Do you garden?

Gardens love The Wellness Company! I LOVE using my products when I work in the yard or garden…whether as an insect repellant for my body, ant killer, or insect killer on plants. Here are some of my Healthy Garden Solutions:

Hostas
• Spray Tough & Tender on Hosta plants, especially if bugs are eating holes in them. Bugs will be GONE! Hostas will have no damage from Tough & Tender and stay beautiful the rest of the summer!
• Spray Sol-U-Mel on Hostas to keep bugs from eating holes in them.

Tomatoes
• If aphids attack tomato plants or for an infestation, use diluted Sol-U-Mel (one ounce of Sol-U-Mel per spray bottle) and start spraying. The smell is pleasant, and non-toxic to boot. No worries about getting it all over hands and arms or inhaling toxic fumes and it works quickly. Apply Sol-U-Mel solution a few of days later to the aphids that were missed and…no more problems with aphids!

Roses
• Spray diluted Sol-U-Mel on rose bushes to get rid of aphids.
• Spray Tough & Tender on rose bushes to prevent aphids and black spots on the leaves.
• In Spring, to prevent those hard-to-see thrips and browning blooms a spray with Tough & Tender takes care of them. When the roses are setting their first blooms give them a quick spray. Your roses will be beautiful and healthy and you only need to do this one time in the spring.

Ants
• Ants will appear here and there in the garden. You can use undiluted PreSpot, Sol-U-Mel or Tough & Tender on ants. A bucket of water with a bit of product is usually enough to discourage their presence. If it is a large hill additional spraying directly may be in order.

General Garden Use
• Tough & Tender makes a great fertilizer for tomato plants—used it as directed and the plants will thrive!
• For aphids in the garden, for example broccoli-cabbage crops, use diluted Tough &Tender. It is important to be persistent to follow up and check inside leaves to make sure the aphids are all cleaned up.
• Spray patio chairs in the places that earwigs like to hide, and they never come all summer long.
• Spray the entire garden with diluted Sol-U-Mel to ward off pesky bugs.
• Make a spray with one teaspoon of Lemon Brite, one teaspoon of Sol-U-Mel, garlic, cayenne and vegetable oil to spray for slugs and fungus.
• Spray fruit trees with diluted Lemon Brite dish detergent to protect against bugs.
• While in the garden, spray yourself with diluted Sol-U-Mel to keep away mosquitoes and black flies. It is especially effective when going berry picking in the bush.

People always ask me what my secret is, as all my plants seem to do better after being sprayed with the Sol-U-Mel. I tell everyone that they can wash the floor and pour that water in their garden! Really, they ask me? Yes, I say, these products are safe and your garden will beccome amazing! I am so happy that I have something safe that I can use!

HEALTH BENEFITS OF GARDENING AND PLANTING 

For many of us, gardening means we get to experience the joy of the dirt between our fingers, watching colorful flowers bloom and enjoying the taste of amazing homegrown vegetables!

The benefits go further, because gardening:

  • Promotes Weight Loss — Gardeners tend to weigh 11 to 16 pounds less and are up to 62% less likely to be obese compared to their non-gardening counterparts. In addition to eating more vegetables and fruits, gardeners are also more active.
  • Gives a Boost to the Immune System — Soil is loaded with microorganisms, including beneficial bacteria, which have been shown to help support a robust immune system. A healthy immune system can help fight sickness and infection.
  • Improves Fine Motor Skills — Gardening keeps those hand muscles strong and coordinated to handle fine motor skills is to garden.
  • Improves Self Esteem and Brain Power — Gardening is also good activity for the brain and has been shown to protect brain health. In fact, one study found it decreased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by up to 50%.
  • Relieves Stress and Boosts Mood — The stress-relief benefits of gardening appear to stem from the its unique combination of exposure to sunlight, time in nature, and beautifying the environment.
  • Improves Blood Pressure and Reduces Risk of Heart Disease — One study from Stockholm found that gardening regularly may cut the risk of both heart attack and stroke by up to 27% and death from all causes by up to 30% among those 60 and older.

Gardening is yet another component of an overall healthy lifestyle that has surprising benefits, including increasing life satisfaction. It gets you outside and in touch with nature as you move your body—a perfect recipe for improved mental and physical health.

I know I can’t wait to see my fruits and vegetables, sending up shoots.

Cinnamon for your garden

Cinnamon isn’t just for the kitchen. Here are some great uses for cinnamon in your garden.

  1. Deter ants
    Cinnamon will actually kill ants. The powdery substance will suffocate the bugs when inhaled. The aroma can also make it hard for ants to smell food sources, but it’s nontoxic for kids and pets. Win, win!
  2. Defeat fungus
    When you sprinkle ground cinnamon on soil, it kills fungi. The cinnamon targets surface-level fungi, so you might need to use other solutions in addition to this one. You can use cinnamon to kill wild mushrooms too
  3. Protect seedlings from disease
    The antifungal properties in cinnamon make it a great tool for protecting seedlings from rot and disease, also known as damping off. Keeping moisture at bay is key; dusting the seeds with cinnamon and using a doming tactic can protect the seeds until they grow.
  4. Root and graft plants
    You can make your roses (or other plants) sturdier after cutting and replanting by first dipping them in cinnamon powder, which works like a rooting hormone, a bit. The cinnamon kills off the competition, so to speak, so that your flower can grow better
  5. Heal sick plants
    Try sprinkling cinnamon on a plant wound (from cutting or other damage) to speed up the healing process and protect it from further damage or disease.
  6. Keep mosquitoes away from the garden
    Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon around your plants to keep mosquitoes and other bugs away. They don’t like the strong smell of cinnamon, so you can enjoy your garden (even at night) in peace. Alternatively, you can plant a teabag.

Are you a weekend gardener?

Now that warmer weather is here, I find I spend more time out in my yard and garden. Finding natural and safe products can sometimes be an issue, but I have found some safe and affordable lawn and gardening care alternatives using my everyday household products.

For killing weeds.
I mix 1/4 cup Tough & Tender with 1 gallon vinegar and two cups salt. Apply to trouble spots. For stronger, hardier weeds I add 1/2 Lemon Bright dish soap. The soap is needed to break through the weed’s protective coating.
Here is a “how-to” video: https://youtu.be/tINbAl37hvo

Ridding the lawn of gnats, “no seeums” and mushrooms.
Spray the lawn with a diluted mixture of Tough & Tender in a lawn sprayer unit. It will kill the little gnats as well as mushrooms that grow in your yard. (Tough & Tender is my go-to cleaning product, It’s one thing we are never out of there are so many uses for it!)

Killing “Yard Bugs”.
Mix 1 cup of Lemon Brite dish soap and 1 cup of pre-mixed Breath-Away Mouthwash into a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer and soak your lawn, garden beds and trees to the point that the fluid is running off. Bugs HATE it!

Killing Ants.
Spray concentrated Pre-spot Plus on areas ants congregate (don’t use on wood). For heavier concentrations and black ants, combine 1 ounce of MelaMagic and 1 ounce of Sol-U-Mel in a 16 ounce spray bottle and fill with water.

Armyworm caterpillars.
Mix 1/2 cup of MelaMagic in two gallons of water to spray. Spray cocoon, nest, and any webs you see. This will also help cutdown on succeeding generations as well as with the ant invasion that follows the armyworms.

All purpose home made spray.
A safe and non-toxic bug spray can be made from a combination of ¼ cup of Sol-U-Mel, five drops of T36-C5, 1 teaspoon of Tough & Tender, and 14 ounces of water. Or you can just get the Natural Insect Repellent. (Which we happen to love!)