Garden Folklore

Who remembers their grandmothers telling old wives tales about gardening tips? Many modern day gardeners have a desire for more environmentally friendly means of controlling garden nuisances. Garden folklore has been passed on through many generations. While not all these folklore remedies are scientifically based, we hope this article provides some useful and entertaining remedies to try.

Bambi may be cute and cuddly to a five-year-old, but deer can become a nuisance to gardeners. Gardeners can deter deer by hanging a bar of soap from a tree or by spreading human hair or even animal urine around an area. Bobcat, fox, and coyote urines are commercially sold as deer deterrents in the Columbia area.

And who doesn’t have problems with moles? Moles and gophers hate vibrations, so try placing a pinwheel into the newly turned earth or partly burying a half filled bottle into the ground. These will make irritating noises for unwanted pests.

For those of you who have rascally rabbits, your best defense would probably be to build a fence. A strong wire-mesh fence that is buried 12-18 inches into the ground will keep out not only Peter Cottontail, but raccoons as well.

If your garden is being pecked to death by birds, dress a figure in red clothing, and it may keep the birds away. For extra help, hang aluminum foil, small plastic flower pots, or metal wind chimes from the head and limbs of your figure, creating movement and noise to scare away the birds.

Gardeners, however, may want to attract hummingbirds to their gardens. These tiny birds consume more than half their weight in food each day and are efficient pollinators and pest predators. Hummingbirds are attracted to flowers by the color, especially red, and the nectar. Hummingbird feeders should be filled only with sugar water, not honey, because it can develop a fungus and be fatal to the birds.

Who hasn’t been bitten by a mosquito? Some say that garlic wards off mosquitoes. But, what is worse: smelling like garlic or being mosquito bait? That could be a tough decision.

For the garden that has an infestation of slugs, try beer! Place a half full jar of beer into the ground, and the slugs will be drawn in. But, remember to place a stick into the jar as an escape route for other insects that happen to fall in.

How many of you were told that toads give you warts? This is not true; toads don’t even have warts. The bumps on a toad’s back look like warts, but they contain poison that irritates the mouth of predators that try to eat them, including dogs. This poison can also cause convulsions in humans, so it is best to always wash your hands after handling toads.

As for potting plants, kitty litter has been suggested as a substitute for vermiculite and perilite, but kitty litter has a highly absorbent clay base which will compact the soil instead of aerating it.

Once plants are potted, watering is key. Houseplants and greenhouse plants do not do well with cold water. The water should be at least room temperature. The cold water can shock the plant’s system causing root damage and whiting and scarring of leaves. Does it matter where (top or bottom) a plant is watered? Most plants can be watered from the top, but some plants rot when they get wet. For example, African violet leaves may stain and scorch when water is splashed on them. So, immerse your African violets in water, but never leave them in water for more than 15 minutes.

Who gets hay fever? According to a traditional gypsy remedy, fresh mint should be picked everyday and placed in a muslin bag. You should sleep with the bag by your pillow. Supposedly, in two to three weeks, your symptoms should disappear.

How many of you have a gazing ball in your yard somewhere? Did you know that you are warding off witches by having a gazing ball? Back in the 17th Century in England, gazing balls were used to preserve plants from the wicked witches who would come to steal the garden’s prime plants. The shiny balls attracted witches, but once the witches saw their ugly reflections, they fled!!

Roses are red, violets are blue, they like banana peels, how about you? That’s right; those slippery banana peels make excellent fertilizer for roses. The peels need to be cut into small pieces and buried several inches deep around the rose bush. The peel is high in potassium and potash. Don’t give your roses too much of a good thing; don’t put more than three peels beneath a bush.

Last but not least, the Missouri flower is the hawthorn, but it is thought to be a cursed tree that brings bad luck. Even though the Missouri legislature named the hawthorn the state flower, many people in the Ozarks won’t touch it because of its potential to incur bad luck.

Two entertaining books we used for this article are Garden Folklore That Works by Charlie Ryrie and Old-Fashioned Garden Wisdom by Larry Maxcy.

Mary Kroening, Missouri Master Gardener Coordinator and UMC Horticulturalist, (573) 882-9633