A Safer Spray

A Safer Spray

by | Nov 29, 2023 | Weeds

A close-up of the label of 30% concentrate vinegar.Here is an herbicide that is safe to use in your garden—vinegar. Now, table vinegar won’t work. It has a concentration of 4-5%. You need to buy 30% vinegar which you will find at Home Depot or Lowes. The thing is, you can reduce the percentage to 20% and it will still be very effective. Dilute the 30% by adding 1 part water to 2 parts vinegar and you will get 20%. I have been testing vinegar spray at the Rock Garden and have found it to be deadly on everything but Bermuda grass. You will find that one application will kill weeds in a very short period of time.

 

Stan, The Spraying Man

Drip System Repair

Drip System Repair

by | Nov 29, 2023 | Irrigation

A irrigation tube covered in several layers of black electrical tape.If you have a drip system in your garden, you will sooner or later have leaks. Most commonly these are caused by severing a half inch supply line with a shovel, but there are numerous other causes like critter damage. The tubing shown in the first photo was damaged by sun exposure over many years that left it brittle, and then being stepped on which led to severe cracking. You can see that I solved it with multi-layers of electrician’s tape. Surprisingly, that worked for months, but when several leaks appeared, additional tape did not stem the flow.

A trip to Home Depot revealed something new. Rather than having a bunch of bins for fittings of slightly different tube sizes, there were only 3—straight, elbow, and T. This new design accommodates all variations of “half inch” tubing. So, I used 2 couplings to insert a new 3 foot section of tubing and buried it this time.

A view of drip system parts needed for repairs.The one thing I want to caution you about is the amount of strength required to force tubing into the coupling. One of the joints leaked. I foolishly tried to solve the leak with tape. Finally, I realized that all I had to do is force the tubing farther into the coupling. Duh. Now, I don’t mean to discourage your use of electrician’s tape. Generally, it will solve minor leaks. Just remember to really stretch the tape tightly as you wind it around the tubing. The second photo shows a new coupling and a handy small roll of tape next to an old repaired leak that has worked well.

-Stan (Just call me Dr. Drip) 

P.S. You cannot use these couplings to repair severed soaker hose. The hose walls are too thick to fit into the coupling. You will need to use an internal barbed coupling.

Summer Pot Watering

Summer Pot Watering

by | Nov 29, 2023 | Irrigation, Pots

Several potted plants being watered in a black plastic tub.You know the rule about watering potted plants—water until the water runs through. I watered the plant that LaVille is holding just last night. Well, water did run through, but look at the dry section she is pointing out. I was surprised at how quickly the passion vines had been wilting. It is obvious the water was just channeling through without soaking the soil. We thought the rapid wilting was due to the pot being too small, so LaVille started repotting into 2 gallon pots. As soon as the first gallon pot was emptied, it was obvious what the problem was. She decided to go ahead and repot all 12 passion vines anyway. We then soaked the new pots into the tubs shown in the second photo.

 

So, I guess the lesson for you is this: If you let a potted plant get really dry, watering so that the water passes through may not insure thorough soil dampening. You might try lifting the pot after watering so see if the weight indicates water retention. I suppose you could insert a moisture probe deeply into the pot to check moisture at different levels. And, of course, if you choose soaking the pot, don’t forget to remove it. A drip pan would be another solution.

 

Incidentally, we found over a dozen caterpillars on these plants. We transferred them over to the huge mother plant. We will soon have a yard full of gulf fritillary butterflies. You could experience that same joy.

 

Stan, The Soaker Man

Got Knitting Needles?

Got Knitting Needles?

by | Nov 29, 2023 | Garden tools

It has been a long time since I sent out a blog. No one has complained, but I will ignore the possible inference.

A cardboard box full of multi-colored, mismatched knitting needles

I just watched a video on TikTok (yes, I watch TikTok a lot). It showed another technique for testing the moisture content of a potted plant. Ya know how you stick a toothpick into a cake that you are baking to see if it is done. If stuff sticks to the tooth pick, you know it needs to go back to the oven. Now I have never done this myself, but LaVille seems to relish this procedure. Anyway, if you stick a knitting needle into a potted plant, where soil sticks to it upon removal tells you the depth of the moisture. I know I have touted the use of moisture meters, but I have found that the soil texture can vary the results. Besides, here is something new for you to experiment on. (Don’t you just hate it when a sentence ends in a preposition?)

 

As you can see, I have quite a collection of knitting needles. I bought this batch probably 30 years ago at a garage sale for a little bit of nothing. Other than using several pairs to teach the grandkids to knit, none of these has been used by us because we prefer circular needles. (You should see some of my scarves.) So, if the box appears dusty, it’s because it’s been in the attic all these years.

Stan, The Knitting Man

Soulful Sneakers

Soulful Sneakers

by | May 8, 2023 | Apparel for gardening, Senior Gardening

Long-handled shoehorn atop a pair of sneakers

Once again, I am sending you a blog not as a fellow gardener, but as a caring friend. You can see in the photo a shoehorn laying on top of sneakers. Now these are not just any sneakers—these shoes have a soul that can communicate with the wearer. In this case, these sneakers perceived the moans and groans as I bent over to tie these shoes. In a soft and gentle voice, they told me to tie the bows in a knot.

They said to remove the sneakers at the end of the day, simply use one shoe to press on the heal of the other. Then use your bare foot in a similar fashion to remove the other shoe. They said to immediately search on Amazon for long handled shoehorns. There I would find 2 shoehorns under the Velette brand for $15. Now, these wouldn’t arrive for 2 days, so I was told to plan on wearing a different pair of shoes until my order arrives. The shoes said to order a second shoehorn because they had heard moans and groans from the other side of the bedroom.

 I have been to a lot of estate sales, and it was not uncommon to find a long-handled shoehorn among the estate remains. It always made me somewhat sad that whoever had died, had to resort to using such a device. Well, guess who must be getting old?

 When that time arrives for you, you may find your soulful sneakers talking to you. If you bought them at Fleet Feet, they were expensive. That’s the price you pay for English speaking sneakers. If you bought them at an outlet store or a store like T.J. Maxx, you paid less, but the language spoken won’t be English. You will need to use Google Translator unless you happen to be lucky and can speak that same language.

 In the meantime, don’t fret. When that day arrives, simply listen to your sneakers and do what they say—life will be easier if you do.

Stan, The Old Man