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Recycling food scraps is easy to do, requires no fancy equipment, and will nourish your garden! Your plants and flowers thrive on a variety of basic common foods that are found in the kitchen. Instead of tossing them in the bin, give them a home in a bed!
You can skip the composting stage by simply placing scraps directly in your garden. Here are five leftovers that can give your garden a nutritional boost, offer natural pest control, and contribute to zero waste.
Banana Peels
The next time you eat a banana, keep the peel and bury it outside! Bananas are great for you and your plants as they are filled with potassium, according to Outside.
Potassium aids plants in receiving and moving water through their cells. It also helps them develop strong roots, produce more fruit, and fight disease.
It is best to bury the peel below the soil to help it break down and release the precious potassium.
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Eggshells
If you are growing tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, or peppers, keep your eggshells! Egg shells contain calcium carbonate. In humans, it helps to build bones, while in plants, it may prevent blossom-end rot. Simply crush your eggshells and mix them into the earth. It will feed your plants and also deter snails and slugs.
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Hot Peppers, Garlic, and Onions
When you are chopping up onion and garlic and cooking with spicy peppers, keep the scraps, advises the organization One Green Planet. Place them in water for one to three days and then make them into a spray. It will have those troublesome insects hopping and flying away fast!
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Orange Peels
f you want to get rid of pests, place orange peels around your flower beds and at the base of plants, suggests Better Nutrition. Most bugs, such as fire ants, mosquitoes, fleas, and roaches do not like orange fragrance. And when you find aphids in the garden, try burying orange peels just under the topsoil.
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Tea Bags
When you brew your favorite cuppa, keep the tea bag, Premeditated Leftovers recommends. The next time you go into the garden, tear the bag open and sprinkle the contents around your plants and flowers. Those nutrients that made your herbal tea so healing may also benefit your garden.
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