Save Your Bottles

You know me—I’ll never throw anything away if there’s a way to reinvent it, especially if it can come in handy around the yard and garden. Whether it’s coffee cans, panty hose, paper clips, or old hoses, I just can’t seem to get rid of those things.

For instance, before you throw out that empty bottle of liquid laundry detergent, bleach, or fabric softener, STOP! Otherwise, you’d be tossing one of the handiest outdoor helpers you could ask for: a big, sturdy plastic bottle. Here’s how you can put ‘em to work in your yard and garden:

• Deep irrigation system. Poke small holes in the bottoms and sides of the bottles, bury them in the soil around your garden, and fill them with water. The moisture will flow out at a slow rate, directly to the plants’ roots, where it’s needed most. 
• Garden-tool caddy. Make a big hole in a giant bottle on the side opposite the handle. Then insert your trowel, pruning shears, and other small hand tools through the hole to carry them wherever they’re needed. 
• Plant labels. Cut the sides of white or yellow bottles into strips, write on them with an indelible marker, and shove the strips into the soil next to the appropriate plants. 
• Scoop. Cut diagonally across the bottom, screw the top back on, and use it to scoop up sand, fertilizer, compost, cat litter, or just about any other nonedible substance. 
• Watering can. Drill a dozen holes in the cap of a giant bottle. Fill the bottle with water, and screw the top back on. To water your plants, flip the bottle upside down, and let the H₂O flow! 

And, as unlikely as it might seem, a few potent laundry and cleaning products can actually help ease some of the most common—and uncomfortable—outdoor mishaps. Here’s a quick-cure rundown:

• Bee stings. After scraping out the stinger, dab a few drops of bluing onto the spot, and—bingo!—instant relief! 
• Fire-ant bites. Douse the flames by dabbing the area with a half-and-half solution of bleach and water. If it’s applied within 15 minutes of the bite, it’ll ease the pain and swelling. (But if the pain is severe, or spreads beyond the bitten spot, hightail it to the closest doctor.) 
• Mosquito bites. Nix the itch and swelling by dabbing the spot with a few drops of ammonia. Act fast, though, before you start scratching. If you apply ammonia to broken skin, the sting will feel a whole lot worse than the skeeter’s bite! 
• Poison ivy. Relieve the pain and itch by patting the nasty red blotches with a solution consisting of a teaspoon or so of bleach per quart of water. 
• Rash. Grab a can of spray starch, and spritz that itch goodbye! 

Some folks may think I’m a little crazy when I tell them my best outdoor tips use supermarket “stuff” like detergent bottles, bleach, aspirin, hot pepper sauce, or even beer. But they stop shakin’ their heads and really start believing when they see the remarkable results!

Best yet, you’ll get ‘em all when you check out my blockbuster, bestselling book Supermarket Super Gardens. And it’s yours—FREE—for a Special 21-Day Preview!

Send Plant Pests Into the Drink!

Believe it or not, a simple bottle of dishwashing liquid can help ensure that you never have a major pest problem. Of course, there is one catch: You need to inspect your plants (including flowers, vegetables, woody plants, and turfgrass) every day, or at least every couple of days. That way, you can deal with any little problems before they turn into big ones. Here are some simple ways to battle pests — using that potent weapon in the plastic squeeze bottle:

Handpick them. This is the most effective way to deal with larger insect pests, such as slugs, snails, beetles, weevils, and caterpillars. Just pluck them off the plants and drown them in a bucket of water laced with a cup or so of dishwashing liquid.

Dunk them. If you’d prefer a less hands-on approach, hold a bowl of soapy water under a bug-infested plant, and jostle the leaves. The pests will tumble into the drink and drown.

Vacuum them. Put about 2 inches of soapy water into the reservoir of a wet/dry vacuum cleaner (a.k.a., a Shop-Vac®), and suck up the culprits. Or use a regular handheld model and empty the contents into a bucket of soapy water. Vacuuming works especially well for insects that tend to scamper rather than fly, like lace bugs, harlequin bugs, rose chafers, and carrot weevils.

Clip their damage off. When you find that a few leaves or stems are covered with bugs, just cut off the afflicted plant parts and stick them into a bucket of soapy water.

Pull up their plant homes. Sometimes, one plant will be seriously infested, while its neighbors are clean, or nearly so. In that case, simply throw an old sheet over the buggy plant, pull it up by the roots, and dump it into a tub of water laced with 2 cups or so of dishwashing liquid. Leave it for a minute or two, then drop in in the trash. If any stragglers have found their way to nearby plants, just handpick them off.

Send Pests Packin'

With warmer spring weather come all the things I look forward to — flourishing flowers, beautiful birds, lush lawns, green trees, and a vibrant veggie patch. But don't forget about those pesky, not-so-welcome, yard-destroying thugs! Stay one step ahead of the local varmints with my All-Purpose Pest Prevention Potion. Gophers, moles, skunks, possums, and just about any other critter I can think of will tuck tail and run right away when they get a whiff of this potent potion:

1 cup of ammonia
½ cup of urine
½ cup of dishwashing liquid

¼ cup of castor oil

Mix all of these ingredients in your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, and thoroughly saturate all of the animal runs and burrows you can find.