Reader Hints
 
Pantry-Door Organizer

Dear Heloise:

Here is an efficient and space-saving idea I thought your readers could use.

I was running out of room on my pantry shelves and wanted to keep my cleaning products together and easily accessible. I purchased a SEE-THROUGH SHOE HOLDER and hung it on the inside pantry door. I can see all the products at a glance, and there are plenty of pockets for all of them, Sometimes I don't even need to take the bottles out of their place. I just leave them in their pockets and spray onto a dust cloth for a quick cleanup. Now I have lots of extra room on my pantry shelves.

Many thanks to you and your readers for the many helpful hints. I've used them and used them and passed them along for many years.

-- Ellie Tieni, Scottsdale, Arizona

Ellie, that is a fabulous hint and a fun photo of this handy helper bag.

-- Heloise

Colorful Cork-Board Earring Organizer

This is a photo from Ginny Schodield from Springfield, IL. She painted a piece of cork board and hung it on her bedroom wall to help organize her pierced earrings collection. She just pushed the post earrings into the board and for the hooked ones, screwed in eyehooks to hang them on. She keeps the post backs in her drawer.

-- Heloise
 

 

 

Growing Avocado Plants

avocado plant
Evelyn Rogers
Mansfield, Ohio
A while ago we printed directions on how to grow an avocado plant from a pit.
Thanks to all of you who took the time to drop a line and photo!

We picked out a couple of them; here are some interesting comments from readers about growing avocado plants from seeds.

Pauline Warmuth of Monument, Colorado says, "We use the old 'stick the pit in the dirt and forget about it' method. We have 3 trees that are at least 9 years old. They have to be pruned at least twice a year as they want to climb out the roof."

avocado plant
Mary Liinangi
Randolph, New Jersey
Mary H. Liinangi of Randolph, New Jersey says, "Took quite some time to get the avocado bulbs to sprout in the tried and true method of peeling and soaking in a glass of water, suspended with toothpicks. What joy when they sprouted!"

Ruby W. Halbert of East Bernard, Texas says, "I have an avocado tree in my yard which is as tall as our house. I never throw a seed away. Let it lay around until dry, then take say 2 or 3 seeds and plant them directly into the ground. I now have this huge tree, plus two others about half that size. All seeds do not grow but I have enough with the ones that do.

 

 

avocado plant
Rudy Halbert
East Bernard, TX
The Halberts marked the photo to show their Texas-sized avocado tree.
 
They do freeze but we have had warm weather so no problem there. The huge tree froze a couple of times but came back. It must be 12-15 years old."

Elizabeth Richey of Birmingham, Alabama says, "A couple of years ago my dear sister-in-law, Wilma planted a seed for me. I had no idea it would grow so tall. It makes a wonderful conversation piece."

Lynne Stone of Staten Island, New York says, "A few months ago I opened an avocado. Low and behold, the pit was split and about one inch of growth was showing. I simply put the put in a cup of water, then left it. The next day it was about 2-inches. By 2 weeks we had to plant it in soil. Everyone was amazed how this super plant just kept growing."

The Heloise method of getting an avocado pit to sprout is: Wash off the seed and dry with a paper towel. Now, stick toothpicks into three sides of the pit. Place the fat, round end of the seed into container of water.

avocado plant
Sid and Deb Bowers
Sacramento, California
The bottom 1/3 of the pit should be in the water. Set the container in a warm area but not in direct sunlight. You will need to check the container every few days to see if you need to add or change the water. When you start to see roots and the sprout is several inches tall, it can be transplanted into a pot.

-- Heloise