Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Here are some clever shortcuts to make gardening a little easier this year. They’re six simple tips that I found on an amazing Youtube channel called GrowVeg.
If you follow these tips, you'll have a successful garden with less time, less effort, and less money. I typed up the main points below.
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1. Eggshell Pots
Use eggshell halves to start seedlings. Eggshells are completely biodegradable so you can plant the whole thing, eggshell and all with the sprouted seedling emerging from the egg. As the eggshells break down, they add nutrients to the soil. The eggshells are also free after you’ve eaten breakfast of course.
To harvest the eggshell, hard boil some eggs and strike off the top with a knife. After you’ve scooped out the egg from the shell, boil them in water, and let them dry.
Puncture a small hole in the bottom of the shells so they’ll drain. Fill them with potting mix and plant your seeds and you can even use the egg carton to support them. Water them until they sprout. Once sprouted and ready to plant, crush the whole shell gently and plant the sprout in the shell.
2. Make Some Fertilizer
Start with some leftover eggshells and add table scraps like banana skins and coffee grounds and put them into a blender. Add a few cups of water and blend. Add the blended mixture to your watering can and add water to fill it. Pour the fertilizer onto plants in your garden and pots to give them a great fertilizer tea.
3. Stop Losing Plant Labels
If you’re constantly losing your plant labels and the instructions printed on the package, just punch a hole in the bottom of the empty package and put them onto a key ring. You can keep them handy and have a quick reference for everything you planted.
4. Special Care for Tools
Fill a large pot with sand and pour vegetable oil over the sand. Mix the oil into the sand. When you’re done using a tool, insert it into the sand oil mix. The sand will keep the tools shiny and clean and the oil will help to prevent rust.
5. Easy Seedling Cloche
Seedlings can easily succumb to cold weather and frosts in the Spring. An easy way to protect them is with a plastic cloche or cover made from either a gallon plastic milk bottle or a two-liter plastic bottle. Cut off the bottom and remove the cap. Invert the bottle over the seedling until frost danger is past.
6. Kill Off Weeds Naturally
Weeding beds and borders is tiring and using weed killers is not something an organic gardener wants to do. Here’s a natural weed killer that’s easy to make.
Start with a pint of vinegar and add 2 tablespoons of salt. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of dish soap. Stir to combine and put into a spray bottle. Spray onto weeds on a still, sunny day and the weeds will quickly die out.
If you were confused by any of these tips, be sure to watch the video from GrowVeg where he goes into more detail and shows you how it's done.
