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8 DIY Gardening Hacks You Must Know for 2021!

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We’ve put together a useful list of DIY gardening hacks that will make your life a lot easier! The signs of spring are all around us, with brown turning to green and the late winter flowers blooming once more. Now is the time for us gardeners to get out and start preparing for the seasons to come.

1 – Coffee Grounds for Pests

Among the household waste you can use on the garden, coffee grounds are one of the most useful. Put them around the base of seedlings and younger plants and they will ward off pests such as slugs and snails. Next time you empty the coffee pot make sure you do so around your seeds and you’ll be recycling waste as well as helping your plants.

2 – Vinegar for Weeds

The gardeners worst enemy are weeds, and they come in a wide variety of species. Not everyone likes to use chemical weedkillers – indeed, those that are still available don’t do a very good job – so we recommend you use vinegar as an alternative. It should work on most common garden weeds, and all you need to do is pour it so it seeps into the roots. Keep an industrial sized bottle in your shed for regular use!

3 – DIY Fertilizer

We’ve seen many ideas for DIY fertilizers, and all are worth checking out, but one of the most innovative and apparently effective is found at GrowYourYard’s banana peel fertilizer tips. Banana skins are great fertilizer as they contain many nutrients that will help plants grow more vigorously, so while you are collecting all your other kitchen waste follow the great tips at the website and you’ll find you have a usable fertilizer for the coming year. 

4 – Hydrogen Peroxide for Growth

Hydrogen peroxide is for bleaching your hair badly, right? Well, it’s also useful for helping young plants grow. It also protects against root rot and fungal infections. Use it as a 3% mix with water, put it in a sprayer, and every time you dampen those seedlings give them a quick spray with the solution. This is a pro-gardener’s favourite trick that everyone should know!

5 – Honey for Cuttings

We’re big on natural products so what could be more eco-friendly than using honey to encourage cuttings to grow? Honey has known anti-bacterial properties and also includes many ingredients that are known to have nutrients good for aiding and promoting growth. Honey on a cutting end is a great way of encouraging it to sprout, giving you successful cuttings every time. This is a tip we’ve seen many times and one that is worth trying.

6 – DIY Tool Sharpener

This is a multi-purpose DIY idea that is among our favourites. Get a good-sized terracotta pot, one that will hold your hand tools together. Fill it with sharp abrasive sand. Then add a good measure of mineral oil and let it soak through. When your hand tools are not being used simply push them into the sand. They will be held in place by the sand which will sharpen the edges as you thrust them in, and the mineral oil will give them a nice clean while they’re in there! Sounds too good to be true, but trust us, it works!

7 – Smothering Weeds

We can’t have enough ways for dealing with weeds as they are the scourge of even the most carefully kept garden, so here’s another way of keeping them at bay: smother them! By this we mean don’t give them space to grow. Fill your flower borders to the inch with ground cover plants and you’ll take away the spaces in which weeds thrive. It’s a great way of keeping smaller borders weed-free and looking stunning at the same time.

8 – Ladder for Display

So far, we’ve given you maintenance and growing tips, so we’ll finish with one that’s about displaying your beautiful flowers. That old step ladder can be put to great use by standing pots on each step. Try trailing begonias and lobelia and let them simply flow from top to bottom. It’s a wonderful way of giving a garden a cheap and interesting feature and one that you’ll appreciate when you try it.

That’s our eight tips for you to get on with when you start sorting out the garden, and each you can do with items and products you probably have in the kitchen or shed right now! Enjoy your garden this year and remember, gardening is good for you!

Author:

Simon Barker, founder at GrowYourYard.com

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