This is a powerful spray, and will kill beneficials as well as pests(For most, including whitefly,aphids,cabbageworms and squashbugs) , although it doesn't seem to harm ladybugs.
Mince or chop finely, a few cloves of garlic, and soak in a couple of tablespoons veggie oil for a day or two.
Add garlic/oil to a pint of water with a few drops of dish soap in it,
then strain. This is quite a good concentrate you may keep in the fridge-
preferably in a glass jar.
To use, mix a tablespoon of this into a pint of water.
CAUTION: Spray on only a few leaves at first, and wait a couple of days to be sure there is no foliar damage. Once you ascertain the safety of the plants, go ahead and spray the plants well.
Grab a couple of handfuls of tomato leaves from the bottom of your plants.
Chop the leaves into a couple of cups of water, and soak overnight
at room temp. In the morning, simply strain, add a couple more cups water, and spray the ugly little sap-suckers.
You may also attract Trichogramma wasps to your corn with this spray, which will be the best predator I know of for corn earworm. Simply spray the whole plant, and especially the forming ears.
After drying sheets, put both sheets and one pillowcase in the other pillow case. Fold neatly in a square. Next time you change sheets, you just take the one pillow case and all the sheets and pillow case are inside. No need to look for matches. (This one I am all excited about. I HATE searching out pillow cases in my linen closet.)
Clean your glass shower
To clean the glass in your shower easily, apply lemon juice to the
glass with a sponge. Then, take newspaper and wipe the lemon juice off the glass. It will be clean and sparkle with no scrubbing!
Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving. (This can be especially helpful when you find out you have to make 100 cupcakes in a matter of hours.)
Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
Newspaper Weeds-Away
Start putting wet newspapers in your plants, they will work the nutrients in your soil. Put layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic, they will not get through wet newspapers.
Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken pieces of glass - the fibers catch ones you can’t see!
No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
Squirrel Away
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.
Easier thank you’s
When you throw a bridal/baby shower, buy a pack of thank you cards for the guest of honor. During the party, pass out the envelopes and have everyone put their address on one. When the bride/new mother sends the thank you’s, they’re all addressed!
MINE!!!!!
If you purchase a new bike for your child, place their picture inside the handle bar before placing the grips on. If the bike is stolen and later recovered, remove the grip and there is your proof who owns the bike.
Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and — voila — static is gone.
Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
Foggy Windshield
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
Reopening Envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.
Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair…
Good-bye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it “home,” & can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
Take baby powder to the beach
Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When you’re ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin. (As my folks live on the coast, this one might end up as a godsend soon enough!)
Containers: Remove stains that develop in clay flowerpots by filling them with 2/3 cold water and 1/3 vinegar. Let the pots soak until they look clean, then wash with soap and water, and rinse.
Plants: A squirt of vinegar may help invigorate a plant and make it more resistant to disease and pests. Mix 1 ounce vinegar with 1 gallon compost tea, and use as a regular spray on garden plants.
Roses: Mix 3 tablespoons natural apple cider vinegar in 1 gallon water. Fill garden sprayer with the mixture, and spray the roses daily to control black spot or other fungal diseases.
Seedlings: If seedlings begin to mold while starting them in a damp medium, clean them with a solution of 1 part vinegar to 9 parts water, and transfer them to a new container. Spritz seeds regularly with this diluted mixture while awaiting germination.
Start Your Garden Seeds With Vinegar
You can improve the germination of some vegetable seeds such as okra and asparagus, which are woody and often difficult to start, by rubbing them with coarse sandpaper before planting.
Rub seeds between two pieces of sandpaper, then soak seeds overnight in a pint of warm water with 1/2 cup vinegar and a squirt of liquid dish soap. Plant the seeds as normal.
Use this same method without the sandpaper rub for seeds like nasturtium, parsley, beets, and parsnips.
Weeds: Boil 1 quart water, then add 2 tablespoons salt and 5 tablespoons vinegar. While still hot, carefully pour mixture directly onto weeds between the cracks on sidewalks and driveways.
