I'm always on the lookout for anything to solve my garden woes, or at least a little something to ease the suffering. Sure, there are no magic bullets, sigh, but a few caring souls sent along these tips:

Making and Cleaning Tags.
We'll soon be marking our flower varieties on tags newly purchased from the Garden Center or re-cycling those from years previous. Ruth Graham put me on to using 'Fantastic', a cleaner that does a good job of erasing scribbles from old tags. Steel wool and a bit of elbow grease may be in order for those more stubborn, or even a toxic chemical (my final resort).

More on Tags
From Higginsville, Eric and Joyce Higgins use pieces of vinyl siding, cut to size and drilled for the wire that will eventually be tied to a stake or cage. The best marker ever, according to Eric, is a pen sold at Sobey's, model # JK-75, fine point. Eric tells me that Ruth Graham, from Dean, suggested that particular pen to Eric and Joyce about 10 years ago.

I recently purchased this pen and it looks like a good pen for marking tubers as well, plus, it's refillable.

Suggested Starting Time
Chester resident, Bill Mercier suggests that starting your tubers no later than May 1st for a June 1st planting produces a more sturdy plant which, while it won't prevent the newly hatched and ravenous earwigs from destroying your new plants, they are hardier. Earwigs, arrgh!

Cutworm Collars
I save our large margarine containers and ice cream tubs. They make great cutworm collars if you cut them about 2 3/4 inches high. Shove them into the ground about an inch or so deep.

Starting Tubers
Mike and Nina Dandurand from Harmony, put us on to using 2 litre milk cartons to start our tubers in when the 'obsession' began 5 years ago. We cut them in half lengthwise , add some damp pro-mix and lay the tubers on top with their labels. Go easy on the water

Basil as a Repellent.
A lady called into the Ken Beatty show (Get Growing/W Network/Saturday-noon) saying that planting globe Basil throughout the garden keeps the animal critters away, like squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. I wonder if that would have worked with Alan Randall's deer that ate his Holly to the ground, just a thought.

Cut Flowers
When cutting dahlia blooms, cut early in the morning and place the stems in a deep container of warm water and place them in a cool dark area for at least four hours. This hardening off process will ensure they last a few days longer. The blooms can then be placed in arrangements or displayed in a vase anywhere in the home.

Please feel free to send along your tips to mackd@eastlink.ca