Recipes for a Healthy Garden

Copper Spray

Organic copper spray can be made from blue copper sulphate (bluestone) and calcium hydroxide (brickie's lime). Both are available at hardware stores. Don't try to substitute agricultural lime, as the mixture won't work. Also, make sure the hydrated lime is from an unopened bag - once it is exposed to air it becomes carbonated and won't neutralise the copper sulphate. The resulting mixture could harm your plants.

Mix 90 gm of blue copper sulphate with 6 litres of water in a non-metallic container - a plastic bucket is fine. In a second bucket, mix 125 gm of brickie's lime with cold water. Mix the two together and stir vigorously, making sure there are no lumps in the mixture. Test by dipping a steel nail into the mixture for about 30 seconds. If the nail comes out coated in a distinctly blue mixture, you need to add more lime.

Seaweed Spray

Seaweed spray is extremely easy to make - all it requires is seaweed gathered on the beach and a bucket of water. Wash the seaweed to remove any excess salt, put it in a bucket of water, cover the bucket and leave it to soak for several days until the water turns pale brown. Use the water with any spray equipment. Simply add more water to the bucket as needed. Once the seaweed loses its effectiveness it can be used as excellent garden mulch.