I received a Jerry Baker advertisement in the mail today and it had 
some good garden tips.  I am just going through the ad while typing 
so there is no particular order to this long read.  


Spectacular Flowers:
1 Cup Sugar, 3 Cups Bone Meal & One Cup Epsom salts mixed in an 
old bucket.  Sprinkle a pinch into the bottom of each hole as you are 
planting annuals, perennials or bulbs.

Flowering Shrubs:
If shrubs won't flower, take a flat-backed spade and plunge it into the 
ground in a circle all the way around the bush at the tips of the farthest 
branches.  Afterwards, pour a mixture of 12oz of apple juice and 2 tbsp. 
of Epsom salts per gallon of warm water into the cuts in the soil around 
each bush.

Whiteflies:
Mix 1 cup of sour milk (let it sit out for a 2 days), 2 tbsp of flour and 1 
quart of warm water in an old mixing bowl.  Lightly mist spray your plants.

Squirrels:
Sprinkle a mix of cayenne pepper and 1 Tbsp. of liquid dish soap in 1 quart 
of water around the problem area.

Bugs eating vegetable leaves:
Mix 1 Tbsp. of dry mustard in 1 quart of warm water, then mist spray the 
plants at the first sign or trouble.   The hotter the mustard, the better.

Plant Stress Reliever:
Give your garden several soakings with a mix of 1 Cup Shampoo, 1 Cup 
chewing tobacco juice, 1 Cup Chamomile tea, and 1 Cup antiseptic 
mouthwash per 20 gallons of water to soften the soil, eliminate disease, 
and leave your plants sparkling clean.

Bulb Booster:
2 lbs. Bone meal and 5 lbs. of peat moss per 4 bushels or soil will boost 
your bulbs to unbelievable new heights.

Egg Shell Pots:
Save your egg shells and use them as "pots".  Simply poke a hole in the 
bottom of the shell, fill with soil, and plant your seeds.  Then, when 
transplanting, crack and burying the eggshells.  They'll protect the plants 
and provide much-needed nutrients to your tender young plants.

Cutworms:
Make little collars out of newspaper and wrap them around your baby plants.  
They'll provide iron-clad protection when your plants need it most.

Low light problems for houseplants:
Make an aluminum foil tray and set your plants on it.  The foil reflects the 
light, capturing more of it so that your house plants can bask in a warm, 
sunny glow.

Sickly transplants:
To guarantee a great re-start for transplants, simply add a handful of dry 
oatmeal to the soil mix when replanting.  Oatmeal provides many essential 
nutrients.

Fungus and Disease:
Mix up 1 Cup of antiseptic mouthwash, 1 Cup Chamomile tea, and 1 Cup of 
Murphy's Oil Soap in your 20 gallon hose end sprayer, and hose down 
everything in sight.  Repeat every two weeks.

Bugs and Worms:
To keep bugs, especially worms, off your prized-Perennials, lightly sprinkle a 
mix of black pepper and presifted flour onto and around your plants.

Gophers:
Stick dry ice in gopher tunnels.  They don't much like that.

Bigger Tomatoes and Peppers:
Soak crushed eggshells in water for 24 hours, then use it to water your 
plants.  The calcium in the shells will energize them.

Rabbits:
Wrap bunches of cat hair in old nylon stockings, and hang them in various 
parts of your garden.  Rabbits will think a cat is standing guard and not 
come around.

Nematodes:
Till 3 pounds of sugar per acre of soil in early spring and late fall.

Creeping Charlie:
Apply a mixture of 5 Tbsp. of Borax (household kind) in a gallon of water, 
early in the spring and again in the fall.

Deer:
Puree 2 raw eggs, 2 cups water, 1 to 4 cloves of garlic, and 2 Tbsp. or 
Tabasco Sauce at high speed in a blender.  Allow this tonic to sit, 
covered, for several days.  Then pour or sprinkle the mixture over 
vulnerable plants.

Ouchless Pruning:
Use BBQ tongs to hold thorny branches in place while pruning.

Crabgrass:
Just water deeply as crabgrass grows in shallow-watered lawns.

Bad soil for melons?:
Dig a hole 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep.  In the center, dig a second hole 
that is 1 foot wide by 2 feet deep.  Fill the second hole with compost.  
Then, fill in the larger hole with a mix of two parts sand, one part compost, 
and one part professional mix.  Mound the soil slightly so the center is 
above ground level.