5th Annual Authors in Bloom Blog Hop
Welcome to the 5th Annual Authors in Bloom Blog Hop and Facebook Party where you’ll discover amazing gardening tips and fabulous fresh new recipes! AND, you’ll have the opportunity to win a TON of wonderful prizes and giveaways.
Today I’m sharing an interesting gardening tip I discovered via Home Guides. Now, garlic is a great aphid repellent and used a lot when it comes to companion planting–a basic tenet of organic gardening–and planting it near roses will do wonders to keep your bushes healthy and happy by repelling aphids. But did you know that orange peels work to repel aphids, too?
Organic Authority says that placing orange peels around affected plants will deter the pests. Better yet, tear the peels–not all the way through–and attach them to the stems near the infected area using the tear. In a matter of hours, it will be problem solved. Seems orange peels contain d-Limonene, a natural chemical that destroys the waxy coating on aphids (and ants!) causing them to suffocate and die. Sounds harsh, but so is the discovery of a dead rose bush.
Hope that helps! For my giveaway today, I’m offering a collection of adorable cupcake-themed kitchen towels and a colorful DIY Tote-N-Go bag.
You are also eligible to win the grand prize ereader (value $200). To win the grand prize, you MUST visit each and every author/blogger on the hop. Each site will post the links of participating authors but please feel free to reference my site to find the author link list at any point in time. Some authors might offer more than one entry to win, ie. a “follow” on Twitter or a “tweet,” maybe even a visit to their facebook or pinterest page, however only one entry is required to enter.
Don’t want to enter a particular giveaway? No worries. Simply enter grand prize giveaway here, then leave a comment in the author’s comment section of their Authors in Bloom post and you’ll remain eligible to win.
“Giveaway ends April 16th at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Legal Residents (18 years of age or older) of the US only. Prizes cannot be shipped to PO Boxes. Winner will be selected by Rafflecotper.com and be notified by email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that Dianne Venetta, host of the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop, is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. I have represented each sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s). The sponsors, in most cases, are shipping their items to you directly. I will make every effort to assist you in obtaining your prize. If there is an issue with a sponsor, please notify the blog you won a prize from within 30 days for assistance, after that we may be unable to assist you. The product provided for the review was free of charge from the company. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone. I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.” VOID where prohibited by law.
Now get hopping, you have a bunch more chances to win!
Garden tips, Get someone to help with the heavy work. Save your back , use your legs.
I have no tips but could use some on how to keep animals out of your garden
I only know how to keep the birds off my blueberries — string twine over them like resorts do over their pool decks. It works!
Fence
Try spreading dog (or human) hair around the edges of your garden. You need to do this several times throughout the season, especially after heavy rain, but it will keep animals out.
Great tips about the orange peels. Never knew that. I think companion gardening works very well, though. I always use radishes to deter pests from my cucumbers and it seems to do a good job. Plus, the birds like it when I let the radishes go to seed.
It’s been some time since I’ve had a garden. I really miss it, but my health simply doesn’t allow it at this time (but maybe in the future). I love the tip with the orange peels. I wonder if it would work with sugar ants in the house?
Maybe! Worth a try, right?
Cannot wait to start reading your work!! I’m always on the lookout for another author’s books to obsess over lol!
No tips, I have as far from a green thumb as one can have.
acm05atjuno.com
I only know strong herbs such as mint, rosemary, oregano. etc. planted around vegetables help keep insects away. Also epson salt around your garden will kill insects.
Lavender works to repel fleas, too. ;)
Nope, I am totally a brown thumb. I just started to try a little fairy garden to test my thumb again though! I might have to put oranges in it just to be safe!
To deter deer from eating your flowers, plant flowers that they typically do not like such as lupines or marigolds. These still bring great color and texture to your garden and yard and will help offset the deer!
Lots of great tips, although the thought of trying to attach the peel to the stem is daunting to me. (Can you tell I’m not a gardener?)
Talk to your plants, baby them, make sure they get lots of water, plant food and love.
Place crushed egg shells around plants to prevent slugs from devouring the plant.
Thanks for the orange peel tip! If that will get rid of ants and aphids, I will be your slave forever. My tip is for a eco-friendly weed killer. white vinegar and epsom salt—1 gallon vinegar, 2 cups epsom salts, 1/4 cup dishwashing liquid. Spray on weeds as early in the spring as you can, but not anywhere near your treasured plants–this stuff is lethal, but a good rain or watering will wash it away. Looking forward to more posts on this blog tour!
Definitely going to try this tip!
The only tip I know about is using crushed eggshells.
We have 7 dogs so I only grow in containers so they don’t get into anything harmful to them.
No tips as gardening is something I’m not very good at , even though I enjoy it.
I will have to try the orange peels…
I put my coffee grounds around my plants.
Hello Dianne, my husband is the gardener and he has strings going across the top of the fence for when the green beans start growing. Then he attaches a string to the vine and then to the top string across the top. Homemade trellis. I will tell him about your ideas, Thank you
We use the same system to make bean forts out of pole beans! FUN :)
I knew about the garlic, but did not know that orange peels would work also. Thanks for this great giveaway hop and all the tips!!!
Judy Cox
No tips of my own sadly. I really like your orange peel tip though. Saves on throwing stuff away. :)
kissedbymidnight@gmail.com
I like to use coffee mulch for our garden!
Great way to increase acid content in soil – my potatoes LOVE it!!
Sadly, I do not have any gardening tips. I rent and don’t have a garden. Wish I could have one though!
Epsom salt is great for your tomato plants. Cats are great for scaring off rabbits, birds, and squirrels ;)
LOL – Perfect!
No tips but I love reading tips from others.
no tips
I have a fake owl that sits on a post in the garden to try to keep critters out.
Thanks for the tips. I have no tips because I haven’t got a tinge of green on either thumb. Thanks for being part of the Hop.
Carol L
Don’t plant too early, its snowing here so not time for planting yet.
Did you see my spring snowman? http://www.facebook.com/bloominthyme
My tip for a garden would be “See the big picture” one year I planted a bunch of stuff without thinking how they would look full grown…. Needless to say by the end of the season I had a hot mess :)
Love the garlic tip. My hubby is the gardener as I don’t have a green thumb, but I love love flowers.
Marigolds make a great companion plant.
I have no tips, but I like to read all the other tips. Thanks.
To be honest I don’t have any. :(
I do not have any tips for gardening but I will be trying the orange peel tip. Thanks for sharing that.
Great tips. I am not a huge Gardner, hut do love my plants. I love planting annuals and taking care of flowers already there. Live your books and love this Blog Hop.
Don’t feed the squirrels peanuts once you plant your garden because they love to bury their peanuts!
I admit, I am not a very good gardener, but I should try this for the pretty plants on the side of the house. thanks
No garden tips here, the groundhogs eat my tomatoes every years, so my green thumb doesn’t work to well.
I haven’t tried it yet but spraying milk on your cucumber and zucchini plants helps prevent certain diseases.
What a great tip. I am looking forward to trying it. Also a wonderful giveaway. Thank you
I put out vegetable empty cans and put in diet Coke and it attracts e-mails. Next morning snails will be dead and empty the cans.
I live in Arizona so I’ll say this- watch out for rattlesnakes when your out in your garden!
No tips from me, I just let my garden do what it wants.
Forgot to include email: mybeach52 at yahoo dot com
Forgot to leave my email. jeanna_massman@hotmail.com
No tips. I don’t garden.
videoclimber AT yahoo DOT com
My mother always grew beautiful roses and one of the things I learned from her was to plant them with some epsom salts in the base of the hole I dig. It seems to work well; I suppose the magnesium sulfate gives them some necessary nourishment while they are establishing their roots.
Hm. I trying it! I love looking at my roses and the more beautiful they are, the better I feel. :)
My mom always put chopped banana peels in the dirt around her rose bush. I’m not sure what it did, but her rose blossoms were always beautiful.
Wow. She was way ahead of me. I just learned that banana peels do the trick to keep aphids away! AND, they’re an excellent source of potassium which helps a plant’s overall health.
No gardening tips i’m cursed with a black thumb :-(
lissa@rochester.rr.com
I have a garden every summer, and sometimes it yields more than others. This year, we are adding egg shells into our tomato plants’ soil. I’ve been told that it prevents “black bottom”. Ever heard of this? Does it work?
I can attest that adding the egg shells does eliminate the black bottom/end bloom rot issue. We mix the shells into the soil whenever we have eggs and the tomatoes didn’t have any problem this year like we did the year before.
I don’t have any tips, I really can’t do much in the way of gardening anymore. I just admire other peoples gardens. :)
Sadly my only gardening tip is keep my dogs out of it if you try one ;)
LOL – Good tip! I’ve been trying to teach my dog how to walk between the beds and not over them!!
I am not much of a gardener so don’t have any tips. About the only thing I can grow with much success are geraniums. Even when I neglect them they have the will to live.
I sometimes add a lil peroxide to my plants so the roots r airated andh ave room and it kills bad bacteria ooff of them
Good thought!
I’ll have to try that, I usually spray with soapy water, but this would be more long-lasting a solution. I wonder if it would work with lemon peels as well?
Thanks for the tip! We tried grinding garlic in a blender full of water and spraying it on our garden vegetables, with limited success.
I’m sorry I don’t have any secret tips to share. I could use some tips myself! Can’t wait to plant some veggies!
oops…forgot something didn’t I…
sprocket 215 at g mail dot com
I’m sorry I don’t have any secret tips to share. I could use some tips myself! Can’t wait to plant some veggies!
:-)
I leave the gardening to my DIL. She mostly gardens in containers even though we have lots of planter space to put things in the ground. I guess it’s because the dogs trample things in the ground.
I don’t have any tips as I tend to kill a lot of green things around my house. But we are going to attempt to do tomatoes this year!
No gardening tips! I suck at it
forgot my email amybowens34(at)yahoo(dot) com
I’m hoping to pick up some gardening tips, so I’ll stop killing everything I try to grow!
My email is: elizabeth(at)bookattict(dot)com
I don’t have many gardening tips. I’m just starting out. I do try to make sure I have good soil with lots of worms.
:-) Ooh, am I a winner?!
This was such a great hop…I found so many new (to me) blogs of interest!
Congratulations!!