Vinegar Fridays

TGIVF!

With spring on the horizon, many of us are switching our home decor from winter candles and warm colors to the upcoming season's cheery florals and pastels. Easter brings out painted eggs and potted plants, like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and lilies. With all of that in mind, this week's Vinegar Friday is focusing on what to do with vases, flower pots and such.

Have you ever been ready to arrange some freshly cut flowers only to discover a nasty water line on your favorite vase? Not a problem. Grab the distilled white vinegar and fill the vase half way up with it. Add water to the top and let soak. Dump the solution out in an hour or so and give the vase a quick wipe.

Are your cut daffodils starting to droop? Perk 'em up with a quart of fresh water with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar added to it. Mix it up, pour it in the vase and rearrange the flowers. If you have water left over, pour it in your sink and give the sink a quick shine. Of course, as always, use only distilled white vinegar.

I always love receiving flowering plants for Easter. If you get some acid-loving ones, mix up a gallon of water with a cup of vinegar and give them a good watering from time to time. This is a good idea when nurturing your azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas and rhododendrons, both in pots and out in your spring garden.

If you're planning on doing some transplanting, as you discover your plants have become root bound over the winter, you can easily get the stains and white mineral crusts out of your pots by soaking them for an hour or two in a sink of water and vinegar (a 50/50 solution). This works for clay, glazed or plastic pots.

To get the deposits that form from the rim of planters off the water-catching saucers, soak the saucers in undiluted distilled white vinegar for a few hours.

One more...clean the mold out of your terra cotta pots by soaking them in this solution: 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup chlorine bleach (yeah, I know, it's not environmentally friendly, but mold's a tough one) and a gallon of warm water. After soaking for a few hours, grab a steel wool pad and scrub away.

Happy preparation for spring everyone! And, of course, Happy Vinegar Friday!

Keeping it green,

Hana