[Dailydrool] Pet-safe fertilizer and bug killers

[Anne Savidge]

   If you do organic gardening, you find out that different plants like different things as fertilizers. Plain ol' compost is great for veggie gardens and most flowering plants, and it can't hurt grass but doesn't do much good unless it is laid down under new sod or seed is planted in it. Manure is often used on grass, but I don't need to tell you what the bassets are likely to do if they smell cow poop all over the lawn. Liquid seaweed is another form of pet-safe fertilizer, but it's for a limited number of plants and not really for lawns. Dry molasses is used for certain types of plants, too, but again, not generally for lawns.

   You might want to find a good book on organic gardening and hang onto it for reference.

   As for bugs, there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING on the entire planet that I hate with a greater passion than roaches---particularly the super-sized ones that people give other names to. Palmetto bug? Waterbug? Forget it. They're roaches, plain and simple.  Here in Texas, they're so big that when you spot one, you're never quite sure whether you should reach for a rolled-up newspaper or a lasso.

   But I digress....The best killer for on-the-spot jobs is a small squirt bottle of water with some liquid dish soap in it. No kidding, it kills quicker than Raid and doesn't hurt anything in your house except the roach or any other hapless insect that gets squirted by accident. Roaches breathe through their skin, and the soap film suffocates them---fast. Be prepared for a lot of skittering and panicked leg-flailing (on the part of the roach, not you) until they succumb. The soapy water doesn't prevent them from running under the couch or hiding and dying out of your sight, but you can often corner them and beat them to death with a rolled-up newspaper while they flip and flail around in the throes of suffocating.

   For preventative, Combat baits work very well. Just keep them where the houndies can't get at them and take a taste of them. If you prefer a more traditional killer, go with boric acid. Again, you can't put it down where the hounds could walk in it or snort it up. Try shaking it in a light application at the back of under-sink cabinets (roaches love those for water access), along walls behind toilets if your dogs can't fit back there, and right at the edge of your foundation if it won't get washed away in the next rain. The boric acid that I bought at my local hardware store is tinted blue so that it is visible against light and dark-colored floors.

Auntie Anne