This is one of the easiest things in the world to do and is so great for your garden.  Just remember to rinse well any produce with water first before eating or yu may get a taste of what drove away your pests!

Just mix 1 Tbps of dry mustard with 1 quart of warm water and place in a spray bottle.  Spray your bothered plants and reapply after rain and your bugs with be someone elses problem.

Try this simple technique to kill off blossom rot from robbing your garden of beautiful flowers or from setting a crop.  Crush 2 Tums tablets per plant and dissolve in water.  Water your plants making sure you sprinkle the water over the plant..  The crushed Tums gives your plants the boost of calcium they need to prevent blossom rot.

1. Geraniums come in vivid bright colors and smell wonderful plus if you deadhead them they will keep producing blooms all season long.
2. Coleus comes in a rainbow of colors and heights so check the height of the mature plant first
3. Double Petunia, what can I save but try the wave!
4. Marigold doesn't have to be yellow or orange these days, try reds, creams, vanillas and mixed colors
5. Impatiens do well in shade or full sun, beautiful mix of colors and bloom all season
6. Begonia are the shade loving queen with huge blooms and deep glossy green leaves in vivid color
7. Morning Glory are a climbing vine that with a small support can reach up to 12', perfect for arbors
8. Nasturiums can be either a bushy plant or a climbing vine, colorful and of the herb family
9. Pentas like the heat but tolerates cooler weather even in the north and attracts butterflies
10. Pansy are low growing,dainty looking and colorful
11. Phlox can cascade over the sides of containers and hanging baskets for drama and color
12. Scaevola are a beautiful trailing plant perfect for baskets  and cascading over a planter in fan-shaped blooms
13. Portulaca are a colorful blooming plant for hot dry places that comes in fuchsia, pink, orange, scarlet, yellow and white plus some varieties are even streaked with a bi-color for drama
14. Snapdragons are fragrant, brightly colored and come in various sizes from 10"-4'
15. Sweet Peas add a soft touch and a heady sweet scent with great color and they climb to 6-12'
16. Verbena are great in pots, baskets and tubs, subdued colors
17. Violas are cousin to the pansy, large flowers and brillant colors
18. Vinca loves full sun and like heat, vivid colors and bushy plants
19. Achillea are a tall plant of the yarrow family that are great for background in a large container or as a center planting
20. Campanula are star shaped flowers on cascading plants wih sprawling habit perfect for containers

Who wants chemicals on your skin or burning your eyes to get rid of an insect that will just adapt and come back for more of your blood.  Get rid of this pest the natural and easiest way possible, that is if you can stand the smell.  All you do is cut an onion open and rub it on your skin.  The onion acts as a natural repellant to mosquitos and is a lot cheaper and safer than buying and using chemicals on your skin.  Onions, who would have thought that something used in homes everywhere could rid of us of this nasty party crasher.

Mix together 3 cups of compost, i/2 cup powdered dry nonfat mill, 1/2 cup Epsom salts and 1 Tbs baking soda in a bucket.  When planting your tomatoes in your garden this spring sprinkle a Tbs of this mix in the hole when transplanting.

Check out these beautiful pink flamingoes.  Imagine these beauties in your yard this spring with the gazing balls reflecting your garden.They measure 8 1/2" x 13 3/4" x 38 1/4" high.  They give a new twist with metal sculture, spring-mounted necks the bob playfully in the breeze while a gleaming gazing ball relects the sunlight into a dazzling display in your garden.  This pair is $49.95 so if your interested just email me at the Gardening Toy Box and I will email you an invoice for payment.  Your Flamingoes with be dropped shipped to you immediately by UPS.

Garden Sculptures with Gazingballs:  Pink Flamingo pairs

                                                                                                     Crane pairs

                                                               Eagle pairs

All gazingball pairs are just $49.95  Pictures coming very soon. 

pics email to denisevmurphy@yahoo.com, I do accept paypal!

Straw bail gardening has never been easier to use and this is a trick I learned gardening at my Grandma Gibson's knee.  You don't even need to till up your ground for this type of garden.  You just place bales bound with string in your garden and plant your seedlings, transplants, potatoes or whatever type of vegetable you want to grow.  If you are planting seedlings just rough up the surface and sprinkle your seeds, for larger plants or onions, potatoes, etc you make a hole large enough in the straw to put your plant in.  Keep the straw damp until the plants take off and make sure they get at least 6-8 hours of sun. 

The plants grow right in the straw for the easiest garden you have ever grown.  If you have heavy clay soil this is a garden technique that could really work for you and best yet is that at the end of the year you can actually improve your own garden soil by tilling it in to your soil to improve the texture of your own soil.  For best results try watering your straw bale garden by using one of my easy to use garden foods like eggshell water.  You'll find the recipe for eggshell water in my blog.

I found this and added it to my site for anyone who finds my blog and has a site they need to advertise try this free search engine and get all 20 for free.  You should really have a blog of your own on bloghi.  It is so easy to use, even better than blogger.

I have several varieties but these are the best I have used:

Take 2 Lbs of bone meal, 2 Lbs of woodashe and  1 Lb of Epsom Salts and mix together in a bucket.  Sprinkle on the flower bulbs as you plant them and wait for a show of flowers that can't be beat.

Take 1 cup sugar, 3 cups bone meal and 1 cup Epsom salts in a bucket.  Sprinkle in holes or rows as you plant seedlings or seed the ground or garden plot.  Gives your plants and added boost to start their roots off right giving you stronger plants.

Get Your Lawn Drunk!

In a sprayer attached to a garden hose place 1 Tbsp Dawn dishwashing liquid with a shotglass of bourbon, scotch, Vodka or gin for each gallon of water.  Use this to water your lawn instead of plain water.

Paper cups are great for stopping cutworms from attacking young stems on tomato plants by making them into plant collars.  Dixie cups or a paper cup of similar size placed over the stem of your plant with make a barrier against the nasty cutworms that can cut down your seedlings before it has a chance to fruit.  All you do is rince the paper cup and cut out the bottom of the cup.  Place it over your plant stem and hold in place by mounding a little dirt over  the edges of the cup.

Pantyhose beats a scarecrow anyday for getting those pesky rabbits to beat a hasty retreat.  Next time you brush your dog or cat save the pet fur and stuff it in the toes of the pantyhose. and tie them in a knot.  Place the fur filled pantyhose in your garden by hanging on a fence or on a stake.  The rabbits will take off like a shot when they get a whiff of the predator they think is in your garden.

Don't throw away all those empty cardboard egg cartons or those cracked eggshells!  You would be throwing out one of natures best seedling planters.  Eggshells are filled with much needed calcium to give your seedling just the boost it needs to get its growing off to a good start before transplanting into your garden.  Even better is that the planter is completely biodegradeable and even the cardboard cup can go into the soil to lessen the shock of transplanting on your seedling and the eggshell can be cracked and put right into the soil to help feed the new seedling in your garden.

All you do is save the eggshell and make a hole in the bottom of the shell for drainage.  Place the eggshell back in the cardboard egg carton and fill the eggshell with potting soil and one seed.  Just water lightly when needed.  How simple is that?  Here is another tip:  If you need a lot of eggshells but don't know what to do with all the eggs, sramble them with a wire whisk and pour into sprayed ice cube trays and freeze till eggs are solid.  Take the eggs out and break apart.  Place the egg cubes into freezer bags and use 1 egg cube as 1 whole egg when baking.  Make sure to thaw the egg to room temperature first.