5 Frugal & Natural Garden Tips
I choose to not use chemicals in my garden if at all possible.
There are many natural (and free) ways to deal with your garden’s problems. In fact, you probably have many of the ingredients I’m about to mention in your home right now.
Below are five natural sources you can use as gardening aids.
Cinnamon:
Take advantage of cinnamon fungicide control by making a cinnamon spray for plants.
Mix one tablespoon of cinnamon powder with half a quart of water.
Strain the liquid through a coffee filter and put the liquid into a spray bottle. Spray the stems and leaves of affected plants.
You may also spray the soil in plants that have a mushroom problem.
Deterring Ants:
I also use cinnamon to deter ants, inside or outside. Pour a straight line of cinnamon and ants won’t want to cross it.
If you happen to leave a gap, my experience is that they will go through that small gap. But if the line of cinnamon is solid, they tend to turn around and head in the other direction.
Using Cinnamon As A Rooting Agent:
I like to use cinnamon instead of rooting hormones when rooting new cuttings. It is much cheaper for one thing.
Cinnamon, similar to sulfur, prevents stem cuttings from rotting.
To use as a rooting hormone, pour a spoonful of cinnamon powder on a hard surface.
Next, dampen the ends of your cuttings and then roll them in the cinnamon powder.
The coating of cinnamon will protect the exposed roots from fungi, and help with root growth activity.
Coffee Grounds:
I use coffee grounds to deter snails and slugs around my plants. These pests particularly like to munch on my hostas.
When I lived in Texas, my neighbor would often ask if we could go by Starbucks on our way home from our Meals On Wheels route. They routinely kept bags of coffee grounds for her to use in her garden.
That was the first I’d heard of using coffee grounds in your garden.
Nutrients In Coffee Grounds:
Coffee grounds contain nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and other trace minerals.
By using coffee grounds in your garden, you are helping to fertilize your plants while reducing household waste.
There are plants that do not like acidic soil or high nitrogen levels in the soil. For instance, tomatoes, rosemary, lavender, and asparagus.
So avoid using coffee grounds with these plants.
How To Apply Coffee Grounds To Your Garden:
One method of using coffee grounds in your garden is to make a “tea.”
Add 2 cups of used coffee grounds to a 5-gallon bucket of water. Let the “tea” steep for a few hours or overnight.
Avoid spreading coffee grounds around seeds or seedlings as they may inhibit germination and growth.
Be aware that coffee grounds may not have much effect on pests, but they can be harmful to pets in large enough doses.
Adding Coffee Grounds To Plant Pots:
Coffee grounds sprinkled over the ground around acid-loving plants serve as a mild acid fertilizer for them.
Avoid creating a thick layer. Used (and fresh) grounds can lock together and create a barrier to water penetration and air circulation.
However, many say that it’s best to add coffee grounds to compost first.
You can also create a liquid plant fertilizer with leftover diluted coffee.
Plants that prefer more acidic soil may respond well to a weekly watering with coffee or coffee grounds.
If a plant’s leaves start yellowing or the tips of the leaves are turning brown, it’s a sign that the coffee is adding too much acidity.
Baking Soda:
To prevent fungal disease, mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2-3 drops of liquid soap in 4 and 1/4 cups of water. Spray the solution on the infected plants.
Baking soda helps the plants become less acidic.
Sprinkle a small amount of baking soda on the soil around your tomato plants to lower the acidity levels. The lower the acid level, the sweeter the tomato will taste.
You can also use baking soda in cracks where weeds appear. The baking soda should kill any small weeds.
Baking soda will also help to keep ants, roaches and slugs away from your garden when sprinkled on the soil.
Avoid getting baking soda on plants.
Egg Shells:
Egg shells can provide all the calcium carbonate the soil in your garden needs.
This is good for plant growth because many plants prefer to grow in soil that has low acidity.
Egg shells contain trace elements of phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, and copper as well.
When planting tomato, pepper, cucumber, and other vegetable transplants, add crushed egg shells to your planting holes.
If you can crush the shells into tiny bits, it speeds up the process of getting the nutrients into the soil.
One way to finely crush egg shells is with a coffee grinder.
How To Apply Egg Shells In Your Garden:
Use four to six crushed egg shells for each plant.
When ground down to a near powder form, that works out to about two tablespoons of finely crushed shells per hole.
Epsom Salt:
Epsom salt is a natural mineral that is made from hydrated magnesium sulfate.
If you know your soil is deficient in magnesium, adding Epsom salt to your garden soil can be a good idea. But most soil already has these ingredients.
Magnesium, one of the main elements of Epsom salt, is said to make plants greener.
Treating your plants with Epsom salts may decrease the number of slugs in your garden.
For an Epsom salt supplement to be used in the garden and on houseplants, use two tablespoons of Epsom salt per gallon of water.
Use this to water your plants once each month in between regular watering.
For roses, work in half a cup of Epsom salts around the base of the plant to encourage new growth and flowering.
Frugal Tip Sharing:
If you have any frugal and natural garden tips, please share them in the comment section.
In my experience, a natural garden is a happy garden. Plus it is a safer place for pets and wildlife if you don’t use harmful chemicals.
Gardening has many health benefits.
You Rock Brenda!!! I will use all of these suggestions!!! Great Post!
Hi,
I'm glad to see that someone is carrying on the traditional non-chemical ideas for growing flowers and food in the garden. I started doing it in the '70's when I was starting my family. Most people would rather use the quick chemical way. Glad to see that someone is carrying the torch into the next generation. Thanks for all your lovely posts, I really enjoy reading them.
Sincerely,
Alice G.
There are articles about companion planting that describe how some plants help keep insects from other plants. If you do a search for the phrase companion planting you can come up with charts and articles on the topic. I have no idea if it's really valid or not, but, when I raised a big vegetable garden it was fun to put various herbs and flowers near the veggies they were supposed to help. Made for a pretty garden, anyway!
Thank you Brenda for your tips on Chemical free gardening, I love to do anything that will do no harm. I am telling my husband not to dig out the dandelions as I heard these are food for the bees. I will certainly try your tips on what to do with cinnamon, I noticed some ants on my pathway just this morning.
I use 20% vinegar mixed with a little dish washing soap to kill weeds. Works in a flash.
Great tips, Brenda! I love to compost my kitchen scraps, including my eggshells and coffee grinds. I have two small composters, side by side, one is always active/in use while the other is 'cooking.' I'm going to empty the one that's ready in the next week or so and mulch my rosebushes with it – and the base of the composter collects the 'compost tea' which I will dilute and use to fertilize my gardens.
I'm going to try the eggshell and coffee ground tricks right away. We get lots of snails (is that why the French eat snails? There are so many?)
Bravo to your friend for cutting a deal with Starbucks. Brilliant! Recycling–or is it upcycling?
Thank you for some great tips for the garden. Have a great day.
This is fantastic! We do get lots of snails–way more than in the garden in the U.S. (Maybe that's why the French eat snails: they have tons of them.) I will try the eggshell and coffee grounds tricks. I love that your friend made a deal with Starbucks. That is recycling. Or upcycling!
Great tips.
You have such lovely and healthy plants! Love your patio!