3. November 2006

gardening tips

for gophers, I recommend planting things in wire baskets, just cut out (or buy premade ones) a section of 1/2" chicken wire mesh so it will wrap around the root ball of the plant you want to have in your garden. Plant as you would in any case, only this time with the wire protecting the root ball. Gophers cannot eat the base of the plant and the plant will establish. They may eat some roots, but rarely eat all and cannot get to the base of the plant and kill it.

for snails and slugs:
sprinkle used coffee grounds around the area you want protected from these pests. They eat the coffee grounds and the caffeine in them kills the pests. a very safe alternate to poison baits/chemicals

weed killers:
pour boiling water over weeds to 'cook' them. This technique will kill most weeds.
Another method is to spray white vinegar on the weeds. This works especially well in warm dry weather. the acidic vinegar burns off the weeds. may need several applications and does not work as well on very deep rooted weeds like Bermuda grass
Dealing With Pests • 2 Comments