Poking cocktail sticks through avocado stones and suspend them in water. Uh no, just plock on soil as nature intended. Rooting pineapple tops in water. 😔 nawww 😑.
Urine in the garden? Myth? Growing up my mom had huge hydrangeas and every so often she'd throw urine in the soil. (She watched kids and was always potty training one or two)
FYI for those of you that want to use egg shells in your compost. I bought a very cheep coffee/spice grinder at walmart toss dried out egg shells in in and it turns the shells to powder.
I just grab them from a restaurant and tossing them in the compost pile. 10 yards. Of compost gets about 60 quarts of busted up eggs. Cannabis grew 10ft tall and got about 1# of dry buds from that compost pile.
I've been baking eggshells and grinding them into a fine powder to supplement calcium for my pets and myself. Even using it as a supplement for 2 cats, a bearded dragon, and myself I still end up with a whole lot of it. I've been dumping some in my compost bin as well as just a few tablespoons every 3 months in my tomato garden down what I call the root chute - PVC pipe I've embedded 1.5-2 feet in the ground with holes around the outside for weekly deep root watering, aeration, and fertilization. Still have a jar and a half of the powder on hand at any given time, lol. I think it's helping the tomatoes with "end rot" because after I started adding the powder I didn't have any more "end rot" without changing watering practice or changing season - started mid-summer. I have an automatic irrigation system (soaker hose under a layer of mulch) to water my garden every morning. I keep my cats out of my garden with snow barrier netting over a PVC pipe frame, also makes a good trellis for tomatoes as well. Only problem is it degrades after a year or two. I should probably just upgrade to chicken wire.
Your videos are informative and helpful especially if you’re a beginner . I like the way you get straight to the point without rambling and wasting time on the intro. You’re plant care tips are easy to follow and they work!
I adore your channel! I am a traditional farm wife having been raised on the farm, gardening, preserving, hunting, butchering is what I do, self-sufficiency is key, ( especially in these times). I love to learn all I can from everyone and you are very no-nonsense and straightforward.
it's weird to me has a fish tank keeper that people think egg shells will deter snails.cause I feed egg shells to my snails to give them calcium to help maintain their shells.
@@sarahrogers7883 there's no biological difference between snails and slugs that would be relevant to egg shells in their path. The main difference in the two is habitat, and that's mainly because a gastropod with no shell can squeeze into environments that one with a shell could not.
In Australia we use egg shells (broken up, not crushed) to keep white moths away from plants - the moths presumably see the white and assume there are already other moths there. Source: I had a whole crop of zucchini plants leaves stripped by white moths one year and egg shells saved the next crop.
I had racoons digging up my new pepper plants a few years ago and found placing bamboo skewers near the pepper plants stopped the racoons from digging them up. They did dig around the areas where there were no skewers though, but the pepper plants were left alone.
Rhoda Watkins I currently use mortar and pestle, if you want a finer grind... coffee or spice grinder may be what you’re looking for. I’m gonna switch over personally.
I clean my shells right out. Like I peel off every bit of membrane. Should I even bother doing that. I only started because it keeps them from getting smelly.
Add a piece of iron to soil nearby tree. A friend has a old boat iron anchor that was left partially buried by tree. They get so many large yummy avocados 🥑 they have to bring some to share with friends like me. I don’t know if that old iron anchor does this or not? But they are the best buttery Avocados 🥑 I’ve Ever, Ever had in my life.
@@DnolB65 That would be my idea of heaven, having an avocado tree full of buttery avocados. But such a tree is prob not poss in the UK🇬🇧 with our damp, rainy m, chilly climate.🙁
Thank you for clarifying about pine needles! Hubby is always going on about how they need to be removed from the garden due to making it acidic. I’m all about mulching and just maybe those poky brown needles might deter to the slugs that are problematic in one garden, which also happens to have high clay content. If you’ve got tips on remedying clay into better soil, I’d be happy to hear.
@@epicgardening I ground my eggshells up into a fine powder and add it to my watering can and my compost bin. It lasts for ages in the watering can and has made a difference to my plants.
You can simply add finely crushed eggshells 1to1 with white or apple cider vinegar and it'll be ready when it's done bubbling (the sign of the chemical reactions) you can just poor some at the base of the plant, it'll be roughly neutral but if you're worried it didn't completely neutralize you can mix it with anywhere from 1 to 1 to 1 to 4 with water and it should still be very effective. The chemical reaction should also sterilize the vast majority of any harmful pathogens like salmonella to the well within safe levels
Not really. Notice he said one part per 1000 of water. I created water soluble calcium into a half gallon jar and I probably have enough of the solution for at least a year or two. It is only applied highly diluted.
Thank you! That was helpful... my mom (Oregon Hippy Gardener) always put the crushed eggshells in a big jar with the coffee grounds, and water. The gross tea was then dumped straight into the compost pit. She swore that egg shell coffee tea released the calcium and de acidified the coffee (paper filters included)! Seamed to work! I do It now... so hopefully it’s true! 🤗
Myth: "There is such a thing as weed free topsoil." Usually claimed by a salesman. If you fill your bed in early fall, leave it bare and water it, weeds WILL sprout. GOOD! Using a stirrup hoe, kill them and leave them in place to decompose. Water and repeat until ground freezes. For next year's tomato beds, I sprout the weed seeds in spring while waiting for weather to warm up enough for tomatoes. Over the years, by covering beds when Dandelions bloom, and sprouting weeds and slicing through them, the weed seed load is declining. Once I plant, I side dress with 2-4" of shredded leaves. (I pay kids to drag bags of leaves to my garage.) The home gardener can easily use 200 gallons of shredded leaves a year. All the leaves feed my giant herd of earthworms, who provide micro tunnels to improve soil structure, and worm castings.
True, but the amount of seeds CAN be reduced dramatically over time. Many people don’t do enough hoeing or mowing around the edges to stop seeds from wandering in (blown, tracked, carried, kicked, etc.) And of course, tilling every year encourages weeds compared to no-till.
More than 15 years ago my wife and I moved into our home and started gardening a rather large garden. The first few years we had a major problem with tomato end-rot. A neighbor, who is a master gardener, told us that when we plant our seedlings we should add crushed eggshell to the hole. I know you say it’s a myth but, we have hardly seen any tomato and rot since that day. And, that is the only thing we changed in the planting of our tomatoes.
Sir this RUclipsr is making an argument against eggshells because he knows it’s a popular topic amongst gardeners. He is a youngster or a little kid as we would call him in the UK and has no idea about what he is talking about but is purely doing it for views. Egg shells is an ancient method used across all parts of the world by farmers from not so rich countries. Don’t pay attention to this dude and know that most RUclipsrs prioritise views. God bless sir
Has either of you even paid attention to what he said in the video? He clearly mentioned you could add crushed eggshell in your soil, at 3:50. What he was explaining was that using the whole eggshell and expecting immediate benefit from its calcium was not the right way.
Thank you. I get very tired of the acidic pine needle bit. I live in deep piney woods of Texas and use the dried pine needles everywhere in the garden. Grow where you are with what you have and reap a bounty!
I’ve been gardening for many years. Great watching you! I was wrong on two of them. I always tried to use eggs shells to deter slugs. Don’t think it ever worked😂 thank you! I enjoyed listening to ya!
Good information. Try adding a tablespoon of epson salt to the hole for each of your tomato plants at planting time to assist them with the absorption of calcium in order to prevent blossom end rot. You can also use it as a foliar spray. Strong soil makes for happy, healthy and productive plants.
Have been growing tomatoes for 25 years. Any and every time I've had blossom end rot, it's been quickly and effectively eliminated by working finely crushed egg shells right into the soil around the stems over the roots. I've never had it fail.
Interesting.. cause I planted my first seeds this year and the ones I planted in the egg shells are HUGE and the ones i planted just in cartons are small or not germinating.. I'll definately take it out of the egg when I plant tho! Binge watching your videos this week LOL ♡thanks!
Have been gardening for years now at the age of 50 Ive learned a lot from my grandmother and mom and dad most of what you just talked about except for the plastic forks and knives I just don't know why anybody would think that would work. I've actually gone to the trouble of taking banana peels egg shells put a little water in my blender and then adding it to the soil then tilling the soil then the plants are the seeds are planted we've been very successful with Gardening thanks for the info enjoy your video
I remember my Mom tried composting uncrushed eggshells and they were still there 10 years later! I was always puzzled, when people used eggshells to start seeds in. You end up losing half your plants, if you try to take the seedlings out of the shells, so I don't get it🤷 After many trials and tribulations, I have found the peat pots with the mesh on them work best. Easy peasy! I start seeds indoors, because I live in an area with a shorter growing season.
I use cinnamon in my espresso maker with the coffee--I put that stuff straight out on top of the mulch layer--of course that's just 1-2 tablespoons per day, so it isn't much...edited: typo
I think burying it could be good. Am a beginner though. Interested to hear from someone who has tried this. Gardening seems so creative with quite a learning curve.
Coffee grinds provide lots of nitrogen for a compost pile but will also add acidity (may be bad depending what you're growing). The real problem is the caffeine. Studies show caffeine may stunt plant growth a d fruit production
@@dalcloud8873 when you dig a hole to plant your plants mix used coffee grounds/egg shells too into the soil and plant your plants. Used coffee grounds are also great to get rid of ants, if you have ants living in your mulch sprinkle it around.
My grandmother swears by using epson salts around her blueberry bushes. I haven't seen anyone else say anything about this so I want to know if epson salt would help acid loving plants like that. Or is it just a placebo for her. She does have giant blueberry bushes that have been bearing fruit for like 20 years.
wow, you live right next to the street like that. it must be so cool to pass by and say "hey, there's epic gardening's garden. i've seen it on youtube. it looks so awesome".
😤 gardening seems like it requires so much patience. I feel like I gotta do some homework & study things. Why can't I just plop things into the ground, water it, & that's it? I live in the country side & don't mind all the random animals. I feed them. But I would've never thought to imagine them as a burden. I think I'm gonna try putting onions & garlic into the ground. .. they can't be intrigued by those things right? Then ill have tomatoes & carrots growing in pots, starting from inside. .. I have a fence in the backyard but it's mainly to keep anything from the back coming in. Nothing is actually fenced in. Damn these animals.
@@ahhwe-any7434 You're right. Gardening does require lots of patience. I used to hate gardening. But I started with one tomato plant, and worked up from there. Start small and work up from there.
Ahhw E-Any Marigolds will deter the deer at least a little. Plant like a fence all the way around & see if that does anything--a fence will help, though. Rabbits won't be deterred.
I've personally found pointy stuff does work to keep cats out. In my case they were digging holes to crap in. If they can't get a spot to easily dig, they give up. Mulch wasn't doing the job, but pointed sticks set firmly enough to either hinder or stab a digging paw put an end to it. Not an easy solution but it did work.
@Joe Francis I was living in an end terrace house and in the terraced house next door lived a man with 14 cats at last count. We tried everything to deter them from pooping in our flower beds and only breaking wooden kebab skewers into two and inserting them into the ground, pointy ends up and at a slight angle, worked and it was like absolute magic. Never saw the little bug**rs in our garden again once they got the message!!!
In CA....fruit trees. Briefly lived in a house with a huge grape trellis under the deck, an apple tree, pear tree, plum tree and lemon tree, plus blackberries along one fence....they produced a huge amount of fruit with almost no fuss.
Ick! I bake my eggshells to prevent rot & if you blender the eggshels in vinegar, oil & really hot peppers & cinnamon--let sit for about a day for the shell to soak in the other items--then sprinkle it around! Most garden pests do not like the burning sensation of the spices and the eggshell & oils help hold that stuff at the surface. (started writing before hearing your whole post).
i saved all my coffee and tea grinds in a bucket for a long time in garbage also added crushed egg shells and minced banana peels with other minced garbage scraps. after i got like 5 gallon bucket filled i simply used it in garden bed or low spots (or rabbit burrows) in lawn ...
I’ve used forks to Mark where something is that I won’t see until the next season. Things like bulbs or a new to me perennial that goes dormant all the way to the ground. Just so I don’t go digging my stuff up. Done that before
I use heavily diluted vinegar and mist my plants to keep animals away. I also discovered that my cat hates pickle juices. Lol funniest reaction she's ever made.
The eggshell is best used to pop seeds in,onece seed pops,transplant into coco coir soil medium,as you do simply crush the shell before planting it in new pot
Coffee grounds are great for keeping slugs and snails out of your garden/potted plants. I live in the Pacific northwest and it's amazing how well works. Coffee grounds will keep cats out of your flower beds as well.
I have been inspired. Your videos are fantastic. You hear so many people saying " use this, do that, add this, remove that" I had so much conflicting information and I was beyond confused. I did lose interest....... But after finding out that the nice little purple fern thing actually purple fenel..... wow then I saw this video....... Oh My Days...... a tidal wave of inspiration hit me. Its 02.30 here and I'm now designing my garden in my head and really can't wait to start. Your book is Absolutely fantastically amazing 👏 BTW. Shame I couldn't get it signed. Thank you so very much for your content I'm sure you have sown the seeds of inspiration in many minds. Love to you all and keep up the wonderfully informative and often funny content. 🌻
Fordman I know, right? What else do you pack in your lunch for work? Something heavy & noisy? We toss ours in the dishwasher after use & usually get about a year's worth of uses with three of us packing lunch everyday.
USE FOR PLASTIC FORKS. I have a friend who caters. Instead of discarding plastic forks, she gives them to me. I run them through dishwasher. When my strawberries set, I use the plastic fork to hold the berry cluster off the ground. Holding them high delays rot. I also use 2" of crushed dry leaves as a mulch.
We used to use pine needles on our rose gardens when we got hard freezes during the winters! Our bushes were always the first to bloom again after the frost too! My favorite misconception is that you have to prune rose bushes on Valentine’s Day 😂
There are a LOT of garden myths... Tilling your soil is good. Wrong. It's the worst thing you can do in your garden. Compost tea, nettle tea are all so good for your soil. Wrong. Compost or weed mulches are better and take a lot less effort. Weeds take water from your crops. Wrong. A naked soil is much worse than weeds for moisture retention. Compost creates humus. Wrong. Compost is only creating humus when paired with wood chips or straw, something with carbon and lignin in it. In fact, better put wood chips alone than compost alone. Mulches will attract slugs. Kinda wrong. The first or second year yes, but then slug predators come and a balance is formed. Slugs will attack everything. Wrong. Slugs only attack your plants if they only have this to feed on. They like fungi first, which they find in wood chips and wood piles. They also prefer cruciferous plants, so sow some canola to feed them. You can't sow if you haven't removed all plant roots. Wrong. Decaying roots are high in nutrients. You can have a cover crop, kill it by rolling it down when flowering, and sow directly in this. This is literally what 80% of crop farmers in Brazil and Argentina do. You can't transplant carrots or parsnips. Wrong. You can, you just got to be careful. It's not worth it though. Weeds are bad for your soil. Wrong. Weeds are an indicator of bad soil. Wrong. If you have lots of dandelions, rumex, nettle and thistle, it means your soil is too compacted and you should stop tilling it, adding mulch and compost instead so that soil life will decompact it for you. I can't use weed cuttings from my garden as mulch or the seeds will propagate and I'll get even more weeds. Wrong. If you don't put any mulch THEN you'll get much more weeds, because there are tons of weed seeds in the soil already, thousands per square meter and they germinate when under the sun, on naked soil and especially tilled toil that mixes those seeds and bring them to the surface. So mulch that soil and don't worry about the seeds. You can't sow onions, garlic or potatoes directly on the ground. Wrong. It actually works. Try it. Many people do it and add a thick layer of mulch on top.
Pippetandpossum as long as they are used they are mostly neutral and good. If they are not used then they can burn your plants. They need to either be used or composted to do good :)
@@jeffbeerkens5286 Compost teas are washed down after the first rain. It doesn't fertilize for long enough, you're better off putting real compost on the ground, or the stuff that makes compost in the first place, raw. If you have kitchen scraps, put them on the ground. it'll fertilize for much longer. Compost tea won't destroy your soil, but it is not the magic liquid people say it is.
@@jeffbeerkens5286 I'm talking about real gardening, outside, in the ground. If you cultivate in containers, then yeah the fertility of the compost tea stays there. Outdoors, the rain will just wash away the nutrients deep in the ground, out of reach from the plants' roots.
*Myth: I am mulching correctly, as long as keep El mulcho away from El trunko.* *_Truth: Flat is where it's at, just like mother nature mulches trees in her forests._* No donuts rings, no Charlie Brown pitchers mound. Goal is to replace layer of suffocating grass with layer of beneficial mulch in order for more ideal atmospheric oxygen exchange between breathing feeder roots just below grade. Too much suffocating mulch results in New emergency Roots growing above ground throughout mulch layer, becoming a wooden noose tightening around trees own trunk. Now imagine all those unseen roots growing throughout all those above ground mounds you see below trees everyday of the week, especially young trees.
I dry the egg shells in the oven like you said, but then I crunch them up and put them into an electric spice grinder. It is like a mini blender. The end result is a powder which is then great to use as fertilizer or worm food for my worm beds. YEA!
i use my eggs shells in the raised beds like this: (inside the raised bed starting from the bottom layer too the top) wood chips / mulch cardboard boxes / paper etc (this and the wood chips stops weeds, and also acts as slow release fertiliser for long periods of time) grass clippings (takes about the same amount of time breaking down as the plants need for the roots too reach it for food) ash / charcol (carbon is great, everyone should add it) horse shit mixed with ground hay / grass (watered by hand daily for 2 weeks before adding too the bed) clean fill (clean dirt) once i have planted all my rows / runs of plants etc, i then place a small layer of mulch / wood chips around the plants too prevent evaporation, as i live in a place where winter temps can reach 30c (86F for all those who choose not too use the universal measuring system like the rest of the world does :P)
@@epicgardening it's a no dig situation, with different layers of goodness that breaks down over the life of the plant, the bigger stuff that fruits love the layering, as they get the super goodness when they need it the most. i would suggest you try a little experiment for the channel and see how it goes, it's an amazing way too recycle a lot of your waste into food ! thanks for the reply !
Picked up gardening herbs (in pots in my studio apt) during quarantine. I'm so prideful in them and sing when they grow new leaves. I have learned how much I adore taking care of things. While I've kept succulents for two years prior to quarantine, I have a lot to learn with herbs still.
I can definitely confirm and egg shells don’t break down easily. I’ve had some egg shells in my compost tea for over three years and they still look just like the day I put them in there
Yeah, that whole baking, then blendering or grinding them is helpful. I soak mine in vinegar, oil & hot peppers. Turns out the vinegar makes micro pits in the shell surface & the oil helps the capsaicin to adhere...For windows & doorframs I leave out the shells & vinegar & paint that stuff around like it's the first Passover--No more ants enter the building!
I save the water from drained pasta (cooled to room temp. Of course) dilute with same amout of water. The starch left in the water really perks plants up, makes dull leaves shiny.
Addition to myth number 3 - check the soil ph as well, before trying to correct the problem by adding or spraying a bunch of different things on or around the plant. Plants have evolved to grow within a certain soil ph range, and thus are adept at being able to uptake what nutrients they need better, within that certain ph range. I find that ph is a most often over-looked key to better plant care.
Thanks for the videos, I’m enjoying your tips…was wondering if you had ever heard that unless you wash our eggshells, they can spread salmonella in your garden? As far as “pointy things” go , the canes that you prune from your roses work well if you lay them in “tik-tak-toe” pattern around bottom of plant , cats, raccoons, are discouraged from digging, and you were probably just going to compost them anyway ( be careful and remove after harvesting your tomatoes).😮
I dont know about cats but if you have gophers get a few bars of Irish spring soap slice off 3 or 4 pieces and put them in the gopher hole and cover it up . The gopher may come back but it wont stay they cnt stand the smell . I planted a garden on my property right next to a grove of pecan trees over the coarse of 2 weeks I watched the mounds of gopher holes get closer and closer so I used Irish spring in the holes or dig the mound up about 8 to 10 inches down put in the soap and cover it up . The forward progress of the gophers stopped. It's been 3 weeks and there is no new mounds . 1 bar of soap is enough for 4 gopher holes . This also works for deer and other critters that walk into your garden except you put the soap in a old sock or some kind of material to wrap it in then you put stakes at strategic places in your garden and hang the sock of soap on the stick . This really works good for me so I'm sure it will work for anyone . Good gardening everyone . L8R
I have an old coffee grinder that I grind my egg shells. This way I sprinkle it where I need it. The ground egg shells are almost like powder. Perfect. :)
The ol' hound dog keeps everything out of my beds that isn't a porcupine and the live trap snags the quill pigs. I honestly have more problems from critters smaller than a pencil than I do the bigger ones. The pine needles was great information because admittedly I thought they made the soil acidic.
Totally helpful!!! I hate pine needles. In eastern North Carolina, we have a lot of stands of old pine. We live next-door to an acre of old woods and have some huge trees in our yard. I’m constantly raking off loads and loads of Pine needles. Always thought it added acid. This was probably the most helpful tip I’ve ever gotten since so much of my time is spent clearing off!
I do the same with my eggshells, except that they go back to the chickens as a free-choice feed supplement. They often need more calcium than what is provided in their feed in order to lay eggs with good quality shells.
Interesting vinegar and eggshell trick. However, egg shells are an organo-ceramic and are 95% CaCO3 with with ~5% proteins interbonding the crystals. Point is, just grinding them up will dramatically increase the solubility. The cooking and vinegar trick will liberate the Ca faster - true. But just sprinkling eggshell powder on the soils will work as a extended release. I will look for the book!
Idk.. someone told me to use eggshells when my plants were infested with a bunch of caterpillars.. I crushed a ton of shells and threw them over the soil and the caterpillars disappeared. Maybe it was just a coincidence.. but I haven’t had caterpillars since I’ve used the shells
Caterpillars don't typically travel over the soil to get to your plants. There is no reason that egg shells would stop or affect any caterpillars anyway. So I don't know why they'd recommend it. Glad your problem disappeared though! But it definitely wasn't due to the eggshells.
More on the blossom end rot please. Ok I get what you explained it is, but how do I fix it? On another subject about tomatoes, you’ve never mentioned the horn worm. Horrible beasts. Anything, please. As always, you’re the best.
Diatomaceous earth will kill anything without harming any plants and fruits of plants. You can use this inside and outside, just use it like it tells you. I got a huge bag from Amazon, with the applicator for $7 or $8. Money well spent, very well spent.
Love your videos!! I've been gardening for over 20 years and still learn alot from your awesome videos! Thank you for taking the time make and to post them!
It's literally dirt cheap to grow food. The expensive part is making the neighbors jealous of how pwetty it is. And thinking you need a bunch of expensive tools/equipment. I put up a new garden entirely by hand this year in heavy clay soil consisting of five 32x4 foot raised beds (no boxes just dirt that I mounded up). We have goats, cows, and trees so I collected several feed sacks full (4 cubic yards in total) of decomposed leaves, goat manure, and cow manure and carried them about 100-200 yards by hand to my garden and mixed them in. All the "dirt work" was done exclusively using a garden fork, hoe, shovel, and a rake. It was a lot of work, probably about 60 hours worth of manual labor. But I only spent about $200 on everything (including tools & seeds, but not including the monthly water bill which probably won't be much different.) I put up a fence around it to keep our goats out. I'm not including the price of the fence posts & wire in the cost because most people don't need a goat-proof fence, and it's not really relevant to the cost of making a garden (unless you're like me and decide to build a garden in a field crowded with goats). For seeds, find you a good seed supplier. Don't go to the fancy garden store for seeds. They will almost definitely rip you off. I bought my seeds at a feed store, and generally I get the packages for about the same price, but I'll get at least 10x as many. As a comparison I bought a package of Lima Bean seeds from a garden center, it was like $1.79 and literally had 10 beans in it; at the feed store I bought a 1/2 pound of Pinto Bean seeds for like $1.89 and which works out to roughly 650 beans. Sure, they're different crops. My bean bed has about 500 bean plants. Cost me a couple dollars for the seeds. If I planted them with lima beans from the garden store it would've cost me like $90.
@@collinmckinney7684 I'm a tired old lady and use a Troybilt Bronco rotitiller. 👍😂 I buy my seed at Southern States or Agway, Rural King, few packs of odd seeds at Dollar General Store.
Depends on the food. Where I live has a short growing season so peppers and melons take a lot more effort and expense. But berries offer a great rate of return, especially raspberries and blackberries. Growing your own food is also good for special varieties you don't see in stores, like glass gem corn or purple carrots.
One day I bought a compost tumbler off Craigslist. I sent my housemate over to pick it up. $20. What a bargain. When housemate got home, I watched him struggling to get this tumbler out of his truck and up our walkway. Turns out he and the seller (ha) had decided to leave any "residual" compost in the tumbler. Guess what was in that tumbler? *Pounds* of eggshells, (none decomposed AT ALL), several lbs of VERY dry clumps of horse manure. No wonder the tumbler weighed so damn much! But here's the great news: There were also some cucumber seeds in that raw compost. The seeds volunteered in a perfect spot in my garden. Man, oh, man. The production value was awesome. So many cucumbers. I had bell peppers growing as well, started from seed. We made tons of pickle relish. TONS. It was so delicious, we ate it all that relish up within a year.
The sticks on the garden DOES work ! Cats don’t like their whiskers to touch ..... I’m from North Carolina and learned this from my mother who got $$$ for transforming vacant city lots into urban gardens.....May she Rest In Peace ...said the descendants of slaves
How many plants thrive without soil. Not sure if this applies or not, but it’s been absolutely mind boggling. Another thing, is that Black/Brown/Hollowed stems always means death, this past winter rather than getting rid of them, I continued to care, got UV lights/heating pad/covered them on cold nights, and each one that I thought for sure was dead, have been thriving! Also clipping, some plants do need it, but my Lavander plants & Ajisai both have done so much better the years I did not trim them, and my Ajisai has taken over a year to bloom again.
I've used the plastic forks in my raised beds to great effect (deterred about 20 neighborhood cats) from getting in there. And if the forks are given free, who cares?
Mean Old Lady single use plastic is horrible, just say no to receiving them. Many people carry reusable utensils around nowadays. I know I do so I can tell take out places “no need for plastic utensils” when they offer
Another way to deter slugs is with copper. Or two copper wires connected to a 9 v battery fixed so the do not cross but are close enough so that the slug or snail will touch both wires at once. As soon as they touch both wires they will quickly turn around. Make sure the wires go all the way around the permitter of the container or the garden because they will try to find another way.
The seeds I planted in eggshells did much better than the ones I put in potting soil! They also become root bound to the shell. Lightly crush the shell and plant in soil. It's worked great for me!
I so am trying to learn about gardens.....but after awhile i get confused...... thanks for the info....I have been freezing eggs so now I know different ways to use the shells
Do you have a favorite gardening myth or misconception?
Don't water a plant until it wilts. That one drives me nuts, especially when applied to peace lilies.
Poking cocktail sticks through avocado stones and suspend them in water. Uh no, just plock on soil as nature intended.
Rooting pineapple tops in water. 😔 nawww 😑.
Yeah, that is definitely a major misunderstanding of how plants operate
Haha I can tell you're very passionate 😉
Urine in the garden? Myth? Growing up my mom had huge hydrangeas and every so often she'd throw urine in the soil. (She watched kids and was always potty training one or two)
Eggshells are essential. Spread on the floor around difficult people in a common space. ☺️
😂
Thanks for knowledge, great information
Hahaha love it
@@kimberlyisherwood4564 0⁰⁰⁰0
😂
Scarecrows prevent yeti from stealing from the garden. Not true. Ive seem them out there eating salads.
They're worse than vine borders.
I seem them lol
But everyone knows that.
Had the same problem till I took the deck chairs away.
were the scarecrows eating the salad or the yeti?
I blend the dry eggshells in a Bullet blender. Totally powderizes them, then add to soil. NPK 1.9 .38 .14.
Nice way to use
FYI for those of you that want to use egg shells in your compost. I bought a very cheep coffee/spice grinder at walmart toss dried out egg shells in in and it turns the shells to powder.
That's smart I use mortar and pestel
What happens if someone was to snort the powder ?
@@Not_Sure_ he would be a cluck
I just grab them from a restaurant and tossing them in the compost pile. 10 yards. Of compost gets about 60 quarts of busted up eggs.
Cannabis grew 10ft tall and got about 1# of dry buds from that compost pile.
I've been baking eggshells and grinding them into a fine powder to supplement calcium for my pets and myself. Even using it as a supplement for 2 cats, a bearded dragon, and myself I still end up with a whole lot of it. I've been dumping some in my compost bin as well as just a few tablespoons every 3 months in my tomato garden down what I call the root chute - PVC pipe I've embedded 1.5-2 feet in the ground with holes around the outside for weekly deep root watering, aeration, and fertilization. Still have a jar and a half of the powder on hand at any given time, lol. I think it's helping the tomatoes with "end rot" because after I started adding the powder I didn't have any more "end rot" without changing watering practice or changing season - started mid-summer. I have an automatic irrigation system (soaker hose under a layer of mulch) to water my garden every morning.
I keep my cats out of my garden with snow barrier netting over a PVC pipe frame, also makes a good trellis for tomatoes as well. Only problem is it degrades after a year or two. I should probably just upgrade to chicken wire.
Your videos are informative and helpful especially if you’re a beginner . I like the way you get straight to the point without rambling and wasting time on the intro. You’re plant care tips are easy to follow and they work!
I adore your channel! I am a traditional farm wife having been raised on the farm, gardening, preserving, hunting, butchering is what I do, self-sufficiency is key, ( especially in these times).
I love to learn all I can from everyone and you are very no-nonsense and straightforward.
it's weird to me has a fish tank keeper that people think egg shells will deter snails.cause I feed egg shells to my snails to give them calcium to help maintain their shells.
Brianna Harter whaaaat? Wow I just learned something
lol i love it
@@sarahrogers7883 there's no biological difference between snails and slugs that would be relevant to egg shells in their path. The main difference in the two is habitat, and that's mainly because a gastropod with no shell can squeeze into environments that one with a shell could not.
@@sarahrogers7883 both molluscs.
@@green_eye_gossip Yep, snails love it because the extra calcium shores up their little shells!
In Australia we use egg shells (broken up, not crushed) to keep white moths away from plants - the moths presumably see the white and assume there are already other moths there.
Source: I had a whole crop of zucchini plants leaves stripped by white moths one year and egg shells saved the next crop.
I had racoons digging up my new pepper plants a few years ago and found placing bamboo skewers near the pepper plants stopped the racoons from digging them up. They did dig around the areas where there were no skewers though, but the pepper plants were left alone.
I use a old coffee grinder to powder eggshells then add to garden.
Metal Adder101 I was thinking of using a mortar and pestle, or a plastic baggie and a hammer.
@@rhodawatkins4516 mortar and pestel is better
True. Studies showed it works when particle size is small
Rhoda Watkins I currently use mortar and pestle, if you want a finer grind... coffee or spice grinder may be what you’re looking for. I’m gonna switch over personally.
I clean my shells right out. Like I peel off every bit of membrane. Should I even bother doing that. I only started because it keeps them from getting smelly.
Gardening is sacred. Outside with the Earth...of which you are made....keeping things growing....and oh such excellent exercise.😃
Gretta Lemabouchou Yes!! I put my money into gardening and not the gym. Drag around bags of planting mix and dig some holes. OUTSIDE ! 👍
From the earth we were made & so shall return🌱🤱 ⚰️⚱️
Become one with Mother nature 💐☃️🌬️🐈🐕🏕️ & enjoy father time🕰️ their Son 🌞 gives us all life😇😁🤸
Totally agree. I am happiest working manual labor, hands in dirt then watching fruits of my labor grow!
People may not know this but after you boil eggs the calcium from the shell will be in the water you can pour it on your plants once it cools off..
Ladies and gentleman. I have a 4 year old avocado tree that needs your prayers. She's grown crooked and got hooked on miraclegro.
Should be slightly easier to come off of the miraclegro than meth. 😅
Prayers for your sweet crooked avocado tree ❤
Hahahahaha
Add a piece of iron to soil nearby tree. A friend has a old boat iron anchor that was left partially buried by tree. They get so many large yummy avocados 🥑 they have to bring some to share with friends like me. I don’t know if that old iron anchor does this or not? But they are the best buttery Avocados 🥑 I’ve Ever, Ever had in my life.
@@DnolB65 That would be my idea of heaven, having an avocado tree full of buttery avocados. But such a tree is prob not poss in the UK🇬🇧 with our damp, rainy m, chilly climate.🙁
Daniel Fiorini mine keeps loosing its leaves 😢
Articulate, straight to the point, and obviously, knowledgable! Thank you!
Thank you for clarifying about pine needles! Hubby is always going on about how they need to be removed from the garden due to making it acidic. I’m all about mulching and just maybe those poky brown needles might deter to the slugs that are problematic in one garden, which also happens to have high clay content. If you’ve got tips on remedying clay into better soil, I’d be happy to hear.
Snails will ride on a razor. Dehydration is a better option.
Gracious me. A lot of work for egg shell calcium. I think I'll stick with crushing them into the compost.
To each their own
@@epicgardening I ground my eggshells up into a fine powder and add it to my watering can and my compost bin. It lasts for ages in the watering can and has made a difference to my plants.
You can simply add finely crushed eggshells 1to1 with white or apple cider vinegar and it'll be ready when it's done bubbling (the sign of the chemical reactions) you can just poor some at the base of the plant, it'll be roughly neutral but if you're worried it didn't completely neutralize you can mix it with anywhere from 1 to 1 to 1 to 4 with water and it should still be very effective. The chemical reaction should also sterilize the vast majority of any harmful pathogens like salmonella to the well within safe levels
Not really. Notice he said one part per 1000 of water. I created water soluble calcium into a half gallon jar and I probably have enough of the solution for at least a year or two. It is only applied highly diluted.
@@michaelgraham768 Hi there... won't the vinegar kill the plant? Vinegar is used to kill weeds and even grass as weed killer?
Thank you! That was helpful... my mom (Oregon Hippy Gardener) always put the crushed eggshells in a big jar with the coffee grounds, and water. The gross tea was then dumped straight into the compost pit. She swore that egg shell coffee tea released the calcium and de acidified the coffee (paper filters included)! Seamed to work! I do It now... so hopefully it’s true! 🤗
Myth: "There is such a thing as weed free topsoil." Usually claimed by a salesman.
If you fill your bed in early fall, leave it bare and water it, weeds WILL sprout. GOOD! Using a stirrup hoe, kill them and leave them in place to decompose. Water and repeat until ground freezes. For next year's tomato beds, I sprout the weed seeds in spring while waiting for weather to warm up enough for tomatoes. Over the years, by covering beds when Dandelions bloom, and sprouting weeds and slicing through them, the weed seed load is declining.
Once I plant, I side dress with 2-4" of shredded leaves. (I pay kids to drag bags of leaves to my garage.) The home gardener can easily use 200 gallons of shredded leaves a year.
All the leaves feed my giant herd of earthworms, who provide micro tunnels to improve soil structure, and worm castings.
Yup, totally good ideas there!
True, but the amount of seeds CAN be reduced dramatically over time. Many people don’t do enough hoeing or mowing around the edges to stop seeds from wandering in (blown, tracked, carried, kicked, etc.) And of course, tilling every year encourages weeds compared to no-till.
As long as there aren't pesticides or herbicides on the leaves
More than 15 years ago my wife and I moved into our home and started gardening a rather large garden. The first few years we had a major problem with tomato end-rot. A neighbor, who is a master gardener, told us that when we plant our seedlings we should add crushed eggshell to the hole. I know you say it’s a myth but, we have hardly seen any tomato and rot since that day. And, that is the only thing we changed in the planting of our tomatoes.
Sir this RUclipsr is making an argument against eggshells because he knows it’s a popular topic amongst gardeners. He is a youngster or a little kid as we would call him in the UK and has no idea about what he is talking about but is purely doing it for views. Egg shells is an ancient method used across all parts of the world by farmers from not so rich countries. Don’t pay attention to this dude and know that most RUclipsrs prioritise views. God bless sir
Has either of you even paid attention to what he said in the video? He clearly mentioned you could add crushed eggshell in your soil, at 3:50. What he was explaining was that using the whole eggshell and expecting immediate benefit from its calcium was not the right way.
Your English is impeccable! I love to hear you speak. Good grammar is so refreshing!
Thank you. I get very tired of the acidic pine needle bit. I live in deep piney woods of Texas and use the dried pine needles everywhere in the garden. Grow where you are with what you have and reap a bounty!
“ first of all what an Incredible misuse of 750 forks for a single use item” lmfao
LOL
Single misuse item
Could you do a video about that eggshell water? Or different composts for indoor/balcony plants? :)
I'll add to the list!
Oo!! And biochar for those of us with less than desirable "smell-cations" for compost? Like-how to do it right?
I’ve been gardening for many years. Great watching you! I was wrong on two of them. I always tried to use eggs shells to deter slugs. Don’t think it ever worked😂 thank you! I enjoyed listening to ya!
Good information. Try adding a tablespoon of epson salt to the hole for each of your tomato plants at planting time to assist them with the absorption of calcium in order to prevent blossom end rot. You can also use it as a foliar spray. Strong soil makes for happy, healthy and productive plants.
Would love to see a video on the making of water soluble calcium? Very informative video!
Have been growing tomatoes for 25 years. Any and every time I've had blossom end rot, it's been quickly and effectively eliminated by working finely crushed egg shells right into the soil around the stems over the roots. I've never had it fail.
Interesting.. cause I planted my first seeds this year and the ones I planted in the egg shells are HUGE and the ones i planted just in cartons are small or not germinating..
I'll definately take it out of the egg when I plant tho!
Binge watching your videos this week LOL ♡thanks!
Have been gardening for years now at the age of 50 Ive learned a lot from my grandmother and mom and dad most of what you just talked about except for the plastic forks and knives I just don't know why anybody would think that would work. I've actually gone to the trouble of taking banana peels egg shells put a little water in my blender and then adding it to the soil then tilling the soil then the plants are the seeds are planted we've been very successful with Gardening thanks for the info enjoy your video
Thanks for the comment! Glad you enjoyed
I remember my Mom tried composting uncrushed eggshells and they were still there 10 years later! I was always puzzled, when people used eggshells to start seeds in. You end up losing half your plants, if you try to take the seedlings out of the shells, so I don't get it🤷 After many trials and tribulations, I have found the peat pots with the mesh on them work best. Easy peasy! I start seeds indoors, because I live in an area with a shorter growing season.
Please talk about coffee ground.
Add coffee grounds to compost pile, not directly on ground around plant.
I use cinnamon in my espresso maker with the coffee--I put that stuff straight out on top of the mulch layer--of course that's just 1-2 tablespoons per day, so it isn't much...edited: typo
I think burying it could be good. Am a beginner though. Interested to hear from someone who has tried this. Gardening seems so creative with quite a learning curve.
Coffee grinds provide lots of nitrogen for a compost pile but will also add acidity (may be bad depending what you're growing). The real problem is the caffeine. Studies show caffeine may stunt plant growth a d fruit production
@@dalcloud8873 when you dig a hole to plant your plants mix used coffee grounds/egg shells too into the soil and plant your plants. Used coffee grounds are also great to get rid of ants, if you have ants living in your mulch sprinkle it around.
I use the egg shells and pulverized in the coffee maker machine and them mix them with the soil. Love ❤️ your videos are really helpful 🙏
Thanks you!
Same
I spread mine to keep deer away. Usually spreading them in the spring keep deer away all season. They hate the smell.
I’ve had excellent results avoiding blossom end rot by putting a tablespoon of epsom salt in the hole when I plant tomatoes.
Epsom salts are great for most plants in flower!
My grandmother swears by using epson salts around her blueberry bushes. I haven't seen anyone else say anything about this so I want to know if epson salt would help acid loving plants like that. Or is it just a placebo for her. She does have giant blueberry bushes that have been bearing fruit for like 20 years.
Pretty sure that works.
wow, you live right next to the street like that. it must be so cool to pass by and say "hey, there's epic gardening's garden. i've seen it on youtube. it looks so awesome".
Wow! 750 forks?! She can repurpose them to use as plant labels 🤷🏽♀️
Stephanie Fayla smart idea!
Good idea! I use plastic spoons for labels now.
😤 gardening seems like it requires so much patience. I feel like I gotta do some homework & study things. Why can't I just plop things into the ground, water it, & that's it? I live in the country side & don't mind all the random animals. I feed them. But I would've never thought to imagine them as a burden. I think I'm gonna try putting onions & garlic into the ground. .. they can't be intrigued by those things right? Then ill have tomatoes & carrots growing in pots, starting from inside. .. I have a fence in the backyard but it's mainly to keep anything from the back coming in. Nothing is actually fenced in. Damn these animals.
@@ahhwe-any7434 You're right. Gardening does require lots of patience. I used to hate gardening. But I started with one tomato plant, and worked up from there. Start small and work up from there.
Ahhw E-Any Marigolds will deter the deer at least a little. Plant like a fence all the way around & see if that does anything--a fence will help, though. Rabbits won't be deterred.
I have found use of hydrated or pickling lime spread around a tomatoes and watered in stops blossom end rot in no time at all.
Do a RUclips search for water glassing for eggs. The hydrated like preserves eggs for 8 to 12 months.
1:39 Pea gravel or poultry grit is a better slug repellent, I think.
And I agree about diatomaceous earth working well, too.
I’ve seen slugs crawling over a layer of poultry grit to get to the plants they like to eat. The most effective barrier is electricity.
I've personally found pointy stuff does work to keep cats out. In my case they were digging holes to crap in. If they can't get a spot to easily dig, they give up. Mulch wasn't doing the job, but pointed sticks set firmly enough to either hinder or stab a digging paw put an end to it. Not an easy solution but it did work.
@Joe Francis
I was living in an end terrace house and in the terraced house next door lived a man with 14 cats at last count. We tried everything to deter them from pooping in our flower beds and only breaking wooden kebab skewers into two and inserting them into the ground, pointy ends up and at a slight angle, worked and it was like absolute magic. Never saw the little bug**rs in our garden again once they got the message!!!
In CA....fruit trees. Briefly lived in a house with a huge grape trellis under the deck, an apple tree, pear tree, plum tree and lemon tree, plus blackberries along one fence....they produced a huge amount of fruit with almost no fuss.
I save two dozen and place them in the blender and sprinkle it in my raised bed and turn over the soil. I. Just do.
Why turn soil
Ick! I bake my eggshells to prevent rot & if you blender the eggshels in vinegar, oil & really hot peppers & cinnamon--let sit for about a day for the shell to soak in the other items--then sprinkle it around! Most garden pests do not like the burning sensation of the spices and the eggshell & oils help hold that stuff at the surface. (started writing before hearing your whole post).
What kind of mulch is good for putting with tomatoes? The kind you put in flower beds? Or does it need to be something specific?
i saved all my coffee and tea grinds in a bucket for a long time in garbage also added crushed egg shells and minced banana peels with other minced garbage scraps. after i got like 5 gallon bucket filled i simply used it in garden bed or low spots (or rabbit burrows) in lawn ...
Thank you for the info. I'll now go pluck my forks out of my garden. Lol.
😂
I’ve used forks to Mark where something is that I won’t see until the next season. Things like bulbs or a new to me perennial that goes dormant all the way to the ground. Just so I don’t go digging my stuff up. Done that before
I use heavily diluted vinegar and mist my plants to keep animals away. I also discovered that my cat hates pickle juices. Lol funniest reaction she's ever made.
The eggshell is best used to pop seeds in,onece seed pops,transplant into coco coir soil medium,as you do simply crush the shell before planting it in new pot
I recently got a mortar and pestle specifically so I can grind eggshells for my cucumber and pepper seedlings
I use a rolling pin. To each her own.
we use eggs shells in our worm tower in our raised beds. great informative video
Coffee grounds are great for keeping slugs and snails out of your garden/potted plants. I live in the Pacific northwest and it's amazing how well works. Coffee grounds will keep cats out of your flower beds as well.
I have been inspired. Your videos are fantastic. You hear so many people saying " use this, do that, add this, remove that" I had so much conflicting information and I was beyond confused. I did lose interest.......
But after finding out that the nice little purple fern thing actually purple fenel..... wow then I saw this video....... Oh My Days...... a tidal wave of inspiration hit me. Its 02.30 here and I'm now designing my garden in my head and really can't wait to start. Your book is Absolutely fantastically amazing 👏 BTW. Shame I couldn't get it signed.
Thank you so very much for your content I'm sure you have sown the seeds of inspiration in many minds. Love to you all and keep up the wonderfully informative and often funny content. 🌻
Ha! One use, I have a plastic fork that I've probably eaten 10 bowls of ramen with already lol
Fordman I know, right? What else do you pack in your lunch for work? Something heavy & noisy? We toss ours in the dishwasher after use & usually get about a year's worth of uses with three of us packing lunch everyday.
USE FOR PLASTIC FORKS. I have a friend who caters. Instead of discarding plastic forks, she gives them to me. I run them through dishwasher. When my strawberries set, I use the plastic fork to hold the berry cluster off the ground. Holding them high delays rot. I also use 2" of crushed dry leaves as a mulch.
Now that's a better use of forks!
We used to use pine needles on our rose gardens when we got hard freezes during the winters! Our bushes were always the first to bloom again after the frost too! My favorite misconception is that you have to prune rose bushes on Valentine’s Day 😂
There are a LOT of garden myths... Tilling your soil is good. Wrong. It's the worst thing you can do in your garden. Compost tea, nettle tea are all so good for your soil. Wrong. Compost or weed mulches are better and take a lot less effort. Weeds take water from your crops. Wrong. A naked soil is much worse than weeds for moisture retention. Compost creates humus. Wrong. Compost is only creating humus when paired with wood chips or straw, something with carbon and lignin in it. In fact, better put wood chips alone than compost alone. Mulches will attract slugs. Kinda wrong. The first or second year yes, but then slug predators come and a balance is formed. Slugs will attack everything. Wrong. Slugs only attack your plants if they only have this to feed on. They like fungi first, which they find in wood chips and wood piles. They also prefer cruciferous plants, so sow some canola to feed them. You can't sow if you haven't removed all plant roots. Wrong. Decaying roots are high in nutrients. You can have a cover crop, kill it by rolling it down when flowering, and sow directly in this. This is literally what 80% of crop farmers in Brazil and Argentina do. You can't transplant carrots or parsnips. Wrong. You can, you just got to be careful. It's not worth it though. Weeds are bad for your soil. Wrong. Weeds are an indicator of bad soil. Wrong. If you have lots of dandelions, rumex, nettle and thistle, it means your soil is too compacted and you should stop tilling it, adding mulch and compost instead so that soil life will decompact it for you. I can't use weed cuttings from my garden as mulch or the seeds will propagate and I'll get even more weeds. Wrong. If you don't put any mulch THEN you'll get much more weeds, because there are tons of weed seeds in the soil already, thousands per square meter and they germinate when under the sun, on naked soil and especially tilled toil that mixes those seeds and bring them to the surface. So mulch that soil and don't worry about the seeds. You can't sow onions, garlic or potatoes directly on the ground. Wrong. It actually works. Try it. Many people do it and add a thick layer of mulch on top.
WELL Said. I will cover some more of these in a future video my friend!
Are coffee grounds really good for plants or is that a myth?
Pippetandpossum as long as they are used they are mostly neutral and good. If they are not used then they can burn your plants. They need to either be used or composted to do good :)
@@jeffbeerkens5286 Compost teas are washed down after the first rain. It doesn't fertilize for long enough, you're better off putting real compost on the ground, or the stuff that makes compost in the first place, raw. If you have kitchen scraps, put them on the ground. it'll fertilize for much longer. Compost tea won't destroy your soil, but it is not the magic liquid people say it is.
@@jeffbeerkens5286 I'm talking about real gardening, outside, in the ground. If you cultivate in containers, then yeah the fertility of the compost tea stays there. Outdoors, the rain will just wash away the nutrients deep in the ground, out of reach from the plants' roots.
can i add blend my compost and the end of every day, and feed it to my plants like a smoothie? i home cook a lot
*Myth: I am mulching correctly, as long as keep El mulcho away from El trunko.* *_Truth: Flat is where it's at, just like mother nature mulches trees in her forests._* No donuts rings, no Charlie Brown pitchers mound.
Goal is to replace layer of suffocating grass with layer of beneficial mulch in order for more ideal atmospheric oxygen exchange between breathing feeder roots just below grade.
Too much suffocating mulch results in New emergency Roots growing above ground throughout mulch layer, becoming a wooden noose tightening around trees own trunk.
Now imagine all those unseen roots growing throughout all those above ground mounds you see below trees everyday of the week, especially young trees.
I heard that using woodash which supplies Potash, takes care of the calcium problem & therefore blossom-end rot.
I dry the egg shells in the oven like you said, but then I crunch them up and put them into an electric spice grinder. It is like a mini blender. The end result is a powder which is then great to use as fertilizer or worm food for my worm beds. YEA!
Grill for 45 minutes? How much that cost?
Truth Kangen If you are already cooking, adding a baking tray of crushed eggshells to the oven's other rack costs nothing.
Wow, you go guy! Thanks once again for great advice!🥰
i use my eggs shells in the raised beds like this:
(inside the raised bed starting from the bottom layer too the top)
wood chips / mulch
cardboard boxes / paper etc (this and the wood chips stops weeds, and also acts as slow release fertiliser for long periods of time)
grass clippings (takes about the same amount of time breaking down as the plants need for the roots too reach it for food)
ash / charcol (carbon is great, everyone should add it)
horse shit mixed with ground hay / grass (watered by hand daily for 2 weeks before adding too the bed)
clean fill (clean dirt)
once i have planted all my rows / runs of plants etc, i then place a small layer of mulch / wood chips around the plants too prevent evaporation, as i live in a place where winter temps can reach 30c (86F for all those who choose not too use the universal measuring system like the rest of the world does :P)
Wow, really love that method. Sounds like you use a modified lasagna gardening style
@@epicgardening it's a no dig situation, with different layers of goodness that breaks down over the life of the plant, the bigger stuff that fruits love the layering, as they get the super goodness when they need it the most.
i would suggest you try a little experiment for the channel and see how it goes, it's an amazing way too recycle a lot of your waste into food !
thanks for the reply !
Picked up gardening herbs (in pots in my studio apt) during quarantine. I'm so prideful in them and sing when they grow new leaves. I have learned how much I adore taking care of things. While I've kept succulents for two years prior to quarantine, I have a lot to learn with herbs still.
I can definitely confirm and egg shells don’t break down easily. I’ve had some egg shells in my compost tea for over three years and they still look just like the day I put them in there
Yeah, that whole baking, then blendering or grinding them is helpful. I soak mine in vinegar, oil & hot peppers. Turns out the vinegar makes micro pits in the shell surface & the oil helps the capsaicin to adhere...For windows & doorframs I leave out the shells & vinegar & paint that stuff around like it's the first Passover--No more ants enter the building!
Snails and might actually be attracted to eggshells! They eat them for calcium!
I save the water from drained pasta (cooled to room temp. Of course) dilute with same amout of water. The starch left in the water really perks plants up, makes dull leaves shiny.
Addition to myth number 3 - check the soil ph as well, before trying to correct the problem by adding or spraying a bunch of different things on or around the plant. Plants have evolved to grow within a certain soil ph range, and thus are adept at being able to uptake what nutrients they need better, within that certain ph range. I find that ph is a most often over-looked key to better plant care.
I saved and washed plastic forks for a year to try to keep the neighbour's cat out of my raised beds...
It didn't even come close to working
So stoked to hear about the pine needles! I have so many! 🌲🌲🌲
Thanks for the videos, I’m enjoying your tips…was wondering if you had ever heard that unless you wash our eggshells, they can spread salmonella in your garden?
As far as “pointy things” go , the canes that you prune from your roses work well if you lay them in “tik-tak-toe” pattern around bottom of plant , cats, raccoons, are discouraged from digging, and you were probably just going to compost them anyway ( be careful and remove after harvesting your tomatoes).😮
I dont know about cats but if you have gophers get a few bars of Irish spring soap slice off 3 or 4 pieces and put them in the gopher hole and cover it up . The gopher may come back but it wont stay they cnt stand the smell .
I planted a garden on my property right next to a grove of pecan trees over the coarse of 2 weeks I watched the mounds of gopher holes get closer and closer so I used Irish spring in the holes or dig the mound up about 8 to 10 inches down put in the soap and cover it up . The forward progress of the gophers stopped. It's been 3 weeks and there is no new mounds . 1 bar of soap is enough for 4 gopher holes .
This also works for deer and other critters that walk into your garden except you put the soap in a old sock or some kind of material to wrap it in then you put stakes at strategic places in your garden and hang the sock of soap on the stick . This really works good for me so I'm sure it will work for anyone . Good gardening everyone . L8R
I have an old coffee grinder that I grind my egg shells. This way I sprinkle it where I need it. The ground egg shells are almost like powder. Perfect. :)
I do throw egg shells into my flower beds but not for slugs. I've found recently that the squirrels seem to love them
The ol' hound dog keeps everything out of my beds that isn't a porcupine and the live trap snags the quill pigs. I honestly have more problems from critters smaller than a pencil than I do the bigger ones. The pine needles was great information because admittedly I thought they made the soil acidic.
I plant seedlings directly into the soil. Crack the egg and plant. Love it!!
Totally helpful!!! I hate pine needles. In eastern North Carolina, we have a lot of stands of old pine. We live next-door to an acre of old woods and have some huge trees in our yard. I’m constantly raking off loads and loads of Pine needles. Always thought it added acid. This was probably the most helpful tip I’ve ever gotten since so much of my time is spent clearing off!
I rinse, microwave and then crush my shells with a pestle and mortar before putting them in the soil, hot compost or vermicompost bin.
That sounds like a good recipe to me
I do the same with my eggshells, except that they go back to the chickens as a free-choice feed supplement. They often need more calcium than what is provided in their feed in order to lay eggs with good quality shells.
Interesting vinegar and eggshell trick. However, egg shells are an organo-ceramic and are 95% CaCO3 with with ~5% proteins interbonding the crystals. Point is, just grinding them up will dramatically increase the solubility. The cooking and vinegar trick will liberate the Ca faster - true. But just sprinkling eggshell powder on the soils will work as a extended release. I will look for the book!
Moon phases for planting above ground or below ground crops, they may work but I plant when I have time
Idk.. someone told me to use eggshells when my plants were infested with a bunch of caterpillars.. I crushed a ton of shells and threw them over the soil and the caterpillars disappeared. Maybe it was just a coincidence.. but I haven’t had caterpillars since I’ve used the shells
Do what works for you I use fish fertilizer and epsom salt both 2 tablespoons to a gallon and my stuff is flourishing my lawn my flowers everything
Caterpillars don't typically travel over the soil to get to your plants. There is no reason that egg shells would stop or affect any caterpillars anyway. So I don't know why they'd recommend it.
Glad your problem disappeared though! But it definitely wasn't due to the eggshells.
Just crush the eggshell gently so as not to hurt the seedling...and plant the whole thing. Learnt that fr a RUclipsr - robie and gary (California)
Wow that was super great advice I actually could use three of those so thanks
More on the blossom end rot please. Ok I get what you explained it is, but how do I fix it?
On another subject about tomatoes, you’ve never mentioned the horn worm. Horrible beasts. Anything, please. As always, you’re the best.
Diatomaceous earth will kill anything without harming any plants and fruits of plants. You can use this inside and outside, just use it like it tells you. I got a huge bag from Amazon, with the applicator for $7 or $8. Money well spent, very well spent.
Love your videos!! I've been gardening for over 20 years and still learn alot from your awesome videos! Thank you for taking the time make and to post them!
Favorite Myth-
It's cheaper to buy food than to grow it.
It's literally dirt cheap to grow food. The expensive part is making the neighbors jealous of how pwetty it is. And thinking you need a bunch of expensive tools/equipment.
I put up a new garden entirely by hand this year in heavy clay soil consisting of five 32x4 foot raised beds (no boxes just dirt that I mounded up). We have goats, cows, and trees so I collected several feed sacks full (4 cubic yards in total) of decomposed leaves, goat manure, and cow manure and carried them about 100-200 yards by hand to my garden and mixed them in. All the "dirt work" was done exclusively using a garden fork, hoe, shovel, and a rake.
It was a lot of work, probably about 60 hours worth of manual labor. But I only spent about $200 on everything (including tools & seeds, but not including the monthly water bill which probably won't be much different.) I put up a fence around it to keep our goats out. I'm not including the price of the fence posts & wire in the cost because most people don't need a goat-proof fence, and it's not really relevant to the cost of making a garden (unless you're like me and decide to build a garden in a field crowded with goats).
For seeds, find you a good seed supplier. Don't go to the fancy garden store for seeds. They will almost definitely rip you off. I bought my seeds at a feed store, and generally I get the packages for about the same price, but I'll get at least 10x as many. As a comparison I bought a package of Lima Bean seeds from a garden center, it was like $1.79 and literally had 10 beans in it; at the feed store I bought a 1/2 pound of Pinto Bean seeds for like $1.89 and which works out to roughly 650 beans. Sure, they're different crops. My bean bed has about 500 bean plants. Cost me a couple dollars for the seeds. If I planted them with lima beans from the garden store it would've cost me like $90.
@@collinmckinney7684 I'm a tired old lady and use a Troybilt Bronco rotitiller. 👍😂 I buy my seed at Southern States or Agway, Rural King, few packs of odd seeds at Dollar General Store.
Depends on the food. Where I live has a short growing season so peppers and melons take a lot more effort and expense. But berries offer a great rate of return, especially raspberries and blackberries. Growing your own food is also good for special varieties you don't see in stores, like glass gem corn or purple carrots.
One day I bought a compost tumbler off Craigslist. I sent my housemate over to pick it up. $20. What a bargain. When housemate got home, I watched him struggling to get this tumbler out of his truck and up our walkway. Turns out he and the seller (ha) had decided to leave any "residual" compost in the tumbler. Guess what was in that tumbler? *Pounds* of eggshells, (none decomposed AT ALL), several lbs of VERY dry clumps of horse manure. No wonder the tumbler weighed so damn much! But here's the great news: There were also some cucumber seeds in that raw compost. The seeds volunteered in a perfect spot in my garden. Man, oh, man. The production value was awesome. So many cucumbers. I had bell peppers growing as well, started from seed. We made tons of pickle relish. TONS. It was so delicious, we ate it all that relish up within a year.
I throw my eggs shells and old eggs into the compost pile and any bones too. I usually try to high heat the bones before throwing in the pile.
The sticks on the garden DOES work ! Cats don’t like their whiskers to touch ..... I’m from North Carolina and learned this from my mother who got $$$ for transforming vacant city lots into urban gardens.....May she Rest In Peace ...said the descendants of slaves
Wait now.....I would never use vinegar on plants...
1 part vinegar/eggshell mix, to 1,000 parts water is not going to harm the plants.
@@masonk.wilson538 what good would it do them?
The guy in the video said it would extract calcium from eggshells, and if you mixed that with 1,000 parts water it would add calcium
How many plants thrive without soil.
Not sure if this applies or not, but it’s been absolutely mind boggling.
Another thing, is that Black/Brown/Hollowed stems always means death, this past winter rather than getting rid of them, I continued to care, got UV lights/heating pad/covered them on cold nights, and each one that I thought for sure was dead, have been thriving!
Also clipping, some plants do need it, but my Lavander plants & Ajisai both have done so much better the years I did not trim them, and my Ajisai has taken over a year to bloom again.
During the lockdown. Picked up gardening and loving it. I dont want to go back to work and look after my plants..reality cannot do that.
I've used the plastic forks in my raised beds to great effect (deterred about 20 neighborhood cats) from getting in there.
And if the forks are given free, who cares?
Can't fault you if it works...just not a fan of using single-use plastic like that personally
Epic Gardening its honestly better than using it once to eat then throwing it away lmfao unless you wash and reuse them.
Mean Old Lady single use plastic is horrible, just say no to receiving them. Many people carry reusable utensils around nowadays. I know I do so I can tell take out places “no need for plastic utensils” when they offer
My chickens eat all of our egg shells. Still, I like the idea of water soluble calcium. Nothing seems to work to keep the cats out of my garden.
I remember my uncle used to crush the egg shells in an old manual meat grinder and fed the ground-up shells to his chickens.
I put copper tape around my raised bed and no snails or slugs. I had tons of them before, so I can attest to it working.
Another way to deter slugs is with copper. Or two copper wires connected to a 9 v battery fixed so the do not cross but are close enough so that the slug or snail will touch both wires at once. As soon as they touch both wires they will quickly turn around. Make sure the wires go all the way around the permitter of the container or the garden because they will try to find another way.
The seeds I planted in eggshells did much better than the ones I put in potting soil! They also become root bound to the shell. Lightly crush the shell and plant in soil. It's worked great for me!
I so am trying to learn about gardens.....but after awhile i get confused...... thanks for the info....I have been freezing eggs so now I know different ways to use the shells