Learn about the Most Common Household Things that can make your garden better and much easier. Some of these will surprise you!
Do you know that most of the Most Common Household Things can be used in the garden in a variety of ways to make it better? Let’s have a look at them!
Here’s how you can use newspaper in the garden
Most Common Household Things You Can Use in the Garden
1. Cardboard and Newspapers
Must you have cardboards and newspapers? You can use them to make pots for seedlings or in many ways.
Find out more cardboard uses here
2. Wine Bottles
From creating a water fountain to a bird feeder to self-watering pots, use your old wine bottles efficiently. If you want to know more uses, click 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) as it helps in keeping your cut flowers fresh.
Check out some amazing penny uses in the garden here
4. Aspirin
Have aspirin tablets? Use them in your garden to fight fungal diseases, propagate plants from cuttings successfully and quickly, and improve the productivity of your fruit trees.
Check out aspirin uses in the garden here
5. Aluminum Foil
As birds are scared of shiny, noisy things–tie a few strips of aluminum foil from the branches to save your fruit-bearing trees.
Have a look at some more aluminum foil 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 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.
7. Used Coffee Grounds and Tea Leaves
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 can boost the growth of the plants and can also make the size of the flowers bigger. Learn the eggshell tea recipe here.
Find out more Eggshell uses here
9. Plastic Bottles
Plastic bottles can be recycled into vertical planters and pots to grow shallow roots plants. You can also make self-watering containers.
10. Burlap Sacks
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
Plastic ziplock bags can be reused in the garden to grow plants, create pom-pom lights, and many more. You can also create self-watering plastic bag containers; tutorial here. You can also use plastic bottles. Click here to find out how.
Check out more uses of plastic bags here
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.
Here are some awesome ideas on old furniture turned into planters
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.
To learn, see 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 some amazing 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 DIY projects with kitchen utensils here
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, nutshells, 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.
Here’s a list of kitchen residues you can use in the garden
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!
Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and squashes get benefit from it and can be saved from blossom end rot because milk contains calcium.
Check out milk uses in the garden here
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.
Have a look at some amazing Teacup garden ideas here
21. Ropes
Ropes can be used for many garden and home improvement projects. Rope swings or rope-wrapped planters are all the rage!
Check out some awesome DIY Rope Projects here
22. Shoeboxes and Shoes
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 brilliant money-saving gardening ideas. Use them to propagate vegetable plants.
Have a look at the best milk jug uses in the garden here
24. Borax
Boron deficiency is extremely common in plants; you can apply borax to cure it. 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 regular visitors, make a wasp trap for them–place a bowl filled with coke at their favorite spot. These predator insects will attract 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.
You can also use these bottles as candle stands!
Have a look at some surprising coca cola uses in the garden here
26. Egg Cartons
Egg cartons are common and come under easily available things in the home. Not only can you use them to propagate seeds, but also for making a bird feeder.
27. Salt
Use salt to kill weeds by boiling 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 out more sugar uses in this article
29. Essential Oils
Essential oils can do wonders in your garden, from repelling pests to attracting pollinators and boosting the immunity of your plants.
Here are the best essential oils and their uses for gardening
30. Epsom Salt
Use Epsom salt for hostas, cucumbers, profusely growing roses, and ferns. It is a great product for gardening that’s cheap too!
Check out the Epsom salt uses in the garden here
31. Jeans
Jeans can be the best solution to give your flowers and garden a quirky look. You can put your old jeans to use as unique planters in the garden. Use them as pot covers, tool bags, grow bags, and plant stands.
Have a look at some amusing DIY jeans ideas in the garden here
32. Old Towel
If you are going on vacation, you can keep the plants well-watered. The answer is an old clean towel as they are very absorbent.
Lay them down and soak them with water. Then, place the plant pots on the top and watch the roots absorb all moisture from the wet towel.
Here are some crazy clothes hacks you must not miss
33. Broom Handle
Another common household item that can be useful in the garden is an old broom handle. If you have heavy soil that can set hard during the hotter months, try pushing the handle’s end into the soil to crack the crust around the plant.
You can also use the broom handle to make seed holes or support vines.
34. Old Iron Nails
You need rusty, old nails for this purpose instead of new, shiny ones. The rust can help release essential iron for acid-loving or ericaceous plants like rhododendrons and azaleas.
Learn how rusty nails can save your dying plants here
35. CDs
Tie some of the old prized CDs loosely to fences or trees and bamboo canes and watch the birds get frightened when the sunlight is reflected from the shiny CDs and startle them away.
Here are some amazing ways to use CDs in the garden
36. Soap
You can keep squirrels at bay from your garden with soaps. The scent often irritates the squirrel and discourages them from loitering around.
Grate some soap and spread them into the planting hole and over the top.
Here are some soap uses you should not miss
37. Mayonnaise
Use mayonnaise to wipe over the surfaces of the plants with a kitchen roll for squeaky clean indoor plants. Take a small drop on the damp cloth and wipe the leaves.
Have a look at the mayonnaise uses here
38. Copper Tape
Another smart hack to keep snails and slugs out of your containers and pots is to wrap a length of copper tape around the container. It can give the snails and slugs a little electric shock if they begin to crawl across it.
39. Old Carpets
Do not discard away old carpets right after the fantastic renovations. Instead, place it as a pond liner between the plastic liner and the bricks. You can also use them to suppress the growth of weeds.
40. Tic Tac Boxes
Who does not have Tic Tac boxes lying somewhere in the house? So, once you empty the boxes, you can use the clean and dry tic tac boxes to store your seeds. Make sure you name the boxes while you keep the seeds.
41. Engine Oil
Old and expired engine oil is often used to clean up greasy garden tools. Sink your garden tools for 10-15 minutes, then give them a nice scrub with a brush and see them sparkling. This will also help to keep the rust away.
42. Toothbrush and Toothpaste
Both toothpaste and toothbrushes have many practical uses in the garden. Use toothbrushes to clean up plants, containers, and vases.
Toothpaste can cure bee stings, keep pests at bay, and prevent poison ivy rashes.
43. Bubble Wrap
Use bubble wrap to cover your containers during winter. This will save the plant roots from the danger of frost.
44. Colander
You can put any old colanders to use by making them into beautiful hanging flower planters. Even herbs can grow well in these.
45. Coffee Filter
If you are worried about the soil falling through the holes of your planters, you can place coffee filters to line the containers. This simple trick will help you from losing out on the soil every time you water your plants.
Thanks some great ideas