Comment

Comment by Chief Walks on July 29, 2019 at 7:24am

Comment by Chief Walks on July 20, 2019 at 4:25pm

HOMEMADE ANT KILLER

Suffering from an ant problem in your garden? This homemade ant killer is as effective as it is 100% safe and natural! No need for chemicals or expensive treatments, this homemade ant killer recipe is super cheap and it actually works!

Kill the ants once and for all using borax and sugar! Yep, you heard right, a simple combination of borax, sugar, and water will exterminate ants and other small insects that may have taken up residence in or around your home. Ant colonies will completely disappear after just one application. But how exactly does this borax ant killer work?

It’s pretty simple actually? The mixture is borax and sugar, and so naturally, ants are attracted to the sugar. Worker ants will quickly find the sugary substance and carry it back to the rest of the colony. The ant queen will then ingest the sweet (but poisonous) mixture and she will die, as will the rest of the colony.

This is an easy and inexpensive way to control ants and also prevent them from popping up in your home. This DIY ant killer will also work on bigger ants, such as carpenter ants.

YOU’LL NEED:
1 cup of warm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp Borax
DIRECTIONS:
Mix the borax, sugar, and water together until well dissolved.

Comment by Chris Durbin on July 16, 2019 at 3:19pm

Taking the gas out of pinto beans.

Comment by Chief Walks on July 16, 2019 at 6:53am

Freezing eggs is an excellent way to store them for later.

Here's how to freeze eggs so you can store all those fresh eggs for winter use:

Break two new-laid eggs into a small bowl. Using a clean knife stir the eggs to roughly mix yolk and white — do not beat.

Lightly oil a Pyrex custard cup. Pour in the eggs and freeze. Do as many eggs as you have and want to put up. When frozen solid, tip eggs into a freezer bag, fitting in as many as possible. Zip tight and freeze. You can add frozen eggs until the bag is full.

Two eggs seem to be the most useful amount for baking and to eat. They are thawed in the refrigerator, covered, beaten into milk, etc. and used just like fresh eggs, to scramble, make omelets, cakes and so forth

Comment by Chief Walks on July 12, 2019 at 9:51am

A cold frame can extend your growing period by two to three weeks at each end of the season. Cold frames can be made from old storm windows, spare panes of glass, or other recycled materials.

Building a Cold Frame

A few years ago, I was given five wood-framed storm windows, each 30" wide, and decided that they would make a great cold frame for my garden. As the growing beds were already 4 feet wide and the windows were 5 feet long, the cold frame’s back height of 3 feet was simple to calculate (3-4-5 triangle). I built two triangular ends and a rear section and screwed the three parts together easily, after which the storm windows were simply set in place.

Tools:
• Handsaw or rotary saw
• Screwdriver or hammer
• Tape measure

Materials:
• Two 4-inch x 4inch x 4-foot pressure-treated posts for the back corners

For the ends:

• Two 2-inch x 4-inch x 3-foot boards
• Two 2-inch x 4-inch x 28-inch boards
• Two 2-inch x 4-inch x 22-inch boards (Tops will be trimmed to suit the slope of the triangle.)
• One 2-inch x 4-inch x 4-foot board for the base
• One 2-inch x 4-inch x 5-foot board for the hypotenuse
• Scrap barn board or siding to cover the ends, or one 1/2-inch x 3-foot x 4-foot marine-grade plywood sheet, cut in half along the diagonal

For the back:

• Two 2-inch x 4-inch x 12-foot boards for top and bottom rails
• Six to ten 2-inch x 4-inch x 3-foot boards for the supports for the top and bottom rails. (Spacing the supports 24 inches apart requires six supports, and spacing them 16 inches apart requires ten support posts.)
• Scrap barn board or siding to cover the sides, or one 1/2-inch x 3-foot x 12-foot marine-grade plywood sheet
• Five 30-inch x 5-foot wood-framed storm windows

Fasteners:

• Either 16P nails or 3-inch galvanized or ceramic-coated exterior screws for the main framing
• 1-1/2-inch 6P or 8P galvanized exterior nails for installing the plywood.

Time:
I built my cold frame in about 8 hours but your actual time will depend on the type of windows or glazing that you use.

Method:
1. Sink the 4-foot posts 1 foot deep into the ground at the two back corners of the bed.

2. Build the rear frame. Lay the top and bottom rails out on a flat surface and screw or nail the support posts in place at 16-inch or 24-inch intervals along the rails.

3. Build the end triangle frames. Make sure the tallest post is the same height as the rear section (nominally 3 feet) with the triangular section tapering to nothing at the front. Space the supports and cut them to suit the end angle before nailing or screwing them in place.

4. Erect the ends and rear sections and nail or screw into place.

5. Clad the frame with siding. Size your siding to extend below the side of the frame in order to cover the air gap between the sections and the raised bed.

6. Set the windows in place. They do not need to be hinged, but you can install two 3-inch hinges at the top of each window to ensure the windows stay in place. A simple stick pushed into the ground in front of the frame will serve to keep the frame open.

Comment by Chief Walks on June 30, 2019 at 7:27am

Hollyhocks are the showstoppers of the flower garden. These towering plants can grow to nine feet (2.7 m.) tall and produce stunning large blooms. To make the most of these gorgeous flowers, know how best to care for them. Do hollyhocks need to be deadheaded? Yes, if you want to keep them looking great and blooming for as long as possible.

Should You Deadhead Hollyhocks?
Deadheading hollyhock plants isn’t necessary, but it is a good idea. It can help keep the blooms going longer throughout the season and also keeps your plants looking nicer and tidier. Think of deadheading this plant as a way of pruning to coax it into producing flowers right up to the fall and even the first frost. It’s also a good idea to remove dead and damaged leaves, too, for a better overall look and a healthier plant.

Keep in mind, too, that deadheading will prevent or minimize reseeding. Hollyhock is a biennial in most growing zones, but if you let the seed pods develop and drop, they will regrow from year to year. You can deadhead to prevent this, to collect and save the seeds, or to manage how and to what extent the plants reseed and spread.

How and When to Deadhead Hollyhocks
Removing spent hollyhock blooms is pretty simple: just pinch or clip off those that have faded and finished flowering, before the seed pod forms. You can do this throughout the growing season. Pinch off spent blooms and dead leaves regularly to promote more growth and flowers.

Toward the end of the growing season, when most of the blooms are finished, you can cut down the main stems of your hollyhocks. If you want the plant to continue coming back year after year, you can leave some seed pods on the stalk. These will develop, drop and contribute to more growth in the coming years.

Hollyhock flower removal is not something you have to do to grow this plant, but it does benefit blooming by forcing energy and nutrients into flower production rather than seed production. Keep deadheading to promote flowering and to keep your plants tidy and healthy.

Comment by Chief Walks on June 26, 2019 at 9:14am

Comment by Chief Walks on June 12, 2019 at 7:59am

Biting Midge Info: How To Stop No-See-Um Insects

Have you ever had the sensation something is biting you but when you look, nothing is apparent? This may be the result of no-see-ums. What are no-see-ums? They are a variety of biting gnat or midge that is so tiny it can hardly be seen with the naked eye. Keep reading for important biting midge info, including tips on controlling no-see-um pests.

Biting Midge Info

No-see-ums are so small that they can pass through the average door screen. These itty-bitty flies are found almost everywhere. The tiny terrors inflict a shockingly painful bite, especially for their size. They go by various names. In the Northeast they are called “punkies,” in the Southeast “50s,” referring to their habit of showing up in the evening; and in the Southwest, they are called “pinyon gnats.” Up in Canada, they appear as “moose gnats.” No matter what you call them, no-see-ums are nasty and annoying.

There are over 4,000 species of biting midge in 78 genera. They do bite, but don’t transmit any known diseases to humans; however, a few species can be vectors for important animal diseases. The gnats are present in the morning, early evening and when the day is cloudy.

Adult gnats are gray and so small they would fit on the end of a well-sharpened pencil. Females can lay up to 400 eggs in a batch, which hatch in 10 days. There are four instars. Larvae are white and develop into brownish pupae. Both males and females feed on nectar, but it is the female which much take blood in order for her eggs to develop.

How to Stop No-See-Um Flies

Biting midges appear after the first spring rains and seem to breed in seepage areas and canyon washes, although different species prefer different locations. That makes widespread extermination impossible. There are a few steps you can take to minimize contact with the insects, however.

The first thing you can do is replace your door and porch screening. These pests can get through 16 mesh, so use a smaller grade to prevent their entry. Similarly, campers in areas plagued by the insects should use a “biting midge screen.”

Using DEET on clothes and skin can have some repellent effect. Limiting outdoor activities to the times the insects are the least present will help prevent bites too.

Controlling No-See-Um Pests

Since you can’t really get rid of biting midges, avoiding contact with them is the obvious answer. However, in some areas, they carry the disease bluetongue virus to cattle, which is economically damaging. In these ranges, community dikes and draining marshlands can help reduce populations.

Traps are also set, which emit Co2, to attract the insects which are then killed. Aerial spraying of insecticides has been shown not to work. Some success was achieved by stocking smaller bodies of water with carp, catfish, and goldfish. These hungry predators will feed on the bottom of the water, where many types of no-see-um larvae live.

Comment by PITA SIKSIKA WARRIOR on May 31, 2019 at 1:28pm

thank you for the great tips my dear friend and brother

Comment by Chief Walks on May 29, 2019 at 8:10am

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• …
• 38
• Next ›
• Page