Bring on the Thunder for the Greenest Garden in Town!

Have you ever noticed how your lawn and garden seem to suddenly green up after a storm? That’s because the electricity in the air joins oxygen with nitrogen to make nitric oxide (the chemical compound that delivers nitrogen to your plants). But you don’t have to just sit around praying for storm clouds to appear — you can create the same atmosphere yourself, as farmers and gardeners have been doing for centuries. They call it electroculture, and it can actually improve the health of your plants and increase the size of your harvest. Try it yourself, using these three techniques:

• Grow cucumbers, indeterminate tomatoes, and other vine crops on metal trellises or fences.
• Use only metal poles for staking.
• Tie up your plants with strips cut from nylon garments, like slips or old panty hose. (If you don’t know how that could attract electricity, just ask any woman about “static cling”!)

Oh, yes, there is one more thing to remember. Once you’ve made your garden an electrical magnet, make sure you get out of it the minute you hear thunder!