8 unusual ways to achieve a great garden

Great gardening takes time, patience and a fair amount of conventional wisdom. But aside from sun, water, weeding and pruning, there are many other, odder, ways to make your garden grow.

1. Human hair is by far one of the best nitrogen sources you can add to your compost heap. About three kilograms (six or seven pounds) of hair contain the same amount yielded by 200 pounds of manure. Check with barbershops to see if they'll give you their swept-up hair.

2. Sprinkle unused, alfalfa-based kitty litter onto your compost pile and toss well. Alfalfa is high in nitrogen — an excellent compost activator.

3. Attract worms to planting beds or other garden areas by digging coffee grounds into the soil. The larger the number of earthworms in your soil, the better the tilth.

4. Turn autumn leaves into compost by storing them over the winter in large black plastic leaf bags.

1. Collect leaves and place in bag.
2. Add a small shovelful of soil and a handful of 10-10-10 fertilizer as an activator. Then direct a stream of water from your garden hose into the bag to saturate the leaves.
3. Store the bag in a sunny place so that it absorbs the heat of the sun. By spring, the leaves will have rotted into rich compost.

5. Speed decomposition of compost contents by pouring on coffee, tea or non-diet cola — they will increase the bacterium population that helps break down both soil and compost.

6. It works! But only when you want to add sulfur to the soil to lower the pH for acid-loving plants. Just tear out the matches from several matchbooks and toss them into the bottom of planting holes for impatiens, hydrangeas, azaleas and gardenias.

7. Hardwood ashes from your fireplace will supply potassium and phosphorous to garden plants. Just make sure not to use wood that has been treated with preservatives or anything else. To fertilize plants, spread a 1.25-centimetre (half-inch) layer of ashes about 7.5 centimetres (three inches) from the stem and dig it into the soil.

8. Fresh manure (also called raw) must be aged so that it won't burn your plants' roots — but only the most committed home gardeners will wait for the six months it takes. If you're one of those gardeners: Water a fresh manure pile, cover it with a tarp so the nutrients won't leach out during a rain and turn the pile with a pitchfork every 10 days or so. To control the odour (especially in the summer), add sawdust, dead leaves or wood chips, forking them evenly into the pile.

These unusual but successful tricks will green your thumb and help your garden grow.