Tips I learned at the High Desert Gardening and Landscaping Conference: Garlic powder sprinkled on top of seedling beds/flats works as an antifungal property and will reduce the risk of damping off. Oak leaves also have an antifungal property.
Boulders are great for landscaping not only because they look so wonderful but also because they collect dew and the moisture drips off the boulders and basically acts as a slow drip irrigator for plants at the base of them.
When building pathways in your landscape, keep them at least 4 feet wide. This allows two people to walk the paths comfortably side by side.
White vinegar is an effective weed killer.
You can grow many desert plants from seed!!! Those which require no special treatment, just plant and grow, are desert willow, yuccas, agaves, pine leaf, milkweed, creosote, and ocotillo.
Tips I learned from my grandmother: Reuse your greeting cards. She tears them in half and uses the front half (with the picture on it) as a postcard.
Take some of your veggie scraps (that you would be composting) and throw them into a freezer zip-lock baggie, freeze, and when you get a couple full make vegetable stock with it.
Recycle the lint from the dryer by lining the bottom of your seed starter trays. It will act as a water wicking system.
Got ants - explode them! She sprinkles grits around ant hills. The ants carry the grits back to the nest and eat. When they drink water the grits expand and-poweee-no more ants!
Grandma would take matches, tear off the cover and plant them 2-4 inches under her peppers. This gave the peppers the added sulfur they liked.
Tips from me: Toilet/paper towel rolls make great seed starters. I cut them into 2-3 inch lengths, write the seed name on the side of it with a waterproof marker, fill it with soil, plant a seed in it, and set them in trays. When it's time to set them out in the garden I push the soil and plant down about 1/2 inch and plant it so the collar of the tube sticks out and works as a cutworm collar. The open bottom allows the roots to spread quickly and establish itself.
When planting native seeds I fill a 1 gallon pot with my soil from the garden, about 3/4 full, and then use sterile potting soil for the next 2-4 inches (this is so the plants don't damp off but the roots can grow in native soil) and then sink the pots outside in my "nursery bed." I find that sinking the pots in the ground reduces watering needed and keeps them from being knocked over in the winds.
I had the composting blues. Getting it hot wasn't the problem but keeping it moist was. So I bought a plastic garbage can, the round kind with handles that snap over the lid works best, and drilled holes all over it (don't forget the bottom). Then I threw all my composting materials into it. Once a week I tip it over on its side and roll it around using my feet. (Only fill it three quarters full so it has room to mix and using a bungee cord helps keep the handles over the lid.) It mixes quite nicely and the enclosed can "sweats" and keeps the pile nice and moist. I can get compost ready in about 4-8 weeks.
I have a garden diary that I cannot live without. Now I don't write in it every day, just stuff I want to keep track of like this year my mesquites started budding on 26 March, first hummingbird sighting was 31 March near the Salvia greggii, various newspaper clippings, and garden plans/drawings. Why I prize it so much is that I tape the plant labels/tags that come with plant purchases in it. I also write down interesting plants that I find in magazines, books, and gardens that I want to purchase later. This makes an excellent reference list when I go shopping and avoids the "do I already have that plant?" syndrome.