Did you know that some food scraps that most people throw out into the waste bin actually have great use if you have a garden? In this short brief, we present a list of food scraps that are great for your garden. They might surprise you.
For food to be suitable enough to be added to your garden, most have to be composted first. However there are some food scraps that you can add directly to your garden soil without a need for composting.
Below is a list of such foods as well as how to go about using them:
To make the best use of them, dice your banana peels into pieces and add directly to the surface of the ground or create a hole that is 10 centimeters deep around the base of the plant and throw them in.
Another method is to soak the banana peels in water for 48 hours or blend them with water. The resulting liquid can then be used to water plants. They will provide a quick nutrient boost and your plants will thank you for it.
You can use pieces of onion and garlic to discourage pests like hedgehogs, mice and rats from ruining your garden. Apply them to the surface of the soil in small pieces.
Applying tea leaves to the surface of your soil will give your plants an extra boost of nitrogen, which is particularly useful for fast growing plants.
Keep in mind that the tea bags you use are made of 100% natural fibers if you are adding it to the garden. If the bag is not compostable, remove the tea from the bag and spread the tea leaves alone.
The leaves will attract worms and it will help aid soil aeration drainage and water retention.
Crushed egg shells are avoided by snails and slugs. Crush the shells and put them on the surface of the soil in a circle around the base of each plant, and make sure there are no breaks in the circle.
Egg shells are also a good reservoir of calcium, which can reduce soil acidity when large quantities are used. The egg shells can be mixed in with compost or mixed directly into the soil.
Do not Bury eggshells around root vegetables as it is possible for your vegetables to be contaminated by salmonella from those eggs.
They make a great surface mulch because their shells are degraded slowly. This can aid soil aeration.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot of nut shells to create sufficient surface mulch; however you can still add little amounts to your garden because it is much better to let them become soil over time rather than tossing them in the bin.