Gardening Myths and old wives tales...

I think I read about that at some point. Whatever I read must not have convinced me.

I've used Epsom Salt for years on roses, peppers and tomatoes. I think it works, especially on roses that have suffered winter damage.

There are so many myths and old wive tales that I wouldn't know where to start. The one that recently got my hackles up was on a homesteading website in which a woman (a woman mind you!) said she never works in her garden when she has her menstrual cycle because it poorly effects the plants. Although totally challenged by other posters she would not see reason. This was not the first time I've heard such a thing.

I think much of companion planting is untested science. While certain plants like to be together due to liking the same conditions, they do not help one another grow. Jewelweed does not grow near poison ivy because it is a cure. They grow together because they both like moist shade. I keep daring believers to give themselves a case of poison ivy and then clear it up with Jewelweed, so far no takers.

The whole marigold, tansy, mint (fill in the blank) keeping pests away is a myth IMHO. It does help to grow pollen laden perennials near a vegetable garden because they attract things like parasitic wasps, but plants do not keep away insects. Citronella does nothing to keep away mosquitoes.There are substances from plants that can be distilled and used as insecticides, but that is not the same thing to me.

I think organic practices are excellent, but bio-dynamic has no supporting science and is all hearsay. People totally confuse the two.

maybe that's why I became a gardener after menopause.

I regularily wash down the garden with Fels Naptha solution (weak)

fish line - 20 lb. strung at knee and chest level keeps deer away

stuff twisted foil into groundhog holes

tried the epsom salts thing on hydragea this year. Not sure if it worked, since we have had a cool , rainy summer this year but it did perk up.

ok, ima try the salt on my peppers and tomatoes and okra.

any thoughts on cucumbers? (mine are weak)

lotsa flowers here, but no roses. no like thorns with bad eyes...

Go for it. I always put salt on my tomatoes, too.

mixing epsom salts for a trial dose, my tomatoes are verra weak this year.

funny weather we've had.

I use compost tea on all my veggies in general. If you have access to chicken poop that makes an excellent tea for cucumbers. They like the nitrogen. Rabbit poop is also good and does not have to be heavily diluted since it is not as "hot" as chicken.

since we have fallen to the scat level...

previously I have used soil composted with horsie poop, but this year I dint have the ability to go get it in time for planting.

I don't know any of my more rural neighbors well enough yet to go asking if I can borrow a cup of chicken poop, but I will keep it in mind, thanks.

mulling over the rabbit poop thing...

I got lotsa bunnies, but i have no idea where they poop, or if they would let me watch so i could collect it...

thinking I will stick to the epsom salts today.

(back later with results)









(not today of course)

I was talking the pets or meat kind. Sometimes local kids have rabbits and you can give them a couple of bucks for the poop.

my ex-MIL swore by "hen tea". She saved all of her egg shells (full of sulfer and calcium) and threw them into a large screw-lid jar, filled it with water and put it aside for a few weeks. Then she poured off the water into a bucket and diluted it up to a couple gallons and poured it on just about everything that was supposed to flower, produce fruit, etc.

She did this mostly in the spring, after planting. She gave her flowering bushes/trees another dose in the fall before they became dormant.

egg shells we got. (2 dozen a day at least)

doin' the salt thing on potted bushes, too. in for a dime, in for a donut...

Why epsom salt works:

1. it has a ph of 6.5 (approx) so corrects acid or alkaline soils.

2. Epsom salts is primarily magnesium sulphate MgSO4. magnesium is an essential part of the chloryphyyl molecule. epsom salts reduces magnesium deficiancy.

3. some plants require more magnesium than others (or are less able to extract it) potatoes, roses, tomatoes, peppers and cannabis are magnesium hungry.

4. Anhydrous magnesium sulphate readily absorbs and holds water thus assisting your soil to stay moist over a period of time.

If you want your onions to turn out nice and hot, plant them shallow so they adsorb the heat of the sun. To make them sweeter, plant them deeper.

Maybe, maybe not, but surely not from the heat of the sun.