Today I am talking gardening, as I have enjoyed finding out more about environmentally and thrifty ways to look after our garden. I want to share with you 10 natural garden remedies.
Regular readers will know that I’ve been getting into my gardening over the past few months, having hitherto abhorred it!
Well, in recent weeks I can be find pottering about out there most days, and am becoming a little, dare I say it, passionate about it all.
I find myself becoming engrossed in gardening magazines and brochures, choosing new plants weekly and taking every opportunity I can to be outside, planting, weeding and tidying it up. So, I want to learn more about looking after it, ridding myself of common pests, feeding the garden as best I can and ensuring it looks good.
Natural garden remedies
And so in the interests of being both thrifty, and wanting to use things that are safe for the kids and the dog out there, I’ve become interested in hearing about natural products to use in the garden, whether it be to help things grow, keep weeds under control or deter pests – I want to know about it!
And so, as is often the case when I want to know something these days, I took to Twitter for some suggestions, and this is what I found out…
Natural remedies or the soil & plants
Nettles or comfrey steeped in water for a few weeks to make natural fertiliser, can get a bit smelly though!
Most organic kitchen waste, e.g. tea bags/leaves, potato peelings, etc. can be used to lighten heavy clay soil.
Banana skins are good for feeding roses. This is a tip that means a lot to me, as not only do I adore my roses, of which I have several and can’t seem to be able to stop buying more, but also because my kids both love bananas so we’re never short of the skins here!
Remedies for the pests
Dried eggshells, crushed then spread around the base of plants/flowers as a natural deterrent for slugs and snails.
If you’re not an egg-eater, coffee grounds can be effective, too, with slugs and snails.
Sprinkle rolled oats around vulnerable plants to deter slugs. They eat them, swell up and then die.
If you have a problem with cats at your flowerbeds half fill a plastic bottle with water and place it on it’s side in flowerbed.
Orange peelings are also supposed to deter cats from your garden and the peelings release nitrogen into the soil.
Remedies for the weeds
A bit of salt, washing-up liquid and white vinegar makes a good weed killer.
Baking soda to kill the weeds. Obviously not one to use in flowers beds, but I’m currently trying it our on a brick pathway to stop those weeds from popping up.
Thanks so much to everyone who shared their tips with me, it’s much appreciated. I’m thinking I’ve enough there to be going on with and trying.
What about you? Have you tried any of these, and if so, with what success? Or have you another tip to share?
I love my garden and spend hours in it, it’s a great way to get some excercise and relax at the same time!! I have just started using the salt and vinegar weed killer, it’s amazing, I blogged about the results only last week, no more nasty week killer for me.
Hooray! Glad to know it works well then. Thanks, I’ll give it a whirl
I like the weed killing ideas especially. I’ve never found any natural remedies are particularly effective against slugs and snails apart from literally hand picking them off (which I resort to frequently!)
Oh dear! A very natural remedy then!
You’re very welcome. I’ll be giving them a whirl!
Great post! We’ve been trying to do lots more with our garden this year too and I’ll be trying out some of the other tips 🙂 x
Thanks, and thanks for contributing 🙂
Thanks for these. As a novice gardener any help is appreciated. Great idea Jocelyn.
That’s just how I feel! Thanks for your contribution, too x
Excellent list 🙂
Bran also works the same as oats for killing slugs but does need replacing after rain (as do oats I would think) If you have a horsey friend maybe you could get a bagful of horse bran from them. Oh and I can vouch for the salt, washing-up liquid and white vinegar weed killer – it got rid of the thistles in our play area. I cut them off at the base and added a generous dollop of the mixture. Hey ho – no more thistles!
Ah, I’ll bear bran in mind, too, then, thank you. And well done getting rid of those thistles!
Howe green fingered of you! I’m rubbish with gardening stuff. If I could I’d juts deck/concrete the whole lot and stuck the odd pot here and there! lol xx
Ha ha – I was like that until last year.Something has happened to me!
I was just looking up natural weed killers and cat deterrents today! I need search no further now! I have spent this morning encircling our newly planted toms and cucumbers with euro cent copper coins! Beer didn’t work last year for the slugs and snails, but this looks like it might! 🙂
No, it’s all here for you now! Ah, good tip, thank you 🙂
I am loving the gardening posts! I am determined to find some time to start gardening soon so these tips are great, thanks muchly x
Oh good! It’s something I’m getting into so thought I’d share my learns as I’m bumbling along!
Some great tips there. I have every intention of becoming green fingered… someday. Though if I succeed in doing all the things I say I will I will have to change my blog name to supermum!
Oh yes, you sound like me – so many things I want to do, but when?!
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You’ve got some great tips there. Good old Twittter! I can’t wait to get started on our new garden once we’ve got the decking laid, I’ll be using your tips. Thanks for sharing with #ThriftyThursday
Twitter is a constant source of information! Happy gardening!
Great tips. Hadn’t heard the rolled oats tip before. My children would stalk the slugs to see if it really worked! Funny, because isn’t that what they give snails to clean them up before they cook them. We garden organically and it is definitely the way to go. Good luck.
No, I hadn’t, but am intrigued. Thanks x
I’m in the middle of turning my garden from a green mess to something of beauty – hopefully. I know nothing, so this is a a very timely and useful post!! Thanks! #thriftythursday
Ah, happy to help! Best of luck with the project 🙂
Great tips! We also do the nettles and comfry in fact the hubby has just been saying we need to get some comfry. Another thing that slugs don’t like is copper, apparently it give them an electric shock sensation. Look forward to seeing how your garden comes on x #thriftythursdays
Ah, thanks for that tip. Useful, as my dog eats and digs up anything food related!
Thanks for all the tips – I really need help with my slugs!
You are very welcome!
Wow these are really interesting tips. Who knew cats don’t like half filled bottles of water!
Not me! But we do now 😉
Oh this is a brilliant post Jocelyn. I’ve always been concerned about using any chemicals in the garden as my kids love playing in it so these are all fab tips!
I’m just the same, and have a dog, too, so am wary of chemicals. Thanks very much.
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