"It Worked for Us": Unintended Uses for Everyday Things
Story & Photos by Neil Soderstrom

Among the most popular pages in gardening magazines are those presenting money-saving and work-saving tips submitted by readers. Most such tips involve clever re-purposings of everyday items. The resulting devices sometimes serve as well as commercial gardening products—or better. My wife and I have tested and photographed the accompanying re-purposings—some of them, our own ideas; others, recommended by friends, as credited. May they help you too.

Better Slug Traps
Commercial slug baits, toxic to slugs, can also be toxic to pets and wildlife. Gardening publications suggest that slugs are attracted to open dishes of beer, said to intoxicate and drown them. However, open dishes hasten evaporation and allow dilution by rain.

My wife and I discovered a trap vessel far better than open dishes. While litter-picking roadside bottles and cans on our daily walks, we discovered that "empty" beer cans are extremely effective slug traps. Like chugalugging fraternity brothers, slugs find beer-can bingeing fatal. Our record roadside catch is 20 deceased slugs shaken from a single "empty." And in our garden, we've found a mere spoonful of beer in each can to be deadly.

Although our roadside testing has been unscientific, it's been revealing. That is, slugs overwhelmingly favor beer cans over bottles, in spite of the sharp edge around the "pop openings." Cheap domestic beers attract more slugs than pricey imports, which is reassuring considering U.S. trade imbalances. And regular beers far out-slug "lite" beers. So far, Budweiser regular is our roadside champ.

Other beverages? Sugar-based soda cans seem of no interest to slugs, which initially led me to think that the smell of alcohol was bringing them in. Further reading suggests that it's really the yeast in beer that attracts them. That is, some researchers have found yeast water an effective lure.

But wait! While litter-picking roadside cans last summer, I shook seven dead slugs from a can of Slimfast Rich Chocolate Royale. Research resumes in spring.

Better than Bungee
Free at bicycle shops, old bike inner tubes can serve various roles normally reserved for bungee cords and rope. First, you can loop inner tubing over a cart handle (as shown below left) to secure a heaped load of brush and tools. Second, bike inner tubes allow quick securing of long items to car roof racks. Third, bike inner tubes can serve better than rigid strapping when staking trees. Note: The International Society of Arboriculture now discourages the staking of newly planted trees except when absolutely necessary because trunk flexing in the wind stimulates root growth and trunk thickening. In this case, bicycle tubes allow a nearly ideal amount of flexing in the wind, while being gentler on tender bark.

Lopper/Pincer
A lopping tool can serve as a pincer and brush carrier when you squeeze its handles over cuttings. This application borrows from that of a hinged nutcracker. Pincing is especially appropriate for viciously barbed rose canes, allowing "ouchless" transfer into carts or onto tarps.

Slate Edging
Slate roofing shingles make attractive and practical garden edging. Inserted into the soil on their sides (ends overlapping), slate prevents grass roots and weeds from entering the bed, while also providing a "cutting board" for your string trimmer. This edging is a favorite at world-famous Innisfree Garden in Millbrook (www.inn isfreegarden.com). Best prices might be negotiated at salvage yards or at a roofing business, perhaps eager to sell slates that may be damaged only on one edge or corner, though still suitable for edging.

Grow Rings
Sometimes sold as "peony hoops," grow rings perform their service about one foot above the soil, preventing the top-heavy perennials from flopping outward. This requires a two-step installation process. As young perennial shoots emerge, you place the grow ring on the soil and allow the shoots to grow through the openings more than one foot. Then, you raise the hoop and support it with three metal legs.

Commercial grow rings in diameters ranging from 14 to 20 inches cost about $10 each. For peonies and other densely stemmed perennials, a grow ring consisting of 15 cents worth of chicken wire can serve just as well. Another advantage of chicken wire is its light weight, which allows the stems themselves to hold the wire up, while it keeps shoots from tipping outward. Emerging foliage quickly hides the chicken wire entirely (it's even hard to see in the close-up below, right); whereas commercial hoops continue to intrude in the picture.

Credits: This chicken-wire tip comes from David and Kasha Furman, owners of Peony Heaven™, Cricket Hill Farm, in Thomaston, Connecticut—a gorgeous, gardenlike peony nursery (www.treepeony.com).

Safer Herbicide
Periodic applications of boiling teapot water kills shallow-rooted weeds in walks and driveways. For your own safety, use a lidded teapot rather than an open pan. For deeper-rooted weeds in brick joints, a sturdy old kitchen knife works well. Herbicide sidelight: Although makers of herbicides suggest their products are safe when applied as directed, the guidance seldom takes into account all variables such as pets and barefoot children walking through treated weeds; foot traffic that brings herbicides indoors; the leaching of toxins into well water; and rain runoff that poisons ponds, streams, and rivers. Besides, each year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bans herbicides it once approved.

Neil Soderstrom is a gardening writer and photographer based in Wingdale, NY, also found at www.agpix.com/soderstrom.