DO-IT-YOURSELF TWINE DISPENSER
Twine is one of the most essential of gardening
tools. You can use it to keep things together,
apart, upright, and under control. But alas, the
twine itself can be hard to keep in line. Spools
unravel, ends get lost, and hey--snarls happen.
Well here's one of the handiest, cheapest, low-
tech solutions to come down the pike: Put the
roll of twine in a plastic container with a nice,
snug-fitting lid (select a size that accommodates
your roll). Then, punch a hole in the container
lid, feed the loose end of the twine through the
hole, and pop the lid onto the container. Just
pull as much twine out of the hole as you need on
any given occasion and your twine troubles are
over.
FAITHFUL COMPANION
One of the most all-around beneficial vegetables
for your garden is the radish. First, radishes are
extremely easy to grow, especially in cool weather.
You can grow radishes of all kinds practically
anywhere (including in a window box) in nearly any
type of soil, although less acid is better. Second,
they grow like lightening, germinating in three to
seven days and becoming edible in just three or
four weeks. Radishes are members of the cruciferae
family (which means they're good for you), but
they're good for the garden too. They keep the soil
loose and aerated and can attract insect pests away
from later-maturing crops.
BUG-PROOF GLOVES
Have you ever grabbed a pair of your trusty, but
crusty, garden or work gloves and started to put
them on, only to wonder if any of nature's six-
or eight-legged pals might have taken up residence
in the far reaches of the fingers? It's sort of
hard to tell, so a better approach is to prevent
access in the first place. When you take off a
pair of gloves, just stack them, roll them up tight
starting from the open ends, and wrap a rubber band
around the resulting glove-ball a few times. Then,
the next time you need to wear them, you can unroll
them and put them on with a reasonable amount of
confidence that you're not invading a spider condo.
Also another trick is, put them in a gl zip lock
baggy, fold and zip.
USE YOUR HERBS TO KEEP
BUGS OUTTA THE CLOSET
If you're an herb grower with a nice selection of
herbs drying in your doorways, rafters, etc., you
can create a handsome herbal swag that keeps
unwanted insects away from the clothes in your
closet. All you need to do is build a bouquet out
of bug-repelling herbs such as wormwood, yarrow,
pennyroyal, tansy, lavender, and sage. You want
the swag to lie against the wall, so begin with a
large, flat piece, then layer smaller pieces on
top, arranging them so all the layers show. Trim
all the stems evenly at the bottom and wrap a
couple of rubber bands around them to hold them
together. Finish by winding some ribbon around
the bottom to conceal the rubber bands. Add a bow,
if you want, then hang the finished product in
your closet.
