I have been collecting little gems of wisdom in a book that were taken from various sources over the years.

The book is handy for solutions and ideas to relevant gardening issues that I may not otherwise be able to put my finger on. Here are a few entries which I hope you’ll enjoy:

• Cut back mums and asters by half in late May to early June, when there is about 30 to 35 centimetres of growth.

• To make hydrangeas blue, soak the soil around them with aluminum sulphate, at the rate of .25 ounces to one gallon of water several times, at weekly intervals in the spring and fall.

• Place two to three chalk sticks into the ground near the roots of lime loving plants (for example, Lady slippers) every year or two.

• Coffee grounds contain four per cent nitrogen, one per cent phosphorous and three per cent potassium; once cool, they can be sprinkled around acid loving plants.

• Wood ash has no nitrogen, two per cent phosphorous and six per cent potassium, and is beneficial as an additive to compost, when spread in thin layers.

• Beet stains can be removed from hands by rubbing them with a sliced raw potato under running water.

• Potato bugs can be a thing of the past if the dry, papery outer skins from onions and garlic are saved in a plastic bag in a cool place, until planting time. Line the trenches with the skins before planting the potato sections; for some reason, this keeps the bugs away.

• A remedy for poison ivy is to dab some bleach straight from the bottle onto unbroken skin, let it sit a few minutes and rinse. This neutralizes the chemical from the plant.

• Here's a rhododendron tonic. Mix two tablespoons of Epsom salts and two tablespoons of iron solution (Schultz Iron Green 8-0-0) in a four litre gallon of water. Sprinkle on the leaves and soak the soil along the drip line in the spring, before flowering.

• Here's a fern tonic. Ground up eggshells and tea leaves; calcium from the shells and tannic acid from the leaves give ferns nutrients they need for good growth.

• A cubic yard of topsoil covers a 10 by 12 foot area, to a depth of one to two inches.

• Epsom salts, which contain magnesium sulphate, should be scratched into the soil (.5 cm per plant) around flowering shrubs and roses in spring to promote a strong crown and stimulate buds to sprout from the base of the plant. It can be mixed with water.

• A salad of young, pesticide free dandelion leaves has more vitamin C than tomatoes, more vitamin A than carrots, and as much iron as spinach. A touch of lemon will mellow the bitter taste.

• Turn an unsightly tree stump into a planter by hollowing out the centre and adding drainage holes in the side. If it's too short, cut the bottom out of a half barrel and place it over the stump, add soil and plant.

• Gardeners should make sure they have a tetanus shot or booster when they’re due, as the bacteria can get into wounds from rose thorns, splinters, nails, or animal scratches. It can even be picked up from the soil.

• Moving water releases negative ions that lock on to pollutants and bring them to the ground, producing cleaner air. A waterfall in a backyard will do the same thing.

• Canadian research shows that primitive ancestors heard 25 per cent human voices, five per cent tools and 70 per cent natural sounds. Today, mankind hears 70 per cent machinery, 25 per cent human voices and five per cent natural sound.

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