Gardening

Impress Your Neighbors With These 21 Incredible Gardening Tricks

1. Walking on Eggshells

Save your eggshells! That’s right. Slugs hate them and so do other common pests who can easily destroy your garden. Make it a point to save your eggshells whenever you eat them at home. Crush them and sprinkle them all around, especially where bugs can get to the roots. This is an age-old way of protecting plants, flowers and vegetables without using unnatural ingredients.

2. Reroot Fresh Basil

If you’ve decided to grow herbs and spices, you don’t need to buy basil in its soil. You can just buy fresh basil and place a bunch in water. In just a couple of weeks, you’ll notice thin roots growing in the water. Wait until they’re relatively lush and transplant your basil, roots and all, in your outdoor garden. For novices: it’s common to grow seedlings indoors to protect them from pests who want to munch on the seeds. Once the seeds or roots take indoors, the chances of survival are much higher.

3. Rock ‘n’ Roll Markers

Rocks are another great option when looking for natural markers to use in the garden. Next time you go on a hike, gather a bunch. Take care to wash them thoroughly before painting them. You may want to paint them all in one color for a more uniform look or you may want to paint them in an array of colors. Make sure to use the right paint that won’t wash off the next time it rains!

4. Potatoes Make Roses?

So you want a beautiful rosebush but don’t want to shell out all that money to buy it? Buy a few roses and cut the stem an inch or two and dip it into cinnamon (yes, that spice you love). Take your potatoes and remove all the eyes. Create holes in the potatoes to fit the rose stems. Insert the roses into the potatoes and then plant the potatoes in your garden. Be patient, and you’ll eventually have a new rosebush.

5. Put A C-Clamp On Your Ladder

Putting a C Clamp on your ladder will let you hold all of your tools with ease, it also gives you a great place to put any hose attachments you might want to use. This is a little thing, but it will let you get through any garden work much faster. Everyone knows that getting through your work faster lets you do more, resulting in a better looking garden.

6. Incorporate Drainage Into Your Design

Slope your flower beds or yard installations and create a stream bed in the middle. During months with heavy rain, your garden will drain, making it beautiful year round. Be sure to put the plants that need the most water on the edges, letting them flourish during the spring.

7. Sprinkle Pesky Weeds With Salt

Salt has long been used as a way to kill weeds and unwanted plants. This needs to be done directly onto the weed and only in places where you don’t want anything to grow. Be sparing with your use of salt and be sure to rinse it away after the weed has died. Try and do this before it rains so you can direct where the salt travels.

8. Prevent Rust

So, you’ve got some gardening tools you spent lots of money on and they’re beginning to rust. First, use a simple can of coke (yes, Coca-Cola) and a pad of steel wool to get rid of the existing rust. Next, get some sand and fill a bucket or planter with it. Keep your tools in the sand from here on and you shouldn’t see any more rust, not even if you leave your tools out in the rain!

9. Moss For Amazing Gardens

Here’s something you probably didn’t know. Moss is a great ground cover and it also chokes out the supply of nutrients that weeds need. If you are trying to cover a bigger area, be sure to put in a large amount of moss. Moss doesn’t need a significant amount of water and also helps prevent soil from eroding. Also moss can look very beautiful in a garden when placed correctly. Speak with other gardeners and see how they are using moss in their gardens.

10. Make Your Own Watering Cans

Lugging a watering can around can be a pain, especially if you have flowers in many different places. Instead, find a jug or jar that you like, and punch holes in the top to create your own watering can. Store each one with the flowers it corresponds to, making it easier to water and letting you control how much water each one gets with ease.

11. Protect Seedlings

It’s always best to start growing seeds indoors. Seedlings are fragile and can easily die if they are exposed to too much sunlight or if critters get in the soil and eat them. You don’t need to dish out all that money to buy seedling starters. When you finish your eggs, just take the container and use it to start planting what you’ll later transplant outside. Make sure to poke pin holes at the bottom of the container to ensure water drainage. When your seeds are nice and strong, all you have to do is scoop out the seedlings, roots and all, and plant them where you want it to grow. Easy!

12. Put A Bar On Your Ladder

Put a bar on your ladder below the lowest rung to scrape your boots on. This can help you not track things around your garden, keep your patio clean, and prevent slipping on your ladder as well. It’s easy to install one, just screw it on and go.

13. Pour Vinegar On Weeds

If you pour vinegar onto the roots of weeds that are bothering you, they will usually shrivel up within just a few days. You can poke at them with a stake and then put the vinegar in the hole you formed to make this even more effective. Wait until the plant is fully shriveled before you pull it out. This a great, cheap way to get rid of weeds.

14. Use Bottle Caps In The Bottom Of Pots

Put bottle caps inside the bottom of potted plants to encourage drainage. Put them spiked end down, and layer soil on top of them before planting. Even spacing will allow water to flow out without losing the soil.

15. Use A Scraper To Weed Cracks

Use a scraper or a putty knife to get up into the cracks and hard to reach places. Simply drag it down the whole length and then use it to pop out anything that really sticks out. This will give you pristine tile lines and other cracks, something your neighbors will be amazed by.

16. Mark Your Tools With Depth Measurements

Mark your tools with different measurements so you always plant at the same depth. Simply use your tool to measure, letting you plant with ease. If you put a number of different measurements on one tool, you can plant a whole garden in a very short amount of time.

17. Boil Unwanted Plants Or Weeds

Plants can be boiled even when they are in the ground, giving you an easy way to get rid of weeds. Boil some water, pour it over the weeds, and watch them wilt. Them simply pull them out and enjoy your weed-free space. You will know it worked when they look like wilted spinach!

18. Use Worms

Go to your local bait shop and buy some worms to really make your garden look amazing. Place them in your compost barrel and in the soil when you are planting to ensure better nutrients and aeration. They should breed, making you only need to purchase them once.

19. Burn Weeds

Now this solution is a little unconventional and be warned that your neighbors may think you’re a little nuts. Take a grill lighter, propane torch, or a flamethrower (if you’ve got one handy) and burn the weeds at their base. This kills both the root and the top, making it easy for you to remove them. Try and get a grill lighter or propane torch with a flexible head so you can be very specific with the plants that you are destroying. This solution works great if you just need to get rid of a few weeds at a time.

20. Use Paths For Edging

You don’t always have to have super defined edges for your flower boxes. If you want to go for a much more natural look, use the paths that you are putting in to edge your boxes. Line the area along the paths and in between the cracks with mosses to really make the whole thing pop.

21. Be Creative With Your Ground Cover

Look into different plants that will work well for ground cover. Creeping mosses, spider plants, and even small flowers will all work well. Make sure that your ground cover will grow fast and that it spreads out easily. Many times there are native plants that will do an amazing job and help you cut down on watering and weeding.

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