Key Points
Vinegar works as a natural weed killer, ant deterrent, and tool cleaner—just dilute it 1:1 with water first.
Use caution: vinegar can sterilize soil and harm areas you plan to plant or those near water.
Coffee grounds and banana peel water are great garden boosts—just use them in warm, moist soil.
If you’re familiar with gardening you know that the internet has a host of natural solutions for every garden problem you can imagine—but sometimes, these natural solutions don’t actually work. There’s one natural solution we can’t seem to stop hearing about, though, and that’s vinegar.
Because it’s so affordable, and most people already have it in their homes, it’s a no-brainer that vinegar is one of the top recommended things to use around your garden for a variety of reasons—but why are people actually using it? We asked a pro.
Meet the Expert
Angelika Zaber is a lawn care specialist and gardening expert at Online Turf.
Why Use Vinegar in a Garden?
According to Angelika Zaber, a lawn care specialist and garden expert who has used vinegar in her own garden, gardeners typically use vinegar as an herbicide, to deter pests, or even to help clean rust from garden tools. Zaber has personally used vinegar in her garden for all three purposes and has found that it works very well.
If you plan to use vinegar as an herbicide, it’s essential to dilute it with equal parts water—and add a little salt for added effectiveness. The mixture can then be sprayed onto any weeds popping up in your garden and causing them to die over time. It works well since it’s affordable and easy to apply.
“However, I only found this mixture to be safe to use in the areas where you are not planning to grow anything in the future, such as a patio or a driveway, as the salt in the mixture can sterilize the soil over time,” Zaber says.
Zaber has found that vinegar is most effective as an ant deterrent, since vinegar’s strong smell disturbs the bugs’ scent trails.
To use vinegar as a pesticide, simply mix it with water in a 1:1 ratio and spray any ant trails you see around your property. You can also use this method to prevent ants and spiders from getting indoors.
Lastly, Zaber uses vinegar to clean her rusty gardening tools by leaving them to soak in vinegar for a couple of hours and then wiping them off gently; it’s that simple.
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Dilute Your Vinegar
If not diluted, vinegar can sterilise your soil. While this is not a problem for areas like driveways, this could cause damage in other areas that may take months or years to recover. Large quantities of vinegar also shouldn’t be used next to a water source, as it could harm aquatic life or damage plumbing.
2 Other Household Staples to Use Around the Garden
Vinegar isn’t the only household staple that’s actually effective in the garden.
“Coffee grounds and banana peels are other pantry staples that I highly recommend and regularly use in my own garden,” Zaber says.
Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, making them perfect for amending soil. Save your grounds in a jar and then mix them into your topsoil or sprinkle them over your lawn so the nutrients can be absorbed by the ground. This can help improve poor ground conditions that can cause your lawn to look patchy and thin over time.
“However, it is worth noting that organic fertilizers need a higher temperature for the microorganisms to work properly to break down the soil and release nutrients, so they will always work better in the warmer, moist soil, ideally during springtime,” Zaber says.
Another hidden gem that you usually toss right into the garbage? Banana peels. Since banana peels are high in potassium, they’re great for giving your plants extra nutrients.
To use banana peels effectively in the garden, collect your peels in a jar and feel the jar with room temperature water once it’s filled with peels. Allow the jar to rest in a dark spot for a few days before boiling it in a saucepan for about half an hour.
“The idea behind this is that boiling banana peels in the water infuses it with more nutrients than if cold water were used,” Zaber says.
Once your mixture has cooled down, remove the peels and dilute the mixture in water—about five parts water to one part banana peel mixture. The banana water can then be put in a spray bottle and used on your plants every two weeks to give them the nutrients that they need to grow.
Read the original article on The Spruce
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