7 Gardening Myths Debunked: Common Gardening Advice That Isn't Right!

Tips, Tricks

1. Cool thing about the drainage layer. Because of the way the PWT behaves, being dependent on height of the medium and not its size, if you add an inch or two of rocks to the bottom, then scoop out a cylinder in the middle (that will be filled with dirt), you end up with majority of roots above the PWT and you significantly increase the surface area of soil exposed to oxygen (always a good thing).
   
   It's a little bit of extra work, but it alleviates a lot of problems.
   
   You can make heavy soils drain better by just sticking a substantial wick in the bottom of the pot. It will act as part of the medium for PWT purposes and the pot will drain accordingly.
   
   All of this is moot if you use a potting medium with good drainage and/or good capillary action. The "should or shouldn't I use stones because of the PWT" question, imo, is answered with "if you're worried about it, it's really time to upgrade your potting mix."
   
   I need to experiment with the effects of an evenly distributed air-soil relationship (rocks at bottom of pot) vs. localized (no layer). I can't get over the hunch that more accessible oxygen, as well as the soil not having to gulp the water in, has to make a difference. I never added the layer for drainage - I didn't start in horticulture until 2005 and everything was a peat blend by then. Drainage wasn't an issue. Distributed air-soil exposure in mixes average-to-heavy mixes
   though - gotta be something to that.
2. I heard rotating crops prevents disease. Is that true?
3. do u have any idea how to get rid off an ant?since im planting on pot,the ant is going to make their home in that pot.thanks
4. Fucking rights buddy!
   I solved my slug nightmare by feeding them a bumper feast of cucumber off cuts and ocer ripe tomatoes and peppers at dusk every day during the summer months.
   They came on the exact same time every evening... then devoured their favourite foods ...lay around drunk and sated, then slipped away to sleep until the next day..
   My Pots and Troughs never saw a single slug in 3 years...
   
   WORK WITH NATURE. .no truer phrase spoken
5. grt
6. Well done. Yep, egg shells and slugs, sadly had to figure that out the hard way. :(. Copper also didn't work, not even on pots. I tried both strips and a copper mesh I made from a copper pot scrubber. Neither worked. We have some voracious buggies!
7. Hmmm ... thought I had avoided most of the myths. Got sucked into the one about leaving pea/bean root "nitrogen nodules" in my garden and composting only the tops. Never really researched whether this made sense. Thanks for clarifying.
8. excellent clip on garden Myths! I just published a video on different garden myths. I often find some sort of stand of truth is woven intentionally or unintentionally into these types of garden myths.
9. I recently heard that chopping the beans before they flower, and leaving the roots in place is the best way to use them for nitrogen (composting the plant would be good too). If you time it right, you can then transplant something on either side of where the bean was and let the new plants enjoy the undisturbed soil containing all those nitrogen nodes from the bean roots and intact mycorrhiza (beneficial fungi). Im going to try that next season.
10. I don't know if this works with all types of snails or everywhere; I lived in Rio de Janeiro for 4 years, where there was a serious infestation of Achatina fulica, apparently of African origin, spreading potentially fatal diseases to humans and pets, and that had to be collected by hand wearing gloves to avoid contagion. With 5 playful dogs ready to investigate anything that moved, and unwilling to use pesticides for their sakes as well, the vet recommended surrounding my property with a line of coarse, large crystal salt used for barbecues in Brazil, as this type of salt wouldn't wash away as easily as ordinary kitchen salt in the rain. As she explained, the snails would be "melted" by the salt as they travelled over it. It worked, because the snails disappeared and I no longer found dozens of them sliding over the wall every morning. I did have to keep an eye on the continued line of salt around the property every 2 or 3 months, adding more of the large salt crystals to maintain the "barrier," a simple line of salt flat on the ground, not mounded, just enough to ensure there were no gaps.
11. Back in the day when I worked on a worm farm (as a disguised care giver for the aging owner) Mr. Bob would collect empty liquor boxes, cut them up, and shred them for his worm beds. They provided insulation and he swore the worms loved the glue. Whatever, he had great worms! We could throw a fresh fish head, and guts in the worm bed and the next day all traces, including a smell, would be gone. Love those worms.
12. That peppermint gets out of control. Sure it spreads but I don't think it's that bad.
13. I have had several "Professional"/"Expert" Gardeners and Agricultural Experts give the following advice:
    
    1) About putting a "small"/"thin" layer of stones or pebbles in the bottom of pots to help with drainage.  I believe this is for "inside" plants. The Key is a "Small"/"Thin"Layer of stones or pebbles!
    
    2) leave the roots of Peas and Bean Plants in the ground and till the whole plant into the soil after the harvest. Or pull the whole plant out and put into the Compost pile!
    
    So now I am Confused as Ever! SO are ALL the EXPERTS All WRONG?
14. Interesting video. Although in this video you have contradicted the advice that was in the container gardening video about putting broken pots in the bottom of the container. Just thought I'd give you a heads up.
15. Excellent Post!
16. Ha ha - you are on a mission to get them slugs !
17. The best ever 100% guaranteed deterrent for slugs is an electric slug fence. Search it here on YT. We did it last year and will do it again this year. For the first time,  I didn't lose all my crops to the little buggers.
18. Love the tips.  Have used cardboard in the compost and I am of the opinion it works though,  Used toilet rolls as planting pots for beans to which rotted away in the soil.  The beans were not a success and was told it could be the glue used.  Not sure about your Good Friday myth as it is a movable feast and based on moon phases as are most St Days and festivals going way back before Christianity and other faiths.
19. Re using beer for slugs, use cheap beer for slugs, save the Good beer for yourself !!
    Or you can use/make a watery yeast solution from yeast packets, too.
20. Super great tips... thank you!!