Natural Garden Tricks - Worth Trying?

As I scour the blogosphere absorbing the overwhelming amount of information on gardening, I've come across many natural/household gardening tricks that I've been mulling over using in our garden this year.

1. Eggshells

Apparently eggshells can be used for a lot, see this post from Care2.com - pest deterrent (slugs), starting seeds, general composting, and putting in planting holes for tomatoes and peppers to provide extra calcium. I've decided to save some shells for the tomatoes/peppers, but I've also read the eggshells do not provide any immediate calcium benefit - the shells need to break down for that. But hey, why not get that started?

2. Epsom Salt

Pinterest has been blowing up with "use Epsom salt for fertilizer." I investigated a little more and I guess Epsom salt contains magnesium, which can help with yellowing leaves in tomato plants. There is a very thorough, sciencey article about Epsom salt and gardening on the National Gardening Association's site. They recommend testing your soil for magnesium contents before applying and that other minerals in your garden can hinder its absorption (calcium and potassium). I guess I should get around to that soil test....

3. Dawn

I've seen a couple different recipes for using Dawn dish soap as a natural insecticide. This post gives a good low down on how to use soap on your plants. I've seen another recipe that mixes Dawn with Listerine and Cayenne Pepper. I'm not sure what pests we are going to encounter, since I've never gardened here before. So far the only bugs I've really found outside are earwigs (eww), grubs, and centipedes (double eww).

Anyone try one of these before? Or is me spraying plants with Dawn dish soap just crazy talk?

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