Pinal County Master Gardener Cheryl Purvis is sharing a handful of unusual gardening tips she has collected over the years, according to InMaricopa. The list includes everything from beer traps for slugs to using tea bags as a natural soil booster.
Among the ideas Purvis offers are sprinkling cayenne pepper or cinnamon around plants, using clean eggshells to add calcium to soil, and burying fish heads deep in the garden as fertilizer. She also suggests Epsom salts, rusty nails for iron, and basil planted near tomatoes to help discourage insects.
Some of the more creative suggestions are meant to protect plants from pests. Those include placing plastic forks around seedlings to discourage cats, squirrels and rabbits, and draping wedding veils or cheesecloth over plants to keep insects and cabbage worms away.
Purvis notes that she cannot guarantee every trick will work, but says they can be fun to try. The story first appeared in the August issue of InMaricopa.
