ALL-SEASON GREEN-UP TONIC Good for aphids too Feed your yard every three weeks, in the morning, during the growing season with this All-Season Green-Up Tonic. It will make everything nice and green in color and is good for all plants. As mentioned under the title, it also kills aphids too. Apply this before 10:00 a.m.: 1 can of beer 1 cup of ammonia 1 cup of dishwashing liquid (not antibacterial or degreaser) 1 cup of liquid lawn food 1 cup of molasses or corn syrup. Mix and apply to everything in the yard with your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer1 to the point of run-off. All-Season Clean-Up Tonic This mixture is great for cleaning up your plants leaves. Just as we take a bath, our plants need a bath too in order to stay clean and to help get all of the polutions and acid rain off of the leaves: 1 cup of dishwashing liquid (not antibacterial or degreaser) 1 cup of antiseptic mouthwash 1 cup chewing tobacco tea* Mix and add ingredients to a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer1 filling the balance of the sprayer with warm water. Apply to entire yard to the point of run-off every 2 weeks, in the evening to discourage insects and prevent disease. Do this after sun down when it is cool, but still light enough to see. * Chewing Tobacco Tea: To make tobacco tea, place half a handful of chewing tobacco in an old nylon stocking and soak it in one gallon of hot water until the mixture is a dark brown. Hard Soil Problem? Lets face it, we all have that one spot or a whole yard where the soil is hard dirt or clay or a mixture of the two making it nearly impossible to till up or plant anything. Try this: Apply Gypsum at the recommended rate twice a year until things get going. Also, regular baths with Plant Shampoo or good soapy water (Baby Shampoo) will do wonders for softening the soil. You can buy actual soil softener from stores that are about $20 for 6 to 8 ounces but Baby Shampoo, chemical- ly, is the same thing and much, much cheaper! It also help deter insects from laying eggs in the soil! Pre-Emerge Weed Control Tonic Have a problem every year with horrilbe weeds? Don't we all? Use this early in the spring and again each fall to help control weeds. It is not a cure- all but definately help control a large portion of weeds you may have. For the bad ones that won't go away you'll still need to pull them or use an organic weed killer, just make sure you use the weed killer for the type of weeds your trying to kill and don't get it on your plants! 1 cup of dishwashing liquid (not antibacterial or degreaser) 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide 2 tbsp. of instant tea Mix in a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer1, filling the rest of the jar with water. Then follow up with a commercial pre-emergent type control to help prevent weed seeds from sprouting. What to Put In A Compost Pile? DO USE DON'T USE leaves disease or pest-infested plants grass clippings poisonous plants plant debris weeds that have gone to seed vegetable peelings meat products eggshells oils and oily products coffee grounds fats and fatty products used tea leaves newspapers soil/manure Cut all items into small pieces before putting them in the pile. Compost Starter Tonic Just started your compost pile and want to get a jump start on the decomp- osition? Use this mixture to help it get started: 1/2 can of beer 1/2 cup of ammonia Mix in with 2 gallons of warm water and mix in with your new compost to get the decomposition started. Got An Ant Problem? I have a horrible ant problem each year. I have red-biting ants and little sugar ants, some seniors call them "piss ants" for these very small black ants that are seen in the thousands! Pile up some instant grits or corn meal in and around their hills; once its eaten, it expands inside them, and they soon go to that big anthill in the sky! Keeping Cats and Dogs out of your yard None of us are totally safe from cats or dogs, especially if your yard is like mine and does not have a fence around it. Instead of a chain link fence, I'm allowing plants to make a natural fence but that will take many years before it is big enough to keep out these pests. Here is all you need to do especially if all of your neighbors have cats that run loose or allow their dogs to run the neighborhood: Mix coffee grounds, Cayenne pepper, and orange peels into the top layer of your soil. If you don't want to actually mix it in with the soil, you can also just scatter these ingredients on top of the soil or you can simply place it in problem areas, especially with cats since they like to pick a certain flower bed to take a healthy crap in! Black Spots on Roses Do you have beautiful roses but notice they are getting black spots on them making them not so beautiful? If so, and you catch it early, this is all you need to do. If they are infested with black spots, you'll need to take off the infected leaves, burn them (seriously, they are contagous) and then apply this to the remainer of the plant: 1 tbsp. of baking soda 1 tbsp. of light vegetable oil 1 tbsp. of dishwashing liquid (not antibacterial or degreaser) Mix in 1 gallon of water and spray the plant using a hand held spray bottle to ensure you get all the leaves, top and bottom. Grow Avocados From Seeds Everyone just loves to grow avocados from seeds. It is a great past time that we have all done as kids so why not keep the tradition alive with your kids. Here is the best way to do it: First remove the thick brownish hide that covers the seed and then wash it well. After soaking a 4-inch clay pot in water for a few hours, plant the seed in it with 1 inch of the pointed end above the soil. You can use any commercial potting mix. Water it with a solution of 1 tsp. of Epsom salts per quart of water and put it in a dark place for one week. Then, move it to a nice, bright location. If you want, when it's 6-8 inches, cut it in half for branching. 1 What is a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer? A 20 gallon "Lawn" hose-end sprayer is a 32 oz. (1 quart) jar with a sprayer attachment that connects to the end of your garden hose. This sprayer has a tube inside that siphons the correct ratio of tonic out of the jar as the water passes through the sprayer to correctly dilute the tonic with 20 gal- lons of water (which means it works at a rate of 1.6 oz. of solution per gallon of water).