Quiz: 7 Surprising Things Hiding in Your Kitchen That Your Garden Will Love

[akroberts]

Great plan! Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome. Any knowledge I have or get I enjoy sharing it with others because I know that I just might help someone else and it just makes me feel happy. My stairstep metal garden bed has little slots on the outside so I had a bunch of decorative glass from the Dollar Store. I put it in the slots and that's the only bed that didn't show any signs of slugs or snails.

 

[Dahlia]

You're welcome. Any knowledge I have or get I enjoy sharing it with others because I know that I just might help someone else and it just makes me feel happy. My stairstep metal garden bed has little slots on the outside so I had a bunch of decorative glass from the Dollar Store. I put it in the slots and that's the only bed that didn't show any signs of slugs or snails.

I would love to see how the decorative glass looks!

 

[akroberts]

It's not really visible but I will try to get a picture of it but it's raining here off and on.

 

[ducks4you]

Buried cardboard takes about 6 weeks to decompose. On top of the surface it will sit for months. I KNOW this bc I staged a cardboard pizza box by my side door steps to make it into a burial. Never got there, still intact.
I left it there bc I like to throw out my kitchen garbage bags there, then take it to the can next trip outside. There are stones on the 4 ft bed--some previous owner put them there--and my garbage bag might split open on the stones.
Please remember that printed cardboard and the packaging tape on black printed cardboard (usable for gardening) won't break down and you will be cleaning them out of your beds later.
I am using cardboard more to garden and less to burn.

 

[flowerbug]

yes, the more plain the cardboard is the better. black lettering. avoid any that is coated or shiny or has a lot of other things stuck to it. saves time to not have to peel off the tape or pry out the staples.

worms love it though, hiding in all those corrugations...

 

[ducks4you]

I have watched a LOT of gardening videos and many tell you the same about what won't break down. THAT isn't true. Egg shells Will break down, but it doesn't happen fast. I saw a gardening program featuring High Mowing Seed Company. Owner, who lives near the Atlantic Ocean, turns in clam shells in his acreage. One time a county Extension Officer examined his soil and thought it foolish to do so. HIS response was, that, no matter how long it takes to break down, it Will and the soil will be better for it.
This is a very loose paraphrase of his answer.
MY feeling is that anything that we can eat, or the natural packaging, like eggshells, belong back in the soil and Not in a landfill.
I Don't have the time to constantly break down eggshells, so, right now, they are going into my composter for eventual garden bed filler.

 

[flowerbug]

...
I Don't have the time to constantly break down eggshells, so, right now, they are going into my composter for eventual garden bed filler.

i ran them through the worm buckets partially crushed and then put them in the gardens the next spring. i don't usually find them again in the gardens after that but i'm sure there's a few spots i could probably find them. i wouldn't be surprised if the birds eat whatever bits they can find.

 

[akroberts]

I don't understand why people think it's a bad idea to put egg shells or any other type of shell in the ground. Whole heartedly agree with the man in Florida. It might not break down immediately but it will break down so why send it to the landfill instead of your garden. I added the bedding (wet and poohed on), with the Pooh from Rusty the rabbit in the small potato bed. I will mix in soil and eventually it will break down. I'm beginning to wonder why we need to make a compost system when eventually everything will break down.

 

[Joao]

the beer trap method is a classic, works surprisingly well. I've also had good results going out at dusk with a torch and picking them off by hand, it's not glamorous but you really see where they're coming from.

 

[akroberts]

the beer trap method is a classic, works surprisingly well. I've also had good results going out at dusk with a torch and picking them off by hand, it's not glamorous but you really see where they're coming from.

I need to try the beer method for slugs and snails. I now have ducks and I'm hoping they will take care of the nasty little buggers however I did put some glass around my stairstep raised metal bed and it was the only bed that didn't show any signs of slugs and snails.