Gardening without Chemicals

You can easily mix your own simple and effective sprays.  Following are probably the most popular among those who like to keep chemicals out of the garden.  I use these solutions instead of chemicals to keep my Grrls safe.  See the Roundup post I've got to see what just this ONE commonly used spray can do to your Dog!

I have two sprayers for the two things I use most often.  One labeled GARLIC and one labeled VINEGAR.  I use them pretty consistently throughout the Spring-Summer-Fall seasons, so I keep them on my back porch.  The others aren't used that much in my household.  For the soap spray, I just put it in a hand held spray bottle and squirt directly on the plants on the deck.

Vinegar Weed Killer

One gallon white wine vinegar - straight.

Pour into a yard sprayer.  Choose a morning when there won't be any rain for a couple of days.  Spray the leaves of the weeds thoroughly and leave on while the sun is shining.  Don't water where you've sprayed the vinegar.  The weeds should begin to wilt in 2-3 days.  If not, apply vinegar again to the leaves and pour some straight vinegar at the root base.  Wait another 2-3 days.

Garlic Spray Insecticide

One whole elephant garlic bulb
Two cups water
One gallon water
Combine in blender the entire garlic bulb and two cups water, and blend on high speed until garlic is finely pureed. Put in storage container and set aside for a day. Strain out pulp, and then mix liquid with one gallon water in sprayer. Spray tops and bottoms of leaves thoroughly. Apply about once a week, and after a rain.

Soap Spray Insecticide

Detergent-based liquid soap, such as dishwashing liquid
Water
Mix one-tablespoon detergent per one gallon water in sprayer. Apply liberally to both tops and bottoms of leaves. Reapply about once a week, or after a rain.

Fungicide Spray

(Treats Powdery Mildew & other fungus)

One gallon water
Three tablespoons baking soda
One teaspoon dishwashing liquid
One tablespoon bleach ( Warning - NO more than this amount )
Mix all ingredients in sprayer and spray all areas on the plant that look affected. It's best to remove all leaves and other parts of the plant that are the worst affected. Apply sparingly to unaffected areas, and keep in mind that too much bleach can harm the plant. Try to avoid getting it on healthy leaves.

Hot Pepper Spray

(Helps repel rabbits, deer, and other nibblers)

6 - 10 Hot Peppers
2 cups water
1 quart water
Combine peppers and two cups water in blender and blend on high speed for 1 - 2 minutes. Pour in storage container with lid and put aside for a day. Strain through cheesecloth, and add this liquid to one quart of water in sprayer. Spray plants liberally every week and after a rain.

Spring Peas

This year is the first year I decided to plant something along the fence of my "pooh yard."  It's the yard we have so the Grrls can go in and out at will to do their business but I don't have to worry about them getting into the road or chasing the neighbor's chickens or running about with neighbor dogs as A Dog Pack (read: Human's "Gang" equivalent).

I chose to do snap peas and sugar peas all along their fencing.  I have really pretty fence up - it's railroad ties as uprights and there's a red stained wood that has the hog wire attached to it.  It's nice.  And it's perfect for climbing plants like peas.  I also planted grass in their yard, so I'll be regularly watering it over the summer, too.  The peas should grow up and provide a nice shady spot fort them to lay on the grass and be outside when it's nice.  Seems like a dogs' perfect environment.  They could even reach over and nibble a pea if they wanted one while they were lounging around.

So, all the necessary ingredients were accounted for and I planted my peas.  They've all come up now and I'm starting to train them to go up the fence.  All's well.

I thought.

A few days ago, though, I went out to see if any of them needed to be redirected toward the fence and found several that had been trained to the fence already were eaten down by something.  I didn't look closely at them, just noted they'd been eaten and went to get my Garlic Spray (see recipe at the end of the post).  I sprayed the whole yard with Garlic that day, thinking I had an infestation of bugs that would be eating all my garden plants.  I did find some aphids on the lilacs while I was spraying, but other than that, nothing.

I went the next morning to check on the aphids in the lilacs first to find that didn't like the garlic and left.  However, the starts of peas I trained just the day before were eaten down.  Again.  I decided I'd better really have a look at those peas.

About this time, Molly runs up to find out what I'm doing.  She's on the inside of the fence, I'm on the outside.  Where I'm perplexed about what's going on with my peas, I still need the ones tall enough to reach the fence to be trained to go grab the fence or my shady spot isn't going to happen.  Carefully, I push a pea over to the fence so it's little tendrils wrap around the fencing.  Great!  Next one.

Just as I'm tenderly pushing the pea start over to the fence, making sure it's got a good hold on the fence, out  of the corner of my eye, I found out just how big my "bug" was.

Molly happily chomped down on that poor little start of a pea and ripped it right off the fence.  She showed no mercy, nor did she show any remorse when I asked her what she was doing.  She grinned at me, chewing her tasty prize, swallowed and wagged her tail, then proceeded to where I was trying to get the second pea to take hold of the fence.  Luckily for the pea, I managed to remove it from the fence before Molly could get devour it, too.

Now, I have to figure out what I'm going to train the peas to climb so they can grow into that shady spot.

Garlic Spray Insecticide

One whole elephant garlic bulb
Two cups water
One gallon water

Combine in blender the entire garlic bulb and two cups water, and blend on high speed until garlic is finely pureed. Put in storage container and set aside for a day. Strain out pulp, and then mix liquid with one gallon water in sprayer. Spray tops and bottoms of leaves thoroughly. Apply about once a week, and after a rain.

This recipe does a small yard, like in the city.  If you're doing a country yard, like mine (3/4 acre), you need to do this recipe 4-5 times.