How to Recycle to Better Keep Your Tomato Plants and Other Vegetables Off the Ground!

You'll get more tomatoes from healthier plants.

I hope that your garden is doing better mine.  After all the rain that we’ve been having, the weather has turned those few still surviving into scrawny excuses of plants.  However, I still like to give these pathetic guys all the help they can get to keep them off the ground when tied to their stakes.

I used to cut an old sheet into strips to tie around the plants to keep them secure to their stakes.  This was fine, but I found something that works much better.  Now I save my old pantyhose that I would normally throw away and recycle them for another purpose of stretchy plant ties.

What I like to do is taking a pair of old pantyhose, cut off the panty, then use the legs as a stretchable brace to support them against their stakes.  I tried this in the past and it so much better than using strips of cloth because they aren’t so tight to hamper the circulation of the plants and move as they continue to grow.

Hopefully, this continual bout of what seems like daily rain will stop and end so my plants have a chance to catch up before the deer behead them as usual.  Nonetheless, I wanted to share because this gardening tip can help your plants thrive!

Tis the Season for the Sneezing So Here Are Some Tips to Help Keep Seasonal Allergies in Check!

This post may help cut down the number of tissues you need this season.

Having a seasonal allergy can make a person miserable.  Besides sneezing, your eyes can water and itch along with skin.  Yet, headaches also can be frequent and cause suffering to make the season even more memorable for those afflicted.  If you happen to be battling this condition, there is something else that you may want to think about around your own home that could help lessen your suffering.

Need Some DIY Deer Repellant to Help Protect Your Garden Before Their Next Raid?

This one looks ready either to laugh or attempt talking when she sees me.  

Not so long ago, I could plant a small garden with tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. and be able to harvest what I grew.  These days it is becoming increasingly harder to keep all our local wildlife out of our yard here in the suburbs.   

It used to be mostly the groundhog that gave me the most trouble.  I swear that my place was their local capital because there were plenty of different shapes, sizes and even coloring that would congregate for an eating frenzy at the same time before I used to run to scare them away.  You would think that seeing an angry woman scolding them loudly waving a broom would be enough to do the trick.  

How to Get Better Drainage for More Beautiful Houseplants!

Your indoor plants will thrive using this tip.

I had to give some of my houseplants away because I was running out of room.  Usually, when I would need to transplant them into other clay containers, I put some tiny rocks to help them drain.  Of course, you could buy some.  However, why bother when you can get the same results for free outside or using something else that you probably are throwing away after buying something online?  I’m talking about those annoying Styrofoam peanuts that always seem to pop out of the boxes and end up sticking to you and all over the floor as you try to take the item you ordered out.

What I like to do now is save some of those Styrofoam peanuts and pull them out when I am in the mood to replant.  Instead of the small rocks, I put some of those peanuts at the bottom of the planter before the plant and potting soil.  

As lightweight as those peanuts are, they hold up well when you water.  Furthermore, they are especially great to use when replanting those larger plants that need heavier containers and a lot more soil since they don’t add weight.  Besides making some of those big planters easier to lift, you’ll also appreciate how your plants will thrive because those peanuts are sturdy.

I hope you give it a try because your plants will love it!

How to Make Your Own Instant Plant Fertilizer Out of What You’re About to Throw Away!

Your house plants will love this  DIY home fertilizer!

You probably are aware of the value of saving your old eggshells and crushing them up for your garden plants.  However, there is another way to speed up the fertilizer effect for your indoor plants using those discarded eggshells by making a home solution.

What I like to do after making a batch of eggs is soaking the shells in a covered container for at least a day or two.  Once the solution has time to set, pulling the nutrients from the shells, the fertilizer solution is ready.

All that is left to do is to scoop out the old eggshells and then feed the houseplants.

Saving those eggshells and treating your own indoor plants with this home solution at least once a week will help them thrive.  Try it yourself and see!

Winter is Here But Spring is Right Around the Corner--Garden Planning Starts Now!

Chase away your winter blahs with thoughts of spring.

Winter is here and you’re probably looking back at some missed resolutions from 2016, but now is when we need to plan ahead.  Spring is right around the corner.  My favorite time of the year is when we emerge from the dark cold winter season and things are starting to pop up from the soil.  Birds are singing and the colors of flowers replace the fields of white snow in our yards.

Yet, to really have a nice garden you have to think ahead and order your seeds and plants now.  Of course, you could always just go to the garden center in the spring and shop.  They will have a nice selection of flowers and vegetable plants in plastic containers for you to buy.

How to Grow Fresh Basil Easily to Enjoy in the Winter!

Having limited space, I love to save some room for herbs in my garden.  The local wildlife usually left herbs I planted alone.  However, this year the beasts included most of my herbs along with the rest of my vegetables as their salad bar.  For some reason, however, our deer, ground hogs, rabbits, and whatever else that dines in my yard didn't care for the basil I had planted.  Then again, maybe they were just full before they were able to find it.  Nonetheless, I did get to harvest a lot of fresh basil.

I didn't realize how much fresh basil I had picked until washing the large assortment that I had cut.  Having too much, I put a few pieces in a jar of water on my kitchen window sill. 
To my amazement, my basil took to the water before I knew it and was rooting like crazy. 

Believe it or not, I could pick basil from this jar if I had wanted to.  However, I am going to plant it and keep it inside for fresh basil in the winter.

If you have a garden, I just wanted to let you know that you can pick some and put in a jar and watch it grow for fresh homegrown basil in the winter. 

Time to Splurge and Make My Easy Zucchini Pineapple Cake!

Today, I have another delicious way to use that crop of zucchini you might still be lucky to harvest from your garden.  I used to make this recipe quite often when I grew lots of zucchini.  Unfortunately, I gave up on growing most vegetables this year except for a few tomatoes and herbs due to all the wildlife in my backyard. 

Yesterday, I had a small army of wild turkeys checking out what was good eating to snack on.  I always heard their distinctive gobbling sounds, but I never saw those in the backyard until yesterday night.  My goodness, my guys were taller than the other varieties I have seen frequenting the area and quite huge, but slender.  Furthermore, these things are bold and unafraid of the human voice when you shoo them from above.  Oh well, I am getting off track when I want to share this excellent recipe to take advantage of zucchini.

My recipe makes an extra moist cake due to the crushed pineapple that is so yummy even without any icing.  More important, you will love how simple this recipe is to whip up when the urge for a goodie strikes.

I like to make this particular cake in two loaves pans and freeze one for another time.  However, you could also make it in a bundt cake or tube pan and pop it out or whatever works for you. 

Now I need to resort to store-bought zucchini for this recipe, but I still make it quite often because it is so very good.  I hope you get a chance to try my cake because I know you'll enjoy it.

My Easy Zucchini Pineapple Cake

3 large eggs
2 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons of vanilla
1 cup of canola oil
2 cups of zucchini (peeled, grated, and drained)
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of raisins
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 cup of chopped nuts
1 cup of crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Sift flour, soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl. 

Beat the eggs until fluffy in another large mixing bowl. 

Combine the sifted ingredients slowly to the eggs and then stir in the vanilla, oil, zucchini, pineapple, raisins, and nuts.  Mix thoroughly.

Then turn out the batter into two greased loaf pans. 

Bake approximately one hour in a 325-degree oven or until a toothpick or slender knife inserted comes out clean.

My Zucchini Stuffed With Rice and Cheese Makes a Delicious Summer Dinner!

I used to grow a lot of zucchini until my garden became the headquarters of all the local wildlife.  For some reason, zucchini was always the first vegetable they targeted until I finally stopped planting it.  Now I'm lucky to put a few tomatoes, peppers, and herbs in, but when I had a lot of zucchini this is one of my favorite ways to make a main dish out of it.  

You can serve this zucchini topped with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese or your favorite spaghetti sauce for a delicious change.

Now whenever we get a taste for this recipe, I visit our local Farmer's Market.  I do hope you will try this dish because it is an excellent simple main dish.

My Zucchini Stuffed With Rice and Cheese Dinner

3 medium zucchini
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cup of rice, uncooked
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1-3/4 cups of water
3/4 cup of peas
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of Velveeta cheese, sliced thin or cubed in small piece
1/2 cup of Provolone cheese, grated or sliced thin
1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
Parmesan cheese 
spaghetti sauce (optional)

Cut zucchini lengthwise in half.  Scoop out and dice the centers while leaving 1/4-inch thickness of the shell.

Take the diced zucchini, onion, and garlic and cook in the oil over medium heat until onions turn golden brown and vegetables get tender. 

Add rice, salt, basil, and 1-1/2 cups of water to the vegetable mixture.  Heat to boiling before covering.  Then simmer for about ten minutes.  Add peas and simmer for additional ten more minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. 

Take the vegetable mixture off of the heat.  Now stir in the milk and the cheese and combine well.

In a large skillet, heat the zucchini halves in the remaining 1/4 cup of water to boiling.  Lower the heat and simmer this for about five minutes or until tender-crisp.  Salt the halves, if you wish.

Fill the halves with the rice-vegetable mixture.  Place back in your skillet, cover and cook over low heat just to heat through.

Top with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese or your favorite spaghetti sauce or both. 

Save Your Winter Wardrobe From Moths With These Homemade Natural Repellants!

You are probably cleaning those winter clothes and ready to store them away until next year.  If you hate using those foul-smelling mothballs or crystals, then you are not alone.  They are disgusting and conjure up memories of the past when a friend used to radiate that strong toxic aroma with every sweater he wore all through college.  Regardless of his cologne, the sickly smell of those mothballs would linger.

However, there are better ways to keep those vulnerable wool items safe from the destruction of moths without offending delicate noses.  Besides cedar or cedar chips, you have some other sweet smelling options.  You could use whole cloves, which is a wonderful deterrent. 

Those that like to garden should think of planting these two perennials: lavender and rosemary to dry.  Though both are fragrant, you get double duty with being able to season your food with the rosemary as well. 

Another interesting aid in the battle against moths comes in the form of saving orange peels and drying them. 

For those handy with thread and needle, you might want to sew pretty sachet packets to hang around the clothes or to leave inside with the items. You could also improvise.  Use a piece of thin material about the size of a hankerchief and tie.  

Whatever option you go with is better than those toxic mothballs and crystals for your lungs, the environment, and those expensive woolens those pesky insects always seem to find!

Do You Need a Cheap and Safe Homemade Solution to Kill Poison Ivy?

Perhaps, you were gardening and already noticed those familiar leaves of three growing in your yard.  Before they can spread and cause even more trouble, you could try making up a batch of this simple non-toxic spray to kill those awful invaders.

All you need are three ingredients, a container to mix them in, and an empty spray bottle.  Be careful though once you spray because this formula can keep other plants.

Homemade Non-Toxic Spray to Kill Poison Ivy

1-1/4 cups of plain table salt
1 cup of white vinegar
10 drops of any liquid dish detergent

Mix the salt with your measured white vinegar until dissolved.  Next, add the liquid detergent to the salt and vinegar before filling your bottle.

Let Me Share My Best Brownies Recipe With You!

Sometimes, you need a serious chocolate fix.   Whenever that urge happens that only sinfully rich and full of chocolate decadence can satisfy, I like to make this recipe for my favorite brownies. 

I have been growing more herbs.  One in particular that is wonderful to plant is Chocolate Mint.  I like to dry it and then grind into a fine powder.  For a small amount, I use a little electric coffee bean grinder.  A teaspoon of this chocolate mint powder is a nice optional touch in these brownies.  Peppermint extract also works if you like a bit of mint with your chocolate.

As you can guess, this was my weakness for this weekend.  I baked a batch and plan to indulge.  I do hope when you get suddenly hungry for brownies that you'll try my recipe because it is the best one that I ever made.

My Best Brownies

2 cups of sugar
1 cup of canola oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of dried chocolate mint or 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract (optional)
1-3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa
5 eggs
6-ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup of chopped nuts

All you do is put everything in your mixing bowl except for the chips and mix well.  You can use a wooden spoon. 

Pour into a greased 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips chips on top and bake in 350-degree oven for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Need a Cheap Way to Polish Silver?

If you want to clean some silver without spending money on silver polish, then I have a great tip that you should try.  In fact, you might even have this natural polish in your home as I type this.

What is this miracle cleaner?  Believe it or not, the juice from banana skins does work to remove tarnish.

Cut off the hard ends of your peel and throw the soft pulpy part in your food processor to make  natural puree type silver polish.  

When you don't feel like taking out your food processor, then I also like to rub that inside of the banana peel on the tarnished piece and watch how it performs its magic.  

I know this banana peel trick sounds crazy, but it will surprise you at how well it cleans!  

Think of it this way, you also will be saving money and your lungs from inhaling those awful fumes from some of the commercial silver polishes, and later adding to your compost heap for better soil.  

Now you can understand why I'm nuts about this banana trick--and I hope you will be too!

Plant Your Bulbs Now for Beautiful Spring Flowers Later!

September and October are the best times to get outside and plant your flower bulbs like colorful tulips, cheery daffodils, crocus, alliums, and spectacular Grape hyacinths in most parts of the country. 

Although you can still plant in November and even into December, the ground is harder to work the colder it gets besides inserting a stored bulb that can weaken or die the longer it remains away from the soil.

Stored bulbs from last year should have been kept in a cool, dry, dark place like your basement.  A place with too much moisture would have ruined them.

Before you begin, you might want to check on the condition of your bulbs.  Healthy ones should be firm when touched and free of mold or any leaves growing from them besides any decay.  The longer you wait to plant those bulbs, the higher your risk for those bulbs to become diseased.

After you loosen the soil with a trowel, you need to be sure to stick the pointed end of the bulb up before covering with dirt.  If you find the point is hard to see on your bulb, then look for remains of the roots and plant that end down.

Naturalizing bulbs, which bloom year after year, should be grown where they receive lots of sunlight so they can thrive over time. 

Another good thing to remember to help naturalizing bulbs do their best in your yard is to feed them bulb fertilizer at planting.  You don't have to  put any fertilizer on the non-naturalizing bulbs because their lifespan ends once they finish blooming.

Something I found striking was to plant small groups of bulbs among your perennials, shrubs, or rock borders for bright accents to wake up your garden or yard. 

A wonderful suggestion that I have is to intermingle planting of flowers, such as vibrant purple Pansies now, (anything that can survive winter) so they'll bloom alongside your bulbs in an attractive color combination.
 
Though not a flower bulb, garlic bulbs should be planted now also.  I am going to put in some delicious purple garlic that I bought off of a farmer from a visit to the flea market.   I was told that garlic needs to go in by the middle of October.

As you all know, I use garlic all the time in my cooking and as a natural antibiotic when eaten raw. 

Something else to consider about planting garlic is that the animals seem to leave it alone during their garden raids, which may help in your decision to put some in.    

Here's Some Useful Advice if You're Poison Ivy Susceptible

I happen to love being outdoors in the summer months as much as possible.  Usually I like to fiddle with my plants and work in the garden.  In the past, I was more prone to getting poison ivy regardless if I was near it or not.  However, I found some useful preventive measures to avoid it for the last few years or so with what I'm going to share with you here.

Even though it might be hot, I traded shorts and a sleeveless top or halter for jeans and T-shirt  and gardening gloves to protect more of me from possible exposure while working outside.

An important thing to do is to wash your tools with a soap solution once you finish.  This really helps just in case you accidentally contaminated those tools when working because the oil in poison ivy can attach to the handles, especially.

When you finish working outdoors and are ready for your shower, you need to take a few special precautions.  First, shower off with plain water before attempting to suds up to remove any possible poison ivy residue that you may have come in contact with.  If you attempt soaping up without rinsing off first, then you will spread that poison ivy over your body more for full coverage.

Also, I suggest picking up a bar of Fels-Naptha soap to use after working outdoors among the plants.  This may be considered a laundry soap, but this is a lifesaver if you're outdoors with  trees and plants as the last line of defense in the war against catching poison ivy.

However, if this advice comes to late and you now have poison ivy, you might also want to try some aloe vera gel from your aloe plant on the problem.   

Hopefully though, these few extra little tips will help for you to have a more enjoyable time outdoors!

Grow Your Own Herbs and Make Herbal Tea

Every year I plant a garden, I find the wildlife in my neighborhood get more of my crops than our family.  Fortunately, the deer and ground hogs do not care for herbs for some strange reason.  In fact, I planted more herbs this year than last since I do not have an electric fence or fierce dog that can scare those beasts. 

The herbs that I grew to make my herbal teas are lemon balm and a variety of mints.   I do grow sage, which some use for herbal teas, however, I never tried this in tea, only in cooking.

All you need is to clean your fresh herbs thoroughly first before putting on some water to boil.  Do not add these herbs directly to the pot.  I just pour boiling water over about one heaping teaspoon of the fresh herb.  However, you can use more or less of your herb to suit your taste. 

Let this herb steep for about fifteen minutes in your cup that you cover with a saucer.  This amount of time is ideal for the flavor to properly bloom in your cup.

If you use dried herbs for your tea, then you used only one-fourth of the amount as you want with fresh.  Again, the amount you use will depend on your own tastebuds.

Another method for making tea with your herbs is to pour one pint of boiling water over approximately one ounce of the fresh leaves.  When making a brew this way, I let this mixture seep for about ten minutes.  

Lemon balm is excellent to drink when suffering from colds.  I love growing mints for the different things they can help relieve as well.  Peppermint tea is a wonderful aid for when you feel nauseated or heat exhaustion.  Other varieties are spearmint grow abundantly in my garden and produces a nice flavor tea.

You also use an earthenware teapot.  I usually throw a handful of mint in before adding the boiling water and covering.  Again, let your tea seep for ten but preferably fifteen minutes.  You'll love the beautiful fragrance that is released once this brew seeps. 

Some Helpful Tips for Herb Harvesting and Drying

Since nothing tastes better than fresh herbs when cooking, I make sure to plant a variety in my garden.   Harvesting your herbs should be done regularly to make sure those plants keep producing.  In fact, most herbs produce between two and three crops once you start to lose the fear of cutting the leaves too often. 

Did you know that the best time to cut plants for seasoning is before noon?  This is the best time because the dew has dried out, but before the sun had a chance to steal some of the plant's essential oils.

Soon, however, it will be time to start drying those herbs for use later on in the year.  You can use a dehydrator or simply follow this other easy method.  All I do is to wash my herbs first in cold water, then soak them for 20 minutes in a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to kill anything such as bugs that might cling to those leaves.  I rinse again with plain, cool water and drain through a colander. 

If I had something baking in the oven, I liked to insert a cookie sheet lined with those fresh herbs in afterwards to dry.  The fragrance of those herbs will permeate through your rooms in the process.

Fresh herbs will dry out even at ordinary room temperature on a plate or a cookie sheet, etc.

Herb gardening is fun and can save you money for already prepared varieties.  Another incentive to growing herbs is deer and other typical garden raiders do not pick on herbs when they come calling!

How to Simplify Your Gardening

In the winter, I start saving my food containers and recycle them to start growing my seeds indoors.  Yogurt, cottage cheese, or mushroom containers are free planters and work nicely to get those delicate seeds a healthy start by the time they're ready to weather outdoors.

If you have flowerpots and want to prevent any mess, you might try adding a coffee filter to the bottom of the pot before adding your soil. 

Go to your grocery store and head to the bakery department.  Chances are if you ask them for a bucket that came with icing or filling they will give you one for free.  These cleaned buckets can store your potting soil indoors before you start planting.

Any time you work with soil and want to save yourself a lot of aggravation in cleaning your fingernails, I have a suggestion.  Get a bar of soap and scrape your fingernails against it.  This soap barrier will help save you that ugly brown dirt look on your fingernails that never seems to completely wash clean regardless of how hard or long you scrub.  I like to do this soap trick even when wearing gardening gloves for any dirt that escapes inside and attacks my fingertips.

I found that if you paint your gardening tools bright colors or even buy tools that are an eye-popping shade of red or yellow, then those you drop will be easier to find.  Those dark colors are often harder to spot.

Here's something helpful to remember before you attach your gardening hose to the spigot.  Rub the end of the hose with petroleum jelly first as well as adding some around the spigot itself first before screwing it on.  This simple precaution will help the hose screw on and off with relative ease. 

Before you use your pruning shears again, you may want to try this tip to clean them for better cutting action.  Save an old toothbrush and dip it in some kerosense outdoors to rub against the blades of your old pruning shears.  Afterwards, wipe the blades clean with a rag and then apply a light lubricating oil such as WD40.

These are just some shortcuts to save you time and money while gardening.  I hope you find them helpful.

Ferry-Morse Seed Company Review & Giveaway!--Ends April 9, 2011

**Disclaimer:  This post has been compensated through a free product (s) or monetary payment.  Opinions are solely mine. All links are "no-follow" links.**

Ferry-Morse Seed Company indoor tote

Ferry-Morse Seed

Now is the time to think about planting a garden!  With the rising costs of food and not to mention the dangers that constantly plague us with salmonella outbreaks to a bombardment of chemicals, eating these days has become challenging.  Naturally, you can buy a safer choice of organic fruits and vegetables, but they are quite a bit more expensive, which I'm not nuts about.  To save money and your health, I always like to grow  vegetables and herbs in every available space in my yard.

Two years ago was my first experience using Ferry-Morse seeds, which I am reviewing now with a variety of their other herbs and vegetables from my wonderful butternut squash and tomato experience.  I have tried the cheap dime seeds to the other name brands and never had as beautiful and healthy plants than with my Ferry-Morse. 

That beautiful butternut squash in my picture is my last one of my last Ferry-Morse crop. This tells you how hearty those seeds are!  As you guess, I'm already nuts about their quality seeds!

Ferry-Morse Seed Company outdoor tote

This year, I'm going to tackle beets, spinach, corn, tomato, squash, basil, and sage, and even if I resort to moving my herbs to the front yard.  I'm also going to try growing a tomatillo, which is good for making salsa, and by now everyone knows my fondness for hot, spicy food.  Beet tops are great greens to cook up like spinach in addition to eating the beets themselves.  Squash of any kind can keep long into the winter as long as you don't damage the stem when cutting it off. 

Basil and sage are my two favorite spices.  You can have fresh dried spices all year even without a dehydrator.  All you do is clean the herbs and place on a cookie sheet in a 150-degree oven for a few hours until they dry out.

my butternut squash

If you never planted anything, you can rest easy with Ferry-Morse, a shovel, water can, and pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands.  Any package will explain the time, location, and depth to plant each according to your location in the country. 

Connect with Ferry-Morse on Facebook and also on Twitter!

Thanks to Ferry-Morse, three lucky Nuts 4 Stuff readers win both indoor and outdoor totes shown plus an assortment of seeds ($100 value for each winner)!

Both Are Mandatory To Enter:

1. You must follow me on Google Friends Connect before any of your entries will count.  If you already follow, then tell me so in a comment.

2. Go to the Ferry-Morse website and tell me the what you would love to plant from their site in another comment.

Extra Entries:

Add @Nuts4Stuff to Your Twitter and tell me so in your comment with your Twitter id--1 extra entry

Tweet Ferry-Morse Gardening Totes and Seed Assortment #Giveaway @Nuts4Stuff http://tiny.cc/i36bm (can be done daily)--1 extra entry per day in another comment

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List this giveaway on any giveaway site just leave a link to this post wherever you share it--2 extra entries (leave 2 separate comments and tell me where in each comment)

Blog about this giveaway and and comment with a link to the post--3 extra entries (leave three separate comments and tell me where in each comment)

Grab my Nuts 4 Stuff button and paste it in your sidebar--3 extra entries (leave three separate comments and tell me where you left it in each comment)

Add Nuts 4 Stuff to your blogroll  (using my URL) with a link back to me (comment where you left it for 1 more extra entry)

Leave a separate comment for each entry.  Be sure you include your email address inside your comment so I can contact you if you win.   This giveaway is only open to residents of the United States.  Do follow the rules because I check entries.

This giveaway ends April 9, 2011 at 12 PM Eastern Standard Time.  The winner will need to respond to my email with name and shipping address within 48-hours or another winner will be picked.  

Want to Know What to Plant to Keep Deer Away From Your Garden?

Meet one of my neighbors that loves to raid my garden.

Everyone you talk to has a problem it seems with deer invading their gardens.  One day, I counted twenty of the critters marching through my yard.  I don't mind sharing what I plant, but I hate the way they eat the entire plant or worse partially so no one else can. 

Friends of ours have a small farm.  Their solution to deal with the deer problem was installing an electric fence around their garden.  However, there is a less drastic method of warding off those uninvited deer.  


Try growing your plants near your garden that the deer don't care to munch on.  Holly, ferns, boxwood, ornamental grasses, foxglove, salvia, Russian sage, daffodils, poppies, lavender, peonies, barberry and even herbs like thyme and oregano can help with that problem.  Marigolds also help if you box your garden heavily with them.

If you're not sure of what grows in your area, you can always do some research for your particular growing zone in the library or online.  Another option is to contact your county cooperative extension office (the Department of Agriculture) and find out exactly what plants works best where you live.