Garden Protector
By Cynthia P.

An organic solution to keep cats and dogs out of the garden.
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons tabasco sauce or 1 ½ tablespoons dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon plain white flour
1 medium cooking onion chopped finely
1 clove garlic chopped finely
2 teaspoons liquid dish soap
1 ½ quart warm water
Directions:

Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the chopped onion and garlic, stir well. Slowly add in the soap, then the water until all ingredients are thoroughly blended. Place garden mixture in a container or spray bottle and let the mixture settle, when ready to use give it a good shake or stir if its in a container. Spray or pour the repellent around the plants directly on the soil or at the base of bushes. Re-spray plant area every 2 weeks or after major rainfall.

Tips for Plants
Jewek Hallissoule

Keep the water after you boil eggs, it's good to water your plants with it! It has a lot of minerals in it.
Grow extra large and juicy tomatoes. Before planting add one tablespoon of Epsom salt in the hole.
Homemade Insecticide: Spray plants with your old dishwater. The soap kills of the bugs.
Sprinkle crushed up eggs shell around flower plants and roses to keep slugs and bugs away.
Clean the leaves of your plant with a cotton ball dipped in milk. Makes it shiny.

Natural Weed Eliminator Formula
By Cynthia P.

A simple way to get rid of weeds that grow along pathways, patio stones or sidewalks easily is by spraying them with undiluted white vinegar.

Make sure you protect any nearby plants that you want to keep! Spray vinegar directly onto the leaves and around the base of the weeds. You might have to respray stubborn weeds the next day. Good luck!

Lavender Summer Rose Potpourri
By Jennifer P.

My favorite family recipe is our summer potpourri that fills the air with its unique aroma. I like to use pink rose petals in my own mix, but any color will due. Mix and match flowers and spices to make it your own.

2 cups dried pink rose petals and leaves
1 cup dried lavender flowers
8 drops sandalwood essential oil
3 dried whole bay leaves
10 whole cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon orris root powder (acts as a fixative)

Mix the dried flowers, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon in a bowl then place mix in an airtight container for 5 days. Stir once a day. On the fifth day, add the sandalwood essential oil and the orris root. Cover for another 4 weeks. Stir once daily.

Deter Ants

by S. Pavlovits

My young son and I discovered that ants do not like to cross chalk lines. To deter ants from entering our apartment building we drew a 1" thick chalk barrier across the patio. Also, we thought maybe the reason ants didn't like crossing chalk was that it was "sharp" totheir tiny bodies---it is just ground up minerals.

We thought talc might have the same effect. We tried baby powder. The ants never came back. May have been a combination of the talc and the fragrance may have disguised their trail/food source.