Gardening is wonderful but buying items like tools, soil, mulch, gardening gear and hoses can be an expensive enterprise. Fortunately there are a number of ordinary household items that you can use and recycle in these handy gardening tricks.
1. Filling large pots
Filling a large plant pot with soil is not only expensive, it can also make the pot impossible to move from the sheer weight of the soil! The good thing is that you don’t have to fill it up the whole way. Fill the base of the pot with empty plastic coke or milk bottles and place the soil on top – these take up the space but also allow decent drainage. You can also use packing peanuts but before using them for your plants first drop them in water. Many peanuts are now environmentally friendly and will dissolve in liquid.
2. Line pots with coffee filters
Before adding soil to your flowerpots try lining the edges with coffee filters. This helps to keep the soil contained so you lose less of it through drainage and even better, it helps to prevent the mess left on the table from the underside of your pot. Coffee filters are great because they still allow the water to drain without washing out the soil.
3. Irrigate your plants with a plastic milk bottle.
Bury a plastic milk bottle filled with tiny holes alongside new plants. Fill the bottle with water and it will slowly release water into the soil, eliminating the need for a soaker hose. This is particularly advantageous when the plants have grown over time, as the roots will be deeper into the soil and harder to water traditionally. To avoid disturbing the roots of established plants, stabilise a bottle on top of the ground as close as possible and then fill for slow irrigation. Keep the lids so you can seal the bottles over winter.
4. Kitchen leftovers
Next time you boil vegetables for dinner, don’t just pour the water out! The vegetables will have left nutrients in the water that are great for your garden. Allow it to cool and then use the vegetable 'soup' to water your plants.
Had eggs for dinner lately? Egg shells make a great fertiliser as they are rich in calcium carbonate. Crush them up in your kitchen blender and then use them as mulch in your garden.
5. A guide to determining soil acidity
It’s only a guide but you can roughly test the acidity of your garden bed with vinegar and baking soda. Take a sample of your dirt and mix it with distilled water to make a reasonably thick mud. Pour either vinegar or baking soda on the sample. If the vinegar fizzes, it’s alkaline, and if the baking soda bubbles, it’s most likely acidic. If neither creates a reaction your soil is likely neutral.
6. Keep your fingernails clean
A simple trick that can save you a lot of irritation later: run your fingernails across a bar of soap before working in the garden. This seals your nailbed and prevents dirt accumulating underneath. When you have finished just use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be clean without any of that painful scrubbing!
7. Dealing with pests
Do you have any half finished beers after Saturday night drinks? Put a small amount in a container and leave it in your garden overnight. Beer attracts slugs and snails who will then climb into the container and drown.
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