Yes, cucumber. We’re talking chopped cucumber here, rather than a whole one wielded, lightsabre style, against the creepy-crawlie armies.
So you have a plant covered in holes? Salad vegetable to the rescue! Here’s the deal.
1. Chop a chunk of cucumber into little pieces.
2. Spread the cucumber beneath the leaves of the affected plant.
3. Wait a few days. Rejoice.
Frugal Grandma passed this on a few weeks ago; she credits it with the rehabilitation of her primroses and polyanthus, which were being eaten away by “beasties unseen”. I was about to ditch a half of cucumber in the composter – I hate food waste; sadly the fridge, for reasons best known to itself, decided to freeze (and spoil) half the the contents of the salad drawer – when I remembered this tip and decided to test it out. And… yup! Not sure which bugs it repels, but even in a saggily defrosted state, the cucumber certainly seems to work.
Apparently cucumber peel is also supposed to repel ants, but I’m not sure how that is supposed to work. I get all moody when ants try and come in the house, but I’m not about to create an unbroken force field around the edges of the kitchen floor. I’ll stick to sweet-smelling basil plants.
Image credit: viZZZual.com.
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I’ll have to try that, do you have any tricks to keep rabbits away?
They eat my herb garden every year, then I need to buy the grocery herbs which sadly don’t last long at all. I would get dried herbs, but I’m picky. For now I guess its super cucumber to the rescue!
Matt
@Matt Hmmmmmm, tricky. I’d say “a gun”, but I’m guessing that gunpowder and gore aren’t the answers that you seek.
How big is your herb garden? I’m thinking about getting/bludgeoning my husband into making a raised corner bed for herbs. Something like this:
http://www.greenrewards.co.uk/products/Home+&+Garden/Your+Garden/Gardening+Furniture&Equipment/FSC+Triangular+Raised+Bed+/3584650758
…But a lot higher. I’m thinking thigh-height. (Because I’m too lazy to bend down, rather than because of any Bugs Bunnies.) Maybe something like that would work?
BTW raised bed are great for all sorts of reasons but be aware that you are then growing things above the normal water table in your garden – at or below soil level – so you will need to water the beds more.
Is this a good idea if you are on a water meter?
Clearly better to use a water butt but it’ll run dry quickly in the sumer.
@Tom R – that’s a good point, Tom. Thanks.
- Miss T.