Learn about the 30 Most Common Household Things that can make your garden better and gardening much easier.
1. Cardboard and Newspapers
Must you have cardboards and newspapers? Do you know you can use them in your garden? From putting them into the compost to suppressing weeds or this DIY newspaper seed starter, there are many ways. Find out more cardboard uses here!
2. Wine Bottles
From creating a water fountain to a bird feeder to self-watering pots, there are not just 3 or 4 uses; your old wine bottles can be used to complete these 26 DIY projects listed here.
3. Pennies
Have pennies? Use them to control tomato blight. Also, drop a penny into the vase as it’s made of copper, which is a known fungicide (especially the older one, made before 1982) and helps in keeping your cut flowers fresh, or you can create a penny birdhouse!
4. Aspirin
Have aspirin tablets? Use them in your garden–fight fungal diseases, propagate plants from cuttings successfully and quickly, and improve the productivity of your fruit trees. Check out the science behind these claims in this article.
5. Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil is a common household item and an essential part of the kitchen, but it’s also effective in the garden. As birds are scared of shiny, noisy things–tie a few strips of aluminum foil from the branches of the tree to save your fruit-bearing trees.
Homemade Funnel: The fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides are a pricey investment. Save them from wastage by making a homemade aluminum foil funnel. Check out many other DIY uses here!
6. Spices
Certain spices are really useful in the garden, like cinnamon. It can protect plants from fungal diseases, help you deter ants, and propagate cuttings.
Turmeric has antiseptic properties, and it can be used as a pesticide to deter ants. Its ability to heal wounds is also well-known. Get more information on Turmeric uses in the garden here. Similarly, you can use black pepper and hot pepper.
7. Used Coffee and Tea
Whether you love coffee or tea, both can be reused in the garden. Used tea bags, tea leaves, and used coffee grounds are the perfect solutions for many of your problems in the yard.
Both improve soil texture, add nitrogen, and also provide phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper. Here’re amazing used coffee grounds and tea bags uses to find out.
8. Eggshells
Eggshells are so useful, not just in the compost pile; there are other ways. Create an eggshell tea. Learn the recipe here, which works, proven in research. Use them as seed pots or sprinkle finely crushed eggshells around your plants. Find 8 Eggshell uses here!
9. Plastic Bottles
Plastic bottles can be recycled into vertical planters and pots to grow shallow roots plants. You can make self-watering containers or a mosquito trap as well. Doing other crafts is also possible, for example, this DIY soda bottle hedgehog planter here!
10. Burlap Sacks
Burlap sacks are dirt cheap and come under easily available items at homes. They’re amazingly useful in the garden.
Growing potatoes in burlap bags is popular, but you can use them to protect your plants in winter. Not only this, control weeds and create DIY crafts. Find out 15 practical burlap sack uses here!
11. Plastic Bags
Do you know plastic bags can be recycled and reused in the garden? From growing plants to creating pom-pom lights, there are many ideas.
You can also create self-watering plastic bag containers, tutorial here. Here’re 11 DIY Uses of plastic bags to follow.
12. Vinegar
Vinegar must be one of the most common ingredients in your kitchen, but it can also do wonders in the garden. Use it to clean the clay pots.
Remove weeds from crevices and other hard-to-reach areas or kill slugs and snails; there are countless uses. Find them out here!
13. Old Chairs
Old chairs can add a whimsical touch to your garden if you create chair planters out of them. Also, there are many other DIY ideas like creating a potting shelf, chair shelves, plant stand, etc.
14. Banana Peels
Eat bananas, then save the peels as they’re a rich source of potassium and phosphorus. Send them into the compost bin or make a compost tea to feed your flowering annuals. As banana peels decompose quickly, they can be a suitable soil amendment substance. To learn, see 14 Banana Peels Uses here!
15. Spoons and Forks
Spoons and forks are abundantly available at any home. You can use them to complete many DIY garden projects. To name a few–garden markers, hangers, sculptures. Here’re the ten DIY Spoon Craft Ideas to follow.
16. Kitchen Utensils
Kitchen utensils like ricers, pots, scoops, pot lids, muffin tins, colanders, bowls, cheese grater, bottle caps, frying pans, and old whisks can be used in the garden successfully and easily. Check out these 19 DIY projects with kitchen utensils.
17. Baking Soda
To promote photosynthesis, cleaning the leaves of your houseplants is essential. A pinch of baking soda in a liter of water is required to remove dust and grease from leaves.
To have sweeter tomatoes, sprinkle a small amount of baking soda around the base of your tomato plant. There are about 17 Brilliant Baking Soda Hacks here!
18. Leftovers and Kitchen Residues
Leftovers and kitchen residues can be used in the garden. Used coffee grounds, citrus peels, eggshells, nutshell, and even paper towel rolls are useful.
Also, when you boil or steam vegetables, don’t pour the water down the drain. Pour it on your plants once it’s cooled down. Read more here.
19. Milk
Milk can be used as an alternative disinfectant for cleaning tools to prevent virus transmission. It is proven! You can also use it as a fertilizer–A solution of half of the milk and half of water can be applied as a foliar spray or pour it around the base of your plants.
Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and squashes get benefit from it and can be saved from blossom end because milk contains calcium. Read this detailed and informative post to learn more about the milk uses.
20. Teacups
If unused, old, broken teacups pilling up in your crockery unit, pick them up for good to create teacup gardens. Teacup fairy gardens or herb gardens are among the most popular ideas. You can also make a beautiful vintage teacup vase or, if you like, a DIY teacup candle.
21. Ropes
Ropes can be used for many garden and home improvement projects. Rope swings or rope-wrapped planters are all the rage, but ideas like rope tire planters and rope tire ottomans deserve your attention too. Check out our 16 DIY Rope Projects here!
22. Shoeboxes and Shoes
Shoe boxes must be thrown; after all, they’re not useful. Or probably not? Create a shoebox garden or make it a seed collection box. Similarly, you can use old shoes to make planters and the unused shoe organizers as vertical urban planters.
23. Milk Cartons and Milk Jugs
Milk cartons and milk jugs can be repurposed for some really smart money-saving gardening ideas. Use milk cartons to propagate your vegetable plants or assign this DIY garden house project for your kids. Plastic milk jugs have myriads of uses in the garden. See a few best ideas here!
24. Borax
Borax is a naturally occurring mineral, which is completely safe. It’s been used for cleaning and laundry purposes, but it’s also useful in the garden.
Boron deficiency is extremely common in plants; you can apply borax to cure it or use it to clean your tools. Besides this, there’re other uses as well, which you can find out in our descriptive article here!
25. Coca-Cola and Beer
If hornets and wasps are the regular visitors, make a wasp trap for them–place a bowl filled with coke at their most favorite spot. These predator insects will attract towards it.
You can also trap the flies the same way. To kill slugs, pour coca-cola into 2-3 low bowls and place them overnight in the strategic areas of your garden. For similar purposes, you can use beer in the garden.
26. Egg Cartons
Egg cartons are common and comes under easily available things in the home. Not only can you use them to propagate seeds, but there are other DIYs as well. For example, this bird feeder project, and here a miniature succulent garden in an egg carton.
27. Salt
Table salt can be used in the garden. Use salt to kill weeds. For this, boil 1 quart of water, and dissolve 5 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of salt.
After mixing, pour this solution over the weeds between the cracks on sidewalks and driveways. See other salt uses here!
28. Sugar
You’ll be surprised after finding out that sugar is very effective in the garden. Feed nectar-feeding creatures a clean sugar water solution (learn more here), cut flowers last longer, or create a natural trap for fruit flies and house flies. Find more out in this article!
29. Essential Oils
Essential oils can do wonders in your garden. There are many amazing uses. From repelling pests to attracting pollinators and boosting the immunity of your plants. They work! Check out this detailed article here to learn more.
30. Epsom Salt
Whether Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate) bath can help you feel more relaxed or not–there’s some debate, but there’s no debate on the miraculous effects of Epsom salt in the garden.
For sweeter tomatoes, for profusely growing roses, and for hot chilies, use Epsom salt. There’re 13+ unbeatable ways to use it and they are listed here!
Thanks some great ideas