Vinegar & the Garden

Preppers need to stock items that have multiple uses.  It only makes sense.  I don't know of anything as versitle in our stockpile as vinegar.  Do you use vinegar to its fullest potential? Vinegar kills the flu virus and seasons salads... did you know you can use vinegar in Cleaning, Gardening, Health, Laundry, Kitchen, Pet Care, and Car Care? We'll look at each over the next couple of days, today let's look at it's value in the GARDEN...White distilled vinegar provides many safe and natural ways to protect and enhance the garden.

1. Kill weeds and grass growing in unwanted places by pouring full-strength white distilled vinegar on them. This works especially well in crevices and cracks of walkways and driveways.
2. Give acid-loving plants like azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas and gardenias a little help by watering them with a white distilled vinegar solution now and again. A cup of white distilled vinegar to a gallon of tap water is a good mixture.
3. Stop ants from congregating by pouring white distilled vinegar on the area.
4. Discourage cats from getting into the kids’ sandbox with white distilled vinegar.
5. Preserve cut flowers and liven droopy ones by adding 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar to a quart of water in a vase.
6. Get rid of the water line in a flower vase by filling it with a solution of half water and half white distilled vinegar, or by soaking a paper towel in white distilled vinegar and stuffing it into the vase so that it is in contact with the water line.
7. Clean out stains and white mineral crusts in clay, glazed and plastic pots by soaking them for an hour or longer in a sink filled with a solution of half water and half white distilled vinegar.
8. Remove crusty rim deposits on house planters or attached saucers by soaking them for several hours in an inch of full-strength white distilled vinegar.
9. Clean a birdbath by scrubbing it often with undiluted white distilled vinegar. Rinse well.
10. Get rid of rust on spigots, tools, screws or bolts by soaking the items overnight or for several days in undiluted white distilled vinegar.
11. Neutralize garden lime by adding white distilled vinegar to the area.
12. Avoid skin problems after working in the garden by rinsing your hands in white distilled vinegar.
13. Increase the acidity of soil by adding white distilled vinegar to your watering can.
14. Eliminate anthills by pouring in white distilled vinegar.
15. Cure a cement pond before adding fish and plants by adding one gallon of white distilled vinegar to every 200 gallons of water. Let sit three days. Empty and rinse thoroughly.
16. Sanitize outdoor furniture and picnic tables with a cloth soaked in white distilled vinegar.
17. Kill slugs by spraying them with a mixture of 1 part water and 1 part white distilled vinegar.
18. To catch moths use a mixture of 2 parts white distilled vinegar and 1 part molasses. Place mixture in tin can and hang in a tree.
19. Keep rabbits from eating your plants. Put cotton balls soaked in white distilled vinegar in a 35mm film container. Poke a hole in the top and place in the garden.
20. Remove berry stains on your hands by rubbing them with white distilled vinegar.
21. Clean plastic patio furniture with a solution of 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar to 1 gallon of water.
22. Wash fresh vegetables with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar in 1 ½ quarts of water.
23. When cleaning an outdoor fountain, soak the pump in white distilled vinegar to remove any mineral deposits.
24. Clean a hummingbird feeder with white distilled vinegar—soap or detergent can leave behind harmful residue.

 Tomorrow we'll look at the benefits of using vinegar in the laundry