Gardening
None of this is expert advice. It's what people worked out for themselves, usually the hard way — what actually helped, and what they'd tell someone standing where you are. Take what fits and leave the rest.
Amend clay soil with wood chips and leaves instead of sand to improve structure over time.
Sand compacts easily and doesn't leave room for air, while wood chips and leaves greatly improve soil structure over a couple of years.
- Wood chips and leaves do not provide immediate results.
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Place a half-empty can of cheap beer next to plants to trap and kill slugs.
Slugs are attracted to the beer, climb in, and die.
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Compost kitchen waste before using it as plant food to make nutrients bioavailable.
Most kitchen items need composting first to become usable for plants.
- Coffee grounds are an exception as they are already bioavailable.
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Spray water on the ground and let it soak before pulling weeds to help with removal of the whole root system.
Soaking makes it much easier to extract the entire root system.
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Place a pottery shard over the pot's drain hole to allow easy removal of the plant during repotting.
Pushing the shard through the hole loosens the entire root ball.
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Use soil whenever possible for growing spring onions.
Nutrients from the soil add to the taste, providing better crunch and flavor than water-grown onions.
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Purchase cheap test strips from the pool section of hardware stores to check tap water pH levels before watering plants.
Tap water ranges can easily change, and distilled water added to soil will take on the soil's pH.
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Test your soil chemistry before applying fertilizer to determine specific needs rather than guessing.
Soil chemistry is reasonably complicated and randomly applying fertilizer isn't the solution.
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