentioned, as well as holds the moisture your tomatoes may need.

Do
Put in the stakes you are going to use for support at the same time you plant. You don’t want to go back later and start damaging those roots you both worked so hard for.

Do
Know what type of tomato you are growing. If it’s a ‘determinate’ type, it may suddenly stop producing. Learn more by following the link at the end of this post.

Don’t
Stress it. Are you feeling over run with tomatoes? Are you concerned about fruit flies in your kitchen? Simply wash some of those tomatoes off and toss them in the freezer. When you have time, thaw to use. A bonus: the skins will slip right off after defrosting.

Happy in their cloched bed.

Do
Enjoy a variety if you have the room. Roma and plum tomatoes are best for preserving, slicing types for fresh eating, and of course cherry tomatoes for snacking. Plant tomatoes based on how you intend to use them.

Don’t
plant them outside before the soil temperature is 50F. How warm the soil has become is a function of how close the sun is, the depth, and how much sunshine the area gets. Surface soil can feel warm but 6 inches down it can still be quite cold. Some gardeners plant their tomatoes out when the overnight lows are consistently above 50F. Not the same thing, but close.

Tomatoes under glass.

Do
speed up the process by covering the area with black plastic, and turning the soil over every so often. If you plant early, keep those heat loving tomatoes warm through the use of cloches.
In a pinch, canning jars will do the trick, just don’t let the plants get fried. That’s for the green fruit.

The Many Benefits of Hugelkultur

Hugelkultur are no-dig raised beds with a difference. They hold moisture, build fertility, maximize surface volume and are great spaces for growing fruit, vegetables and herbs.

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/many-benefits-hugelkultur

Hugelkultur, pronounced Hoo-gul-culture, means hill culture or hill mound.

Instead of putting branches, leaves and grass clippings in bags by the curbside for the bin men... build a hugel bed. Simply mound logs, branches, leaves, grass clippings, straw, cardboard, petroleum-free newspaper, manure, compost or whatever other biomass you have available, top with soil and plant your veggies.

The advantages of a hugel bed are many, including:

The gradual decay of wood is a consistent source of long-term nutrients for the plants. A large bed might give out a constant supply of nutrients for 20 years (or even longer if you use only hardwoods). The composting wood also generates heat which should extend the growing season.

Soil aeration increases as those branches and logs break down... meaning the bed will be no till, long term.

The logs and branches act like a sponge. Rainwater is stored and then released during drier times. Actually you may never need to water your hugel bed again after the first year (except during long term droughts).

Sequester carbon into the soil.

On a sod lawn Sepp Holzer (hugelkultur expert) recommends cutting out the sod, digging a one foot deep trench and filling the trench with logs and branches. Then cover the logs with the upside down turf. On top of the turf add grass clippings, seaweed, compost, aged manure, straw, green leaves, mulch, etc... 

Hugel bed in Ontario, Canada (By Travis Philip)

Hugelkulter from permies.com: Pallets used around periphery

Steeped raised beds: From 'Sepp Holzer's Permaculture'

Sepp Holzer recommends steep hugel beds to avoid compaction from increased pressure over time. Steep beds mean more surface area in your garden for plants and the height makes easy harvesting. The greater the mass, the greater the water-retention benefits.

Vertical logs

Hugel bed dug in clay with logs put in vertically, next branches and lots of wood chips. Top 6" will be wood chips and dirt. This bed will store water and give nutrients for many years to come.

Straw bale gardens require less soil, less water and hold heat. As the straw breaks down nutrients feed the plants. Combining a straw surround with a hugel interior, topped by lasagne layering is an excellent idea for an area with poor quality soil.

Hugel bed in Ontario, Canada (June 28) by Tim Burrows. Tim surrounded his very tall hugel bed in pallets!

Sheet mulching (lasagne gardening) is like composting in place. Above: just a suggestion as to sheet mulching layers. Nitrogen-rich material such as fresh grass clippings or green leaves put right on the hugelkultur wood would help jump start the composting process. Could also include seaweed, straw, dead leaves, leaf mould, etc...

The first year of break down means the wood (and fungi) steal a lot of the nitrogen out of the surrounding environment, so adding nitrogen during the first year or planting crops that add nitrogen to the soil (like legumes) or planting species with minimal nitrogen requirements is necessary, unless there is plenty of organic material on top of the wood. After the wood absorbs nitrogen to its fill, the wood will start to break down and start to give nitrogen back in the process. In the end you will be left with a beautiful bed of nutrient rich soil.

Tree types that work well in hugelkultur:

Hardwoods break down slowly and therefore your hugel bed will last longer, hold water for more years and add nutrients for more years. But softwoods are acceptable as well, a softwood bed will just disintegrate quicker. Mixing woods with softwoods and branches on top, to give off nutrients first, and hardwoods on bottom, sounds like a plan if you have access to multiple types of wood. Yet the newly decomposing softwoods at top will eat up a lot of nitrogen at first, so compensate for that.

Woods that work best:
Alders, apple, aspen, birch, cottonwood, maple, oak, poplar, willow (make sure it is dead or it will sprout).

Trees types that work okay:
Black cherry (use only rotted), camphor wood (well aged), cedar/juniper/yew (anti-microbial/anti-fungal, so use only at very bottom or unless already well aged. Cedar should be broken down before new plant roots reach it), eucalyptus (slightly anti-microbial), osage orange (exceptionally resistant to decay), Pacific yew (exceptionally resistant to decay), pine/fir/spruce (tannins and sap), red mulberry (exceptionally resistant to decay).

Tree types to avoid:
Black locust (will not decompose), black walnut (juglone toxin), old growth redwood (heartwood will not decompose and redwood compost can prevent seed germination).

This article was cross-posted from www.inspirationgreen.com/hugelkultur.html

Further resources

Want to learn more about huglekultur beds? We highly recommend Sepp Holzer's Permaculture, a ground breaking book that will teach you all you need to know! (Also available as an eBook) (For US readers, you can buy from Chelsea Green HERE)

Desert or Paradise by Sepp Holzer (For US readers, you can buy from Chelsea Green here)

How to make hugelkultur raised beds in Permaculture 68 as a pdf

Small-scale hugelkulter in raised beds

How to make vertical raised beds for urban green spaces

Video: How to make a hugelkultur bed

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10 Habits you should pick up from your grandmother

Modern life benefits from a few reminders from times gone by. (Photo: iravgustin/Shutterstock)

Some of us romanticize the past, some of us brush it off altogether — but either way, there’s some good wisdom to be gleaned from generations that weren't bombarded with consumerism, surrounded by chemicals and discombobulated by the crazy pace of the digital world. Yes, we’re talking about the “grandma era.” Known for its wealth of practical solutions, clean living and common sense, the women who forged the road before us were smart cookies. Here are some are some of our favorite grandmotherly habits that are too valuable to be lost.

1. Go for a walk

Urban inhabitants and habitual walkers may know this, but for the rest of us it’s good to remember: Walking is fantastic for both body and soul! If you can walk to do your errands, do it. If you live in an area that requires driving, resume the grandmother tradition of taking a walk after dinner. The health benefits from just 40 minutes of walking a day are impressive; from decreasing your risk of stroke, diabetes and breast cancer to sparking up your sex life and saving money at the gym. Whenever you have the opportunity to walk somewhere, take it. 

2. Cook from scratch

Of course we were going to include this on the list; it’s one of the basic rules of grandmotherdom. Even if you get home late from work or you don’t know how to cook or any other number of reasons, we’re telling you, give it a shot. It doesn't have to be labor-intensive (slow cookers and quick recipes abound), it is cheaper (by a lot), it is generally healthier (you can control the ingredients), it can be relaxing and pleasurable (some of us find it quite sensual, actually), it tastes better (once you get the hang of it), and feeding people something you've cooked provides the chef with the profound pleasure of nurturing loved ones. If you’re intimidated, read this: Why do people think cooking is hard?

3. Nurture a garden
And by this, we mean anything from having a giant plot of flowers and vegetables out back to having a pot of basil on your windowsill. The size doesn't matter, the essence is being able to nurture something in the soil and raise it until it can be harvested to eat, make tea, used in a natural remedy or put in a vase on the table. Along the way you will save money, enjoy a therapeutic hobby, have something natural to consume, and revel in the simple joy of self-sufficiency.

• 10 vegetables to grow in your garden
• 5 herbs that belong in every kitchen garden
• 10 amazing healing plants from your garden

And then of course, put things in jars.

4. Don’t eat fake things

Photo: AnikaNes/Shutterstock

OK, for this one we’re going to jump back a few generations of grannies and offer some advice from modern food writer extraordinaire Michael Pollan, who says:

Don’t eat anything your great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Imagine how baffled your ancestors would be in a modern supermarket: the epoxy-like tubes of Go-Gurt, the preternaturally fresh Twinkies, the vaguely pharmaceutical Vitamin Water. Those aren't foods, quite; they’re food products. History suggests you might want to wait a few decades or so before adding such novelties to your diet, the substitution of margarine for butter being the classic case in point.

Right? What would your great-great-great grandmother think of Cheetos or Cheez Whiz? Your reaction should be similar.

5. Write letters

It’s been so long since someone around here (not mentioning any names or anything) took up a pen and wrote more than a few words that their once-precise penmanship is now about as legible as ancient Phoenician. But personal misgivings aside, we should just all write letters on a regular basis. Not emails, not texts, but honest-to-goodness handwritten letters using a pen and stationery and slipped into envelopes and put in the mailbox. This serves many purposes. First of all, think of the poor U.S. Postal Service; it needs letter writers! But also consider how it forces you to slow down, ponder your thoughts, carefully select words you want to commit to paper ... and how the simple act of written communication works as such a good practice of mindfulness. Plus, the recipient of your letter will be grateful to receive something in their mailbox that isn't a bill or a catalog. (It will also ensure that you don’t forget how to form alphabet letters with little strokes of that thing that dispenses ink.)

6. Use natural remedies

If grandpa had a cough in the middle of the night, did grandma get up, get dressed, drive to the 24-hour pharmacy and plunk down $10 for a day-glow concoction of synthetic chemicals? No. She got up and gave grandpa some honey (and in fact, studies show that honey is more effective in treating a cough than cough syrup!). Why would you want to spend a lot of money on questionable chemicals to treat your woes when you have a whole natural medicine cabinet right in your pantry or garden?

For starters refer to the following for basics:

• 10 natural cough remedies
• 10 health benefits of honey
• 13 surprising home remedies for acid reflux
• 12 health benefits of apple cider vinegar

7. Take care of your clothes; mend when needed

Maybe your grandmother didn't actually darn socks but surely she did some mending. In this disposable culture so many things are tossed at the first sign of wear or tear, and that’s sad. And expensive. And just wrong! Paul Dillinger, the head of global product innovation at Levi’s, tells us to treat our clothes like flowers, and he’s got a really good point. With care and nurturing, our clothes will last a lot longer and will love us back. And if they start to flounder a bit, don’t be afraid of a needle and thread or of turning them into something else.

8. Turn off some appliances

Photo: nata-lunata/Shutterstock

We are grateful that laundry day doesn't involve a washboard, but that doesn't mean we have to rely so incessantly on our appliances; they cost money to use and they use power that increases your carbon footprint. Two great places to start are with the clothes dryer and the air conditioner.

• Dry your clothes on the clothesline
• Air conditioning is not the only answer

After that, challenge yourself to figure out what other appliances you can not use from time to time. If you’re feeling brave, try the TV and other electronics. We’re not suggesting you become a Luddite, but being conscious of your appliance use can be liberating.

9. Use your things until they die

Granted, styles changed less frequently and things lasted longer back in the days when our grandmothers bought stuff, but still. Would your grandmother commit a perfectly good white refrigerator to die an ignoble death at the dump just so she could replace it with a trendy stainless steel one? She wouldn’t think of it, and neither should you. Use your things until they die, then try to repurpose or upcycle them; you will save money and you will alleviate a bit of the stress on our overburdened landfills.

Likewise, apply the habit to food as well and reuse your food scraps until they have nothing left to give; see 20 uses for leftover fruit and vegetable peels for ideas.

10. Clean your home with things you can eat

Wise grandmothers did not reach for highly toxic products like corrosive drain products, oven cleaners, and acidic toilet bowl cleaners or things so laden with synthetic fragrance that they cause respiratory irritation and headache. No, they headed to the kitchen and broke out the baking soda and vinegar. These things are cheaper, safer, and better for the environment in oh so many ways. And they clean effectively, too! Start a nontoxic cleaning kit with the following goodies from your pantry, and if you accidentally get some in your mouth, you won’t have to call the poison control hotline.

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/stories/10-habits-you-should-pick-up-from-your-grandmother#ixzz3BRQ2xn00

How to Make a Recycled Pallet Vertical Garden

http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-make-a-recycled-pallet-vertical-garden/

Yesterday in between snow flurries, sun, hail, snow, and more sun, I was able to use a few left over strawberry plants to create a wood pallet garden.  I first spotted this great idea at the Seattle Flower & Garden Show in February.

I asked the Handsome Husband if he could find me a couple of good clean pallets asap and he did.  He was able to bring home 2 pallets in great condition the very next day.

Here is how I made my wood pallet garden:

I started by wrapping the back and sides of the pallet with a double layer on landscape fabric.  Landscape fabric can be found this time of year at Costco or pretty much any home and garden store.  After cutting the landscape fabric, I then used an industrial stapler and stapled the fabric to the back and sides of the pallet {use a lot of staples}.

Here is what the back of the pallet looked like before I injected a ton of staples into the fabric.

Next, I set the pallet fabric side down, and filled the openings with potting soil.

You’ll want to make sure you push the soil underneath the slats.

If you don’t, when it comes time to stand your pallet up, the soil will slide, and your plants will end up behind the slats.

Next add your plants.  I filled this one with strawberries, but I plan on filling my next pallet garden with an assortment of herbs.

Here is a picture of the pallet garden up close.  This strawberry garden is still in the ugly duckling stage, but in a few short months the strawberry plants will fill out and cover the exposed dirt.Here is a picture of me with the inspiration for this project.

 I left my pallet on the ground for the time being.  I was afraid to stand it up at this point. I want the plants to have time to wrap their roots around the soil so the strawberry plants will be anchored in place.  In about a month when I stand the pallet upright, I will plant 6 more strawberry plants in the opening at the top of the pallet. 

Pallet Gardening 101: Creating a Pallet Garden

http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/pallet-gardening-101-creating-a-pallet-garden/

This year I will be planting a large salad garden, and I thought it would be fun to grow my lettuce and other greens in pallets to change things up a bit in the backyard.

All you really need to do a little pallet gardening is a wood pallet, some good soil and a few seeds. Using a wood pallet to start a garden can be a great space saver, plus as a bonus, there is no soil to til or weed. This is exactly the kind of project young children would love, especially if they could have their own wood pallet.

What to look for in a wood pallet:

If you live in the Tacoma area you can purchase new pallets from Girard Wood Products in Puyallup, Washington for about $9 each. We purchased our pallets here for this years wood pallet garden. The photo you see above is a picture of some recycled wood pallets we found behind buildings last year.

Personally, I suggest using a new, clean, fresh pallet.

But  if you like to live life on the edge, 

Here are a few pointers when looking for recycled pallets:

Look for a pallet that has HT stamped somewhere on the pallet. This means the pallet was heat treated, or kiln dried as opposed to chemically treated.

Because you can never be sure that chemicals were stored on an old pallet or that there is some sort of bacteria lurking inside the recycled pallets, I would scrub the wood down with some bleach and soapy water and let it dry out before using it to plant anything.

Also, watch out for old, rusty nails or staples.

When I first pictured my wood pallet garden, I thought I would only use 3 wood pallets. But every time I walked by something about it didn’t look right. So I decided to expand the pallet garden to include 6 wood pallets.

One of the cool things about gardening, is that there are so many different ways to grow food. So many containers to chose from, and more growing methods than I care to imagine. Everybody has an opinion, and there own way of doing things. And I think that’s the best part.

No two gardens will ever been the same, or have the same growing conditions, but the desire to try new things is something we all have in common. Wouldn’t you agree?

So here we go. This is my new pallet gardening area.  I planted more lettuce seeds this morning, and I’m ready to get started. Next on the agenda is getting the area mulched so it looks a little more put together and like it belongs in a suburban backyard.

Raised Garden Beds with Corrugated Tin

http://www.finegardening.com/item/8756/and-the-winner-of-aprils-photo-challenge-is

http://ext.homedepot.com/community/blog/meet-the-material-corrugated-sheet-metal-at-home-depot/

TIPS FOR A RAISED-BED VEGETABLE GARDEN

Raised-bed gardening is a great way to grow vegetables -- especially if the garden soil is poor or compacted or has poor drainage. And there's no bending over to pull weeds or harvest vegetables.

Raised beds take very little space, and can be built right over a concrete patio. Drainage in a raised bed is superior to that in an in-ground garden bed. A 12"-deep bed provides ample room for most vegetable roots.

The soil in raised beds warms up more quickly in spring so planting can be done earlier. And if the bed is narrow, 3' or less, there will be no need to step on the soil and thus it prevents compaction. It's much easier for roots to grow in loose soil.

Don't build a raised bed on a wooden deck: when the bed is full of soil and water, its weight could cause structural damage.

If the raised bed sits directly on the soil, line the planting bed with hardware cloth or chicken wire at building time to prevent visits from burrowing animals such as gophers and moles.

The bed may be made of wood, stone, brick, cinder blocks or any other material from which you can build a base at least 12" deep. Choose a location that gets at least six hours of direct sunlight each day. Almost any type of vegetables can be grown in raised beds. Exceptions are potatoes, whose roots need a lot of room, and corn, which would grow so high that harvesting would be difficult.

Here's how to plant a raised bed:

1. Fill the bed with good-quality potting soil or compost, and rake the surface smooth and level. Remove any rocks or debris.

2. Plants in raised beds may be spaced a little closer together because fertilizer and manure can be concentrated in the small gardening area.

3. Plant lettuce by poking holes in the soil with your finger at 6" intervals, and sprinkle a few seeds into each hole. Once the seeds germinate, thin to one seedling per hole.

4. You can also broadcast seeds over the surface of the raised bed. If you plant carrots, apply fine-textured potting soil over the top of the seeds. Carrots will attract some species of butterflies to your raised beds.

5. Cucumbers may be planted along the edge of the raised bed, where they can trail over the side. Cucumbers will grow right on top of your patio.

6. Water the garden well immediately after planting.

http://www.diynetwork.com/outdoors/tips-for-a-raised-bed-vegetable-garden/index.html

Raised Garden Beds: How to Build

Raised garden beds are fairly easy to construct and even easier to maintain. Here is advice on how to build raised garden beds for your backyard.

Benefits of a Raised Garden

• Ideal for smaller spaces (versus a conventional row garden)
• Great for rocky, poor, or abused soil
• Produces a higher yield for the area, thanks to better drainage and deep rooting
• Allows for a longer growing season, since you can work the soil more quickly in the spring in frost-hardened regions
• Makes gardening easier; for example, intensive planting creates shade mulch to keep the weeds down

Raised Beds Video

Here is a fantastic video on How to Use Raised Beds in Your Garden. Click picture below to watch video.

After you finish watching it, click here to try out the online Almanac Garden Planner which has a special raised bed feature.

Construction Tips

Materials

• Many people are concerned about the safely of their wood frame. First, rest assured that CCA pressure-treated wood is banned as it was leaching Arsenic.
• To ensure that the wood lasts, there are several options:
  1) Regular pressure-treated lumber sold today has a mixture of chemicals applied to prevent the moist soil and weather from rotting it. Although pressure-treated wood is certified as safe for organic growing, some people have reservations about using it and there are various eco-friendly alternatives.
  2) More expensive woods such as cedar contain natural oils which prevent rotting and make them much more durable. They are more expensive to buy but they will last many more years.
  3) Choosing thicker boards can make the wood last longer. For example two-inch thick locally-sourced larch should last ten years, even without treatment.
• You could also use concrete blocks or bricks. Remember that concrete will increase the pH in soil over time.
• Some people use railroad ties, however, we would advise against this. Though the very old ones may be fine, newer ties use creosote-treated timber which is toxic.

Planning and Design

• Consider a location that's level and has the right amount of sunlight.
• In terms of bed size, 4 feet is a common width. Lumber is often cut in 4-feet increments, and you also want to be able to access the garden without stepping into the bed.
• Length isn't as important. Plots are often 4 feet wide by 8 feet long or 4 feet wide by 12 feet long.
• The depth of the bed can vary. Six inches is a minimum. Plants need at least a 6- to 12-inch rooting zone, so 12 inches is ideal.
• Before you establish the bed, break up and loosen the soil with a garden fork so that it's not compacted. Go about 6 to 8 inches deep. For improved rooting, some gardeners like to remove the top layer (about a spade's depth), dig down another layer, and then return the top layer and mix the soil layers together.

Building the Bed

We'll speak to timber-built beds in this article since lumber is the most common material used.

• To support timber beds, place wooden stakes at ever corner (and every few feet for long beds). Place on the inside of the bed so that the stakes are less visible.
• Drive the stakes about 60% (2 feet) into the ground and leave the rest of the stakes exposed above ground.
• Ensure that the stakes are level so that they're in the ground at the same height, or you'll have uneven beds.
• Set the lowest boards a couple inches below ground level. Check that they are level.
• Use galvanized nails (or screws) to fix the boards to the stakes.
• Then add any additional rows of boards, fixing them to the stakes, too.

Soil for Raised Beds

• Fill the beds with a mix of topsoil, compost, and other organic material, such as manure, to give your plants a nutrient-rich environment.
• Note that the soil in a raised bed will dry out more quickly. During the spring and fall, this is fine, but during the summer, add straw, mulch, or hay on top of the soil.
• Frequent watering will be critical with raised beds, especially in the early stages of plant growth. Otherwise, raised beds need little maintenance.

Plants for Raised Beds

Almost any crop can be grown in a raised bed. Vegetables are most common, but fruits and even shrubs and trees can be planted, too. Remember that some plants will hang over the edge, so try to think about where you are planting what.

Here's one of many plot plans to consider, courtesy of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

http://www.almanac.com/content/raised-garden-beds-how-build

14 Simple Gardening Tips and Tricks

From using leftover coffee beans to preventing dirt from getting underneath fingernails, master gardener Paul James shares his top 14 tips and shortcuts to make spring gardening a breeze.

Here, the latest tips and tricks from Paul James, host of Gardening by the Yard:

1. To remove the salt deposits that form on clay pots, combine equal parts white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle. Apply the mixture to the pot and scrub with a plastic brush. Let the pot dry before you plant anything in it.

2. To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the garden, draw your fingernails across a bar of soap and you'll effectively seal the undersides of your nails so dirt can't collect beneath them. Then, after you've finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be sparkling clean.

3. To prevent the line on your string trimmer from jamming or breaking, treat with a spray vegetable oil before installing it in the trimmer.

4. Turn a long-handled tool into a measuring stick! Lay a long-handled garden tool on the ground, and next to it place a tape measure. Using a permanent marker, write inch and foot marks on the handle. When you need to space plants a certain distance apart (from just an inch to several feet) you'll already have a measuring device in your hand.

5. To have garden twine handy when you need it, just stick a ball of twine in a small clay pot, pull the end of the twine through the drainage hole, and set the pot upside down in the garden. Do that, and you'll never go looking for twine again.

6. Little clay pots make great cloches for protecting young plants from sudden, overnight frosts and freezes.

7. To turn a clay pot into a hose guide, just stab a roughly one-foot length of steel reinforcing bar into the ground at the corner of a bed and slip two clay pots over it: one facing down, the other facing up. The guides will prevent damage to your plants as you drag the hose along the bed.

8. To create perfectly natural markers, write the names of plants (using a permanent marker) on the flat faces of stones of various sizes and place them at or near the base of your plants.

9. Got aphids? You can control them with a strong blast of water from the hose or with insecticidal soap. But here's another suggestion, one that's a lot more fun; get some tape! Wrap a wide strip of tape around your hand, sticky side out, and pat the leaves of plants infested with aphids. Concentrate on the undersides of leaves, because that's where the little buggers like to hide.

10. The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don't pour the water down the drain, use it to water potted patio plants, and you'll be amazed at how the plants respond to the "vegetable soup."

11. Use leftover tea and coffee grounds to acidify the soil of acid-loving plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, gardenias and even blueberries. A light sprinkling of about one-quarter of an inch applied once a month will keep the pH of the soil on the acidic side.

12. Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a spot of tea to the soil around the base of seedlings once a week or use it as a foliar spray.

13. If you need an instant table for tea service, look no farther than your collection of clay pots and saucers. Just flip a good-sized pot over, and top it off with a large saucer. And when you've had your share of tea, fill the saucer with water, and your "table" is now a birdbath.

14. The quickest way in the world to dry herbs: just lay a sheet of newspaper on the seat of your car, arrange the herbs in a single layer, then roll up the windows and close the doors. Your herbs will be quickly dried to perfection. What's more, your car will smell great.

http://www.hgtv.com/gardening/14-simple-gardening-tips-and-tricks/index.html?soc=sharingfb