The pH levels in your soil can affect the way in which your plants grow. It can make all the difference in the world between healthy and unhealthy plants, which is why it’s important to ensure the pH levels in your soil remain stable. If soil is either too acidic or alkaline, soil doesn’t get the right amount of nutrients and plants won’t become properly fertilized.
Luckily, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to check the pH in your garden’s soil. In fact, all you need is some vinegar and baking soda. Simply pour some of the tangy liquid on the ground and watch for bubbles; if you see them, the soil is alkaline. Alternatively, if you mix baking soda into the soil and it starts bubbling, it’s more acidic.
Orange Peel Seed Starters
Speaking of awesome biodegradable things to plant your seedlings in – citrus peels are another great choice. Slice your oranges, lemons or limes in half, scoop all of the sticky juiciness out completely (to eat, of course,) and rinse them out. Then, grab a nearby kitchen knife and poke a couple of small holes in the bottom of each half.
Once you’ve got your peels ready, set them on (or in) something to catch the water, such as a napkin or paper towel, and fill each with dirt. Then, you’re ready to give your seedlings a new home! One of the best parts about this is that when those babies are ready to go, you can plant the whole thing and the fruit will act as a natural fertilizer, thanks to all of the nutrients in the peels. Talk about a simple, Earth-friendly gardening hack!
Broken Eggshells Keep Critters Away
Instead of tossing out your broken eggshell the next time you eat hardboiled eggs or omelets, why not rinse them off and throw them in the garden, instead? Doing this can help to deter small pests from crawling near enough to eat your plants. Eggshells are completely organic and biodegradable, so you don’t have to worry about harming the environment, like most pesticides do, or cleaning them up in the future.
Use an open container to store all of your eggshells after you eat them, so you can crush tons at once and have a more effective amount. Just make sure you rinse them completely and allow them to fully dry to avoid any unpleasant smells. Eggshells can also make terrific seed starters, when used in halves, rather than small pieces.
Pour Some on the Ground for the Snail Homies
Looking for a natural and effective way to keep pests out of the garden? Next time your plants are plagued by slugs, poor some of your brewskie into a cup and stick it down in your soil near the affected plants. Snails are attracted to the yeast in the bubbly liquid, and they’ll crawl into the cup and drown before they eat your tomatoes.
Place the cup firmly in the soil but be sure to leave a good inch so as to not kill good organisms along with the slimy pests. You don’t want the good insects that eat the peskier pests to accidentally drown. And hey, at least the snails will die happy, right?
Paper Towels to Hydrate Plants
Here’s another trick for all of you city dwellers, or those of you living alone that may need to run out of town for a few days and you don’t have anyone near to help take care of your plants. All you need to pull this hack off is a glass and some paper towels.
Simply fill up as many glasses as necessary with water and twist up some paper towels, sticking one end in the glass of water and the other directly in the soil of your plants. Make sure they’re close enough that the paper towels won’t fall out or miss delivering the water directly to your plants. Fill up the glasses enough that that they will last for a while (at least ¾ of the way).