Lifestyle

Get a Healthy Garden and Healthy Plants, Naturally

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Tony Maples Photography

 

If you wish to have a  healthy garden, and healthy plants naturally, without chemicals and want healthier plants, then improve your garden soil with banana peelings, coffee grounds and eggshells, Epsom salts, and wood ash. Here are some tips.

Healthy Garden

Photo: Pixabay/Agnali

Always rinse your eggshells and let them dry. You can even put them in a warm oven and let them dry to the extreme.  When they are extremely dry they crush up easily and break down naturally, providing organic calcium to your soil for a healthy garden and healthy plants, naturally.

Healthy Garden

Photo: Pixabay/StockSnap

Coffee grounds add nitrogen and will not affect the PH level unless great quantities are used. Acid loving plants and worms thrive with coffee grounds. If they are moldy, don’t fret. That doesn’t hurt anything. Tea bags are good also.

Healthy Garden

Photo: Pixabay/Alexas_Fotos

Banana peelings should be cut into small pieces before adding to your soil. As they break down they release calcium, magnesium, sulfur, potassium and other minerals which greatly benefit your plants, worms, and soil. When you plant your tomatoes, put a crumbled egg shell and a handful of chopped banana peeling in the bottom of the hole. Cover with a little dirt and set your tomato plant over it. Watch the magic happen.

Healthy Garden
Photo: Flickr/Kazuhiro Keino

Plants love Epsom salts. So, for a healthy garden and healthy plants naturally, mix a tablespoon in a gallon of water and spray on your plants. Or mix 1/4 teaspoon into the dirt around the base of your plants. You really can’t use too much and it should be applied once a month, at least. What a great source of magnesium and sulfur.

Wood ash is a wonderful addition to your garden if you use it wisely. First, check the PH level of the soil where you are adding the ashes. If the PH level is 7.5 or higher do NOT use it. Make sure the ashes are from wood only. No briquettes. The nutrient from ashes is potassium, sometimes called potash, and is beneficial in keeping your fruit firm and juicy by helping it retain water. Wood ash is really good for root crops. It also helps your plants during a dry spell and repels some insects such as the turnip fly. It repels slugs, until it gets wet, then it doesn’t deter them. Wood ash is to be used in an alkaline soil, not an acidic soil. If you use wood ash, do not use lime to keep a healthy garden and healthy plants, naturally.

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