Tips to Care for Your Garden

Mid-season is a good idea to attend to the care of your lawn. Advertisements are abound for products that can chemically treat lawns to rid them of weeds and fertilize them. Although these commercially produced and synthetically made products do as they were designed to do, many of us prefer to treat our lawns organically. Below are some recipes that can help, do work and can be made with products commonly found around the house! Some aspects of lawn care require the usage of both organic and non-organic products.

To Control Weeds:
2 cups of any brand of liquid dish soap (not liquid detergent)
2 cups of ammonia
4 tablespoons of any plain instant tea

Mix the ingredients in a 20 gallon hose end sprayer in the heat of the day. Then follow up with any brand of commercially made liquid weed control.

Thatch Control:
1 can of beer
2 cups of any brand of ammonia
1 cup of liquid dish soap (not liquid detergent)
1 can of regular non-diet cola

Mix these ingredients in a 20 gallon hose end sprayer and evenly apply to the lawn. Heavy thatch may require a second application a week later. Beer contains yeast, enzymes and nutrients that promote good microbial activity, and the same goes for tea, soda, corn syrup and molasses. Ammonia breaks down into nitrates that are readily taken up as a plant nutrient, and nitrogen helps break down thatch. Soap helps break the surface tension on water droplets and makes the solution spread over the target plants better.

Lawn Fertilizer:
Add three to four pounds of Epsom salts to any brand of dry lawn fertilizer and apply this mixture at about one half the rate suggested on the bag of fertilizer. A 50-pound bag should cover approximately 2500 square feet per bag of fertilizer.

Organic Fertilizer:
1 can of beer
1 cup of ammonia
1 cup of plain liquid dish soap (not liquid detergent)
1 cup any brand liquid lawn fertilizer
1 cup of molasses or corn syrup

Mix these ingredients into a 20 gallon hose end sprayer and apply evenly to the entire lawn in early mornings or later evenings. Applications may be done every two weeks during the entire growing season.

To Control Insects:
1 cup of Fels Naphtha Soap Solution
1 cup of any brand antiseptic mouthwash
2 cups of chewing tobacco juice

Mix these ingredients into a 20 gallon hose end sprayer and evenly apply to the lawn. Fels Naphtha Soap Solution can be made by putting the entire bar into an old nylon stocking and placing it into boiling water. Add 1/2 cup of regular baby shampoo or liquid dish soap to aid the process. Tobacco juice can be made using the same process but without adding any other products. The juice should be dark brown when finished. Tobacco and its components (nicotine specifically) is a powerful insecticide, and mouthwash contains alcohol, which will often desiccate or at least irritate many insects and encourage them to move on.

Lawn Tonic:
1 can of beer
1 cup of liquid dish washing soap (not liquid detergent)
2 cups of ammonia
1 cup of molasses or corn syrup
1/2 cup of liquid lawn food

Apply evenly to the entire lawn every two to three weeks in early evenings and water in well. All recipes are designed to cover 2500 square feet of lawn surface area. Measure you lawn and adjust recipes as needed.

© 2006 Doityourself.com