Try These Fall Garden Tips From Our Readers!
It's a good time of year to think about DIY solutions to some common garden issues. Keep squirrels out of your bird feeder, store your seeds, and work more efficiently when clearing the yard of leaves and debris. Check out our readers' best tips to help things run more smoothly in the garden this season.
An easy homemade squirrel baffle
If squirrels are dominating your bird feeders and stealing all of the feed, a squirrel baffle can help keep them away. But instead of heading to the store to buy a baffle, head to the grocery store and grab a takeout cake—specifically one with a large plastic lid that snaps over the cake. Remove the lid and make a hole directly in the center of the top. Next, slide a chain through the hole so that the lid rests above the bird feeder, then hang it up.
The squirrels will struggle to stay on the slippery plastic dome and slide off before they can get to the feeder. Then, head inside and cut yourself a generous slice of cake to enjoy as you watch the birds happily devour their seed. — Tip submitted by Jean Genzemer, PA
Use longer tweezers to remove squash bugs
Picking squash bugs and other pests off your plants can be tricky when they’re hiding deep within the center of a flower. Joyce decided to use a pair of long-handled tweezers, which are usually about twice as long as regular tweezers, to pluck bugs from the center without destroying the flower itself. Dispose of the bugs in a bucket of soapy water to quickly kill them. — Tip submitted by Joyce Ahlman, OH
Upcycle a spice rack for easy seed storage
Leftover prescription bottle containers are great for storing seeds. The sealed lids prevent moisture and keep seeds from spilling. But the bottles can accumulate quickly if you collect seeds often, and the bottles can be complicated to store.
Ellen discovered that a revolving spice rack simplified this. She can stack the bottles vertically to save space and give the spice rack a gentle spin to search for specific seeds. She uses stick-on labels to record the name, date harvested and where they came from. You could write the name of the plant on the top of the white lids to make the search even easier. — Tip submitted by Ellen Miller, IN
Easily edit your garden design using a whiteboard
Are you always tweaking and editing your garden design as you go because you have to make room for another new plant, or something dies and needs replacing? To help her keep track of the plants in her garden, Jill draws the shapes of her beds on a whiteboard. Next, she makes a key using different shapes or colors to represent her plants, and then she marks each plant’s location in the beds.
It’s so easy to erase and add new elements when needed. She also uses the whiteboard when she’s in the brainstorming stage of a design for a new planting in her yard. Hang the white board in the garden shed, garage or basement—wherever you store your garden supplies—so you can swiftly record changes as they occur. — Tip submitted by Jill Long, NC
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Fall leaf and debris cleanup made simple
Instead of taking multiple trips to the compost pile with a wheelbarrow full of leaves and debris, Susan opted for something out-of-the-norm: an old baby playpen. With tall sides, a lightweight but sturdy frame and two wheels, the playpen can hold significantly more leaves and debris and is easy to move around the yard even when it’s filled. Plus, it can be folded up for storage for the rest of the year. — Tip submitted by Susan Roberts, WA
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