If you love looking after your garden or spending time outdoors, you probably know already there’s always something to do. Feeding the soil, planting something, getting rid of weeds, you name it, you can always find something that needs attention.
Whether you’re just getting into gardening or you’re an avid greenskeeper, you probably know already there are lots of ideas to enhance your green paradise and stimulate your produce. This being said, let’s see a few secret tips and tricks to improve your garden in no time.
Use Beer to Get Rid of Slugs
No one likes to see crawling slugs all over their garden, especially in wet weather at night. Unfortunately, these slugs tend to feed on plants, especially vegetables and dahlias. If you see slugs around, sooner or later, your leaves will start dying.
Slimy pests love beer, but there’s a catch. They tend to drown themselves in it. Get an old tin, pour some beer into it, and place it close to plants with such issues. You can bury the tin if you’re worried it won’t look good. A jar will also work.
Other than that, you can also use a beer mix to spray your plants. Mix beer and water in equal proportions, and add a spoon of salt and a few spoons of fish emulsion. Shake well to mix, then spray your plants with this mix. Your plants will feel and look better in no time.
It makes no difference what type of beer you use, just get the cheapest option.
Use Coffee Grinds
Unless you drink instant coffee, you can use coffee grounds and leftovers to protect your plants in the garden.
There are quite a few debates out there, but there are just as many tests showing coffee grinds actually work for your plants. They’re rich in nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and potassium, which plants need to thrive.
All in all, just add a bit of water on top of them and drop it around the garden. Don’t get it on your plants but on the soil. Coffee also works well against slugs. Plus, it has anti-fungal properties. Much better than chucking it down the drain!
Night Gardening, an Actual Thing
Again, there are all sorts of myths and legends about gardening at night, but there are tests showing that it actually works. It doesn’t mean you have to start mowing grass in the middle of the night, you’ll look like you’re trying to bury something sinister.
Instead, if you’re thinking of getting some new plants in the garden, plant them in the evening. The same rule applies if you’re tilling the soil underneath.
The idea is more effective against weeds. They need sunlight to sprout. Sure, it’s only a few hours until sunshine, but getting everything set up after sunset will give your plants a better start.
You don’t need to wait until it’s completely dark, just start such operations around sunset or just before.
Don’t Chuck Banana Peels in the Bin
We all know bananas have plenty of useful nutrients, from calcium and magnesium to potassium and sodium. They’re not just useful for people, but also for plants. They tend to decompose pretty fast, so nutrients will be released in no time.
Most nutrients found in bananas are excellent for healthy growth, but also to fight off certain diseases.
To rush the decomposing process, you can also get all the peels into a blender, add a bit of water, and create a nutritive smoothie. This way, nutrients will be released as soon as you pour the “cocktail” over the soil.
Plants that can benefit from this mix include tomatoes and roses, but such nutrients are useful for pretty much anything in your garden.
Seedlings Love Tea
You don’t have to be a genius to realize that tea is quite nutritious. It’s just a mix of plants and their nutritive powers. However, not every tea is suitable for any plant in your garden.
If you have some seedlings, chamomile tea is perfect for them. You might’ve been through such issues before. They start to emerge, and just as you transplant them into your garden, they start going yellow and eventually die. The process is known as dampening off.
Spraying them with chamomile tea in their emerging stage will strengthen them. The tea has anti-fungal capabilities, so it will help them resist in the garden. In other words, you need to continue this treatment after they get into your garden as well.
Save Soda Bottles
You might’ve seen this one before, but you’ve never bothered to do it. As you walk past well-maintained gardens, you’ve probably seen large bottles of soda placed above small plants. Basically, you need some of those large soda bottles, usually two liters.
Cut the top side off, the side with the cap. Remove the cap to allow some air inside, and cover your seedlings after you transplant them. You’ll practically create some tiny greenhouses for your young plants.
In the wintertime, you can use the bottom of such bottles to give your plants some protection.
Soda bottles can be used for other purposes too. For instance, you can poke a few holes in the side, then bury a bottle close to plants with deep roots, such as tomatoes. Fill the water with a bottle and leave it there. The water will slowly leak into the soil through those tiny holes. One or two holes are enough.
This option is great if you’ve got too many things to do and gardening isn’t a priority.
Keep Snails Out With Real Money
Struggling with pests? Snails? Slugs? No problem! This solution may cost you a bit of money, literally, but it won’t be a fortune. Many professional gardeners use classic copper coins to keep pests away. Obviously, based on where you live, you may struggle to find copper coins.
Normally, what you have to do implies gluing a couple of coins together and placing them around the top edges of the raised beds. The coins should touch each other or, even better, overlap each other. It’s almost like creating a necklace of coins for your plants.
Copper is an excellent snail repellent and won’t negatively affect your plants.
Boiling Eggs? Save the Water
If you love boiled eggs, make sure you keep the water. Now, different plants have different nutrient needs. Some plants require plenty of potassium. Some others need calcium before anything else. Either way, calcium is an excellent nutrient that pretty much every plant will benefit from.
If you like your eggs boiled, save the water, don’t throw it down the drain. Let it cool down until it reaches room temperature. Take it out and pour it around the garden. It’s rich in calcium coming from the shells, which goes straight into your plants through the soil.
The added calcium will benefit most types of plants, so you can’t go wrong with it.
Rust Is an Issue
Tools do rust with time, no matter how careful you are when storing them away. The problem is more common in coastal homes, as well as areas with plenty of rainfall. No matter how well-insulated a shed or a porch is, they’ll still rust over time.
Getting that rust into the soil isn’t a good thing. Plus, it’s an ongoing expense because you’ll need to invest in new tools every now and then. The good news is you can prevent this issue by storing tools in an unusual manner. Sand!
Exactly! Get classic sand into a bucket and put the tools in it. The blades should be facing down, basically, they need to be covered in sand. Obviously, it doesn’t mean you can leave that bucket outdoors, you still have to keep it away from rain and moisture.
Soap Against Dirty Nails
This isn’t necessarily about gardening, but about yourself. We all know what it’s like. Spend a day gardening, and your nails will be dirty. Even if you use gardening gloves, you still risk getting dirt under your nails, which is horrible. Plus, it’s a nightmare to remove it.
To prevent this problem, just slide your nails over a bar of soap. Every crevice will be filled with soap. It sounds uncomfortable, but this technique will prevent dirt from getting in there.
Once you’re done gardening, simply wash your hands. The soap will dissolve and get out of there.
Final words
In the end, exploring these lesser-known gardening hacks will help you transform your outdoor area into a thriving oasis. These tips won’t only simplify your tasks but will improve your overall gardening experience. Always remember, gardening isn’t just about getting to the destination but the journey where every step counts. Just FYI, the images that you see here are for illustration purposes.
