Attractant Ladybugs and Other Beneficial Insects

5 oz. sugar
1 quart of water
Mix thoroughly, and apply with watering can around plants where aphids are a problem.

Cut Flowers

You can extend the life of cut flowers including roses by adding 2 ounces of Listerine to 1 gallon. Use this to stand them in.
Note: If you recieve purchased flowers, put the stems under water and cut them at an angle while under water. Most florests do this but not all. If air gets into the cut at the bottom of the stem it blocks the capillaries that take up water.

Epsom Salt

Roses
Epsom salts produces more new canes at the bottom of the plant and darker green foliage. Recommendations vary, but generally you can apply 1/2 cup in spring before buds first begin to open and 1/2 cup in fall before leaves drop. You can also apply a foliar spray (1 tbsp per gallon of water per foot of shrub height) after the leaves open in spring and again at flowering.

Tomato and Peppers
Apply 1 tbsp around each transplant, or spray a solution of 1 tbsp per gallon of water at transplanting, first flowering, and fruit set.

Epsom Salt is a natural mineral discovered in the well water of Epsom, England. Epsom salts is hydrated magnesium sulfate (about 10 percent magnesium and 13 percent sulfur). Magnesium is critical for seed germination and the production of chlorophyll, fruit, and nuts. Magnesium helps strengthen cell walls and improves plants' uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
Magnesium tends to be lacking in old, weathered soils with low pH, soils with a pH above 7 and soils high in calcium and potassium also generally have low magnesium levels. Common deficiency signs are yellowing between the veins of the leaves, leaf curling, stunted growth, and lack of sweetness in the fruit.
Dolomitic lime will raise the soil's pH, however it breaks down slowly and the calcium can interfere plants uptake of the magnesium. When used as a foliar spray, Epsom salts can be taken up quickly by plants.

Organic Fertilizer

16 oz. Karo light corn syrup
16 oz. Water
1 tbsp boric acid
2 oz. Seaweed extract
Mix the above and store in refrigerator. Add 4 tbsp mix to 1 gallon of water. Add 1 tbsp of ivory liquid. Spray every 2 weeks, coating leaves and stems.

Damping-off

This condition is caused by several fungi such as Phtophtora and Pythium. These fungi live at the soil line, just where air meets the moist soil surface. When your potting soil is kept continuously moist by overwatering, the fungi attack your seedlings. The telltale symptom is a constricted stem, just at or below the soil surface. Once seedlings are infected, they tend to fall over at the soil line.

Allowing the soil surface to dry out will go a long way in preventing this problem. If, for some reason, your potting mix remains wet for an extended period of time, look to your kitchen cabinet to help prevent the disease. Cinnamon powder is a natural fungicide and has been shown to be particularly effective against damping-off. In addition, Weak chamomile tea (after it has cooled) is another natural fungicide.

Fungus gnats

The easiest way to prevent fungus gnats is to not over water. Potting mixes containing peat seem to be particularly affected by fungus gnats, try sprinkling a ¼" of sand on top of your soil. Adults are attracted to the color yellow. Make your own sticky trap by smearing Vaseline on a yellow surface and hang it up close to where the adults congregate.

Weed Killers

Vinegar
1 part apple or grain vinegar
5-20 parts water
A weak solution (5%) of vinegar and water is as effective at killing many common weeds, especially young weeds. Spray as diluted above or full strength on growth until plants have starved.

Alcohol
Mix 2 tbsp rubbing alcohol with 1 quart of water. Spray on the weeds thoroughly but lightly. This will kills everything, so be careful of where you spray it. For tougher weeds, you may need to increase the amount of alcohol you use.

Willow Water Rooting

To make willow water cut the current year's growth from any Salix species, they should be green and supple. Remove the leaves and cut the branch into one inch pieces, smash them with a hammer or split them in half to expose the pulp. Drop them in a pot of boiling water, remove from heat, cover and let steep. DO NOT BOIL THE WILLOW . After the mixture cools it is ready to use.

Willow Tea

Use for rooting transplants or cuttings. Infuse leaves from a willow tree in water as you would if making an herbal tea for yourself. Once cooled, water the plants that you wish to root with this mixture.

Rooting Roses

To root rose cuttings, soak them overnight in the willow water, make sure you have re-cut the stem ends on the bottom under the willow water and dropping them in. Don't expose them to air, it will block the cells that take water up into the plant. Cuttings should new wood, and with a minimum of 5 leaf joints, and should include the heel - the hump on the main cane from which the stem emerges. Make sure any tool you use to cut with is clean, disinfect it with bleach water. (1 quart of water + 1 Tbsp bleach) Strip to one set of leaves. Dip the cuttings in rooting hormone and place in a well drained bed, about half sand and half good rooting soil, and locate in a shady spot. Firm the soil. Don't over water.

Natures Fertilizer Tea

Gather herbs from the list below and put in a large bucket or barrel and fill with water. Allow to set for at least two weeks. This is best to prepare with the new moon and strain and fertilize around the full moon, although it can be done whenever it is convenient.

Nitrogen	Alfalfa, Clover, Comfrey, Field Beans, Kelp, Licorice Root leaves, Soybeans, Nettles, Vetch
Magnesium	Bladderwrack, Carrot leaves, Coltsfoot, Comfrey, Dandelion, Dulse, Horsetails, Kelp, Meadowsweet, Mistletoe, Mullein, Parsley, Peppermint, Primrose, Skunk Cabbage, Watercress, Willow bark
Potassium	Banana skins, Borage, Braken fern, Carrot leaves, Chamomile, Chickweed, Chicory, Clover, Eyebright, Fennel, Lamb's Quarters, Nettle, Mullein, Oak bark, Orange skins, Parsley, Peppermint, Pigweed, Plantains, Toadflax, Watercress, Yarrow, Yellow Dock
Phosphorous	Barley, Buckwheat, Calamus, Caraway, Chickweed, Clovers, Dandelion, Garlic, German Chamomile, Lamb's Quarters, Lemon Balm, Licorice root leaves, Lupine, Marigold flowers, Meadowsweet, Mustard, Pigweed, Purslane, Savoy, Sorrel, Vetches, Watercress, Yarrow, Yellow Dock
Boron	Beetroot leaves, Cardboard boxes, Gopher Spurge
Copper	Coltsfoot, Dandelion, Nettles, Plantains, Valerian, Yarrow
Manganese	Chickweed, Lamb's Quarters
Sulphur	Cabbage leaves, Coltsfoot, Eyebright, Fennel, Garlic, Meadowsweet, Mullein, Mustard, Nettle, Onions, Plantain, Shepherds Purse, Watercress
Iron	Bladderwrack, Dulse, Iceland Moss, Kelp, Sarsaparilla
Silicon	Borage, Comfrey, Dandelion, Horsetail, Oat Straw, Plantains, Valerian

Resources: Rodale's Chemical-Free Yard and Garden
Rodale's The Encyclopedia of Natural Insect and Disease Control.