Holiday Feasts for the Garden

Most folks, like myself, find themselves baking and entertaining during the holiday season. While it's fun to feed our friends and family, it's also a joy to give our garden some ready made snacks (which we'd normally be throwing away).

All those eggshells you are tossing in your compost, green can or trash...well, they are much appreciated by your calcium loving plants. You can add crushed (or even whole) eggshells to your vegetable beds. As the shells break down, they add calcium and nutrients to your soil. An added bonus is that snails, slugs and some cutworms get sliced by the shells on their undersides. Slugs and snails are abundant in this gloomy dank weather, so knocking their numbers down is always a plus!

Left over beer? Yes, it's true, slugs love it! Simply pour the old beer into small cans (like tuna, olive or pesto), set out in the garden, and watch your slimy garden pests get trapped in the yeasty brew. Easy!

Old coffee sitting in the pot? In our house, I feed all our houseplants with a mix of stale coffee and tepid tap water. The minerals in the coffee add some zest to all plants, and as long as its not too strong of a mix, your exterior and interior plants will thank you for it. I also save all the grounds, and toss them atop the soil whenever the mood strikes.

If I've steamed vegetables or spuds, I let the water cool and hydrate the plants with it. Plants under awnings or eaves recieve no rainfall during the wet months, so besides hydrating them, they receive some much appreciated nutrients too!