Old timer tricks to help your veggies flourish! (growing, fertilizers, bug)

[palmer437]

Last year I had beautiful Bell Pepper plants, but no peppers. Was talking to a lady at work about gardening and how I had that issue. She said you should of put some matches under each plant. I said what!? She recieved this tip from an "old timer". She tested it out one year by putting some matches from a box under some plants and no matches under others. The ones with the matches had a clear advantage! Apparently the sulfur from the matches works wonders for the plants! I guess all you have to do is put one or two matches under each plant when you transplant to the garden. Or if you plant the seed in the garden for those of you who have longer growing seasons.

Do anyone else have any weird tips for your gardens?

[JanND]

Interesting thread....Thanks for starting it. I look forward to the tips from others

Epsom Salts in your tomato bed, just a tablespoon or so, sprinkled around on the dirt near each plant.

Pinch the tops of those sprawling tomato seedlings at planting time...They will do much better.

Put hay or straw around the base of your tomato plants for mulch.

I have stakes near the plant, and have two graduated sized tomato cages, really large ones on outside. Breaking branches cost veggies. Stake them up loosely if you use twine or something to tie the branches....they need to be able to continue to grow....like a hammock type sling is best.

I use a good over the counter tomato fertilizer. I also by night crawler worms (fish bait store) to put into my garden...Nothing like worm poop for fertilizer

You can use cardboard boxes, cut into sections for ground/weed cover...it works.

Also, I don't use miracle grow on my veggies...I get too much plant and not enough vegetables, like your peppers.

Water deeply, once the plant has taken root. I water in early mornings. Night time watering encourages bugs.

I use a garden sprayer w/ a small amount of dish soap to discourage bugs. Lots of recipes on the net for natural bug repellants.

I also use coffee grounds and old tea bags to dress the area around my plants...Cause that is what my Grand Ma did. It seems to help.

[TinaMcG]

Matches may add a tiny bit of sulphur to the soil, but think about it, really. What else is in them that can possibly do anything for a plant? Nothing, and that tiny bit of sulphur isn't helping much either.

[palmer437]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

Matches may add a tiny bit of sulphur to the soil, but think about it, really. What else is in them that can possibly do anything for a plant? Nothing, and that tiny bit of sulphur isn't helping much either.

Well you can't knock it until you try it. This year I'll do an experiment, some with and some without. For the cost, you can't beat it if it works.

Also...If I have extra grass clippings I lay the grass thick throughout the garden to keep the weeds down, it works great and is all decomposed by the following spring, adding nutrients to the soil.

I'll have to try watering in the morning! I usually did it in the evening, most everything grew great but I did have a lot of insects!

Love the tips, I'm still a rookie

[TinaMcG]

You can knock it if it doesn't make sense from a scientific standpoint, and sticking matches in the soil makes no sense whatsoever. I have a whole book of these garden tips someone gave me as a gift when I was a new gardener. An awful lot of them are complete nonsense.

Extension services will always tell you to water in the morning, avoid evening watering if possible. Evvening moisture plus darkness promotes the growth of fungi and mold, and yes, it could provide more harbor for insects.

I suggest if you are a rookie, you start off on a good footing and visit your local county Extension service, or find out which Extension serves your area and browse their website for research-based articles. If there are any infallible hort services out there, it's the Extension services.

[Bulldogdad]

There are always kernals of truth in most wives tales of any nature. Again understand that almost all of them are word of mouth through the ages not based on scientific methods other than trial and error.

However as TinaMcG makes the point above modern wholesome cultivating techniques for the home gardener leave almost all those in the wastebin.

Example epsom salts way back when were more available and less costly than commercial fertilizers for the average gardener and had a modicum of beneficial elemental minerals that were better than just soil and water by themselves for plants.

[Ohiogirl81]

Hair. A wad of hair at the bottom of the planting hole will give your plants nutrients all season long as it decomposes.

Ditto for eggshells -- especially for tomatoes and peppers, both of which need calcium to produce healthy fruit.

Bone meal is an excellent fertilizer.

Marigolds keep the tomato hornworms away. Plant a clump at both ends of each row.

Use a soaker hose for watering. Not an old-timer's trick, but useful nonetheless.

[TinaMcG]

::::sigh::::

Hair is a source of nitrogen, which is released into the soil verrrrrry slowly, because hair breaks down verrrry slowly. Is it worth it? In the compost bin, perhaps, and only if you want to recycle what you remove from your dog.

Eggshells: Again, they decompose excruciatingly slow and provide very little calcium. Worth it? Not really, but throw them in the compost to keep them out of the landfill. Besides, most soils have more calcium than they need.

Bone meal: Not a fertilizer, sorry. An amendment that contains calcium, which is not needed nearly as often as people think.

Marigolds do not, repeat DO NOT keep tomato hornworms away. Tomato hornworms are born on the plants they infest, from eggs laid by sphinx moths and other gigantic and beautiful moths. This is how moths and butterflies start out, nestled in the foliage they will use as food. Research has shown that marigolds do not keep critters of any sort away, be it caterpillar or rabbit, but there is some evidence marigolds might cut down on some soil nematode populations.

[Reactionary]

For those who want to try an 'old time trick', bury rusty nails in with your hydrangeas to turn the hydrangeas blue.

It might work in your own post-modern reality where there is no objective truth, but in my own equally valid reality I use Espoma Garden Sulfur and spare myself the tetanus shot.

[palmer437]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

You can knock it if it doesn't make sense from a scientific standpoint, and sticking matches in the soil makes no sense whatsoever. I have a whole book of these garden tips someone gave me as a gift when I was a new gardener. An awful lot of them are complete nonsense.

Extension services will always tell you to water in the morning, avoid evening watering if possible. Evvening moisture plus darkness promotes the growth of fungi and mold, and yes, it could provide more harbor for insects.

I suggest if you are a rookie, you start off on a good footing and visit your local county Extension service, or find out which Extension serves your area and browse their website for research-based articles. If there are any infallible hort services out there, it's the Extension services.

I get it, you are smart I wont question that. One question I do have is how do you explain the fact that the plants my co-worker put match sticks underneath produced bell peppers and the ones she didn't produced no peppers? Its ok to leave scientific explanations/terminology/lab results behind and have a little fun with life. A lot of the old timer tricks were brought about because they didn't have a ton of money, they were resourceful, used what they had in their sheds, garages or drawers, not what they figured out after extensive scientific research. I'll have fun with my garden this year, try some new things...if they dont work I'll give you and science props! P.S. I started this thread for some good old tricks that people have tried, that have worked, not for scientific explanations. None the less have a good day!