I'm reading Who Knew? 10,001 Easy Solutions To Everyday Problems by Bob Lubin and Joanne Bossolina-Lubin. It's a book of practical, inexpensive life hacks.
Recently Bob shared some of his eco-friendly garden and pest control tips on the The Living Well Network. (Timely, right? It's spring finally!) Taken directly from the show, here are some of his solutions:
Three Mosquito Repellents:
1) Put 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract in a small spray bottle and spray it on your exposed skin to keep mosquitoes away.
2) Plant basil on your outdoor patio.
3) Keep dryer sheets in your pockets.
Turn brown grass to green:
Sprinkle Epsom salts over the browning sections of your lawn, then water the lawn to soak it in. The magnesium in the Epsom salts will revive the grass in a few days.
Revive Roses:
Crush egg shells and mix with water. Spray the mixture on your roses and they will come back to life.
Revive Diseased Plants:
Crush a clove of garlic and mix with 2 cups of water. Spray on you sick plants. Bob says, you won't smell the garlic.
2 Ways to Kill Yard Weeds:
1) Sprinkle baking soda on the weeds.
2) Or spray vinegar on them; and don't worry, the spray of vinegar will kill the weeds, but not your grass or flowers.
To Fight Squirrels without harming them:
Mix 2 tablespoons of hot sauce, a dash of cayenne pepper, 2 capfuls of Murphy's Oil and 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Spray on plants and anything else to keep squirrels away from it.
To Keep Pests Away From Your Garbage Cans:
Spray it with a mixture of 3/4 cup ammonia and 1 cup of water.
I'm impressed with how easy, cheap and chemical free (except for the ammonia) most of his solutions are. They make me wonder why we ever buy expensive solvents that contain toxic ingredients to do a job. I can't wait to kill weeds in my mother's yard!
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