Using prunings as plant supports. I'm not sure why, but staking plants or putting up pea fences are not my favorite garden chores. One of the most painless ways to support plants--whether tall, fragile delphiniums or shorter vining peas--is to use brushy tree or shrub prunings. Using pruned branches also is one of the most unobtrusive and thus best-looking ways to support plants.
Cut the branches during the winter or early spring when they have no leaves. Depending on the eventual height of the plants you're planning to support, your prunings will need to be between 3 and 5 feet long. (Remember, 6 to 8 inches will be stuck into the ground.) Make your pruning cuts at an angle. This is not only best for the plant you're pruning but also makes a pointed end that is easy to shove into the soil. Any sort of prunings can be used, but twiggy branches--such as those from hornbeam or beech--are best.
All that remains to be done is to stick the prunings into the ground, either near the crown of the perennial or all along a row of peas, for example. Place them close enough together so that their twigs overlap slightly. As your plants grow, they will rise up through this twiggy mass. Therefore,
you must employ this method early in the season, before perennials grow tall and just after pea plants emerge from the ground, for example.
At the end of the season, simply pull up the branches and use them as kindling in your fireplace or otherwise dispose of them. Note that this support method is not suitable for vigorous, heavy vines such as pole beans.
Rhubarb-leaf protectors for seedlings. Vegetable seedlings are vulnerable plants. With only a pair or two of true leaves, it doesn't take much for an insect attack or a bout of dryness to do them in. For reasons that have never been scientifically explored, a rhubarb-leaf mulch seems to repel insects, while at the same time shading the ground around the seedling and keeping it moist until it becomes established. Perhaps it's all the oxalic acid in the rhubarb leaf that acts as a repellent, but this method works wonderfully to protect squash seedlings from being marauded by flea beetles. And it couldn't be easier. When you harvest your rhubarb, save the leaves that you would usually throw on your compost. Cut a slit from the stem end up along the central vein to a point in the middle of the leaf. Slide this slit around the seedling's stem with the rhubarb leaf face down, until the seedling is in the middle of the leaf. The rhubarb leaf protector will have decomposed after two or three weeks, just long enough to get your seedlings off to a good start.
Artemisia prunings as insect-repellent mulch. I have a big plant of wormwood
(Artemisia absinthianum) in my
potager. I planted it originally because I liked the look of its feathery silver foliage. Trouble was, this turned out to be a plant that was just a bit too pleased to be in my garden. It quickly grew 5 feet high and wide, and disseminated seedlings everywhere. So I've taken to cutting it back drastically in late May to limit both its size and its blooming. Lately, I hit upon the idea of using the voluminous prunings as a mulch next to insect-vulnerable seedlings. I simply lay the branches in a thin layer along either side of the row of seedlings. The strong smell of the wormwood does an excellent job of masking the enticing (to insects) aroma of the seedlings. I've had distinctly less flea beetle damage on squash seedlings this way as well. After all, who's ever seen a bug chewing on a wormwood plant?
Easy organic potassium fertilizer. Potassium is an element not that easy to come by in commercial organic fertilizers. The main organic source of K is greensand, which is almost never available at your garden center, and is heavy to order and have shipped. If you have a wood stove or fireplace, you can prepare an excellent potassium-rich liquid fertilizer with minimal effort. Mix about 2 pounds of wood ash into a bucket containing 2.5 gallons of water. Stir vigorously, leave to infuse for half an hour, then stir again. Leave the mixture to settle thoroughly. Then skim off the floating debris and either decant the liquid from the solids at the bottom, or filter through a strainer or cloth. This liquid will contain about 10 grams of potassium per quart (although actual concentrations can vary). It can be stored indefinitely in a plastic jug. Use it undiluted at the rate of 1 quart per square yard to fertilize vegetables and flowers.
