While on a visit to a friend’s house, I could not help myself gazing at her beautiful home garden. Oh, boy! She has incredible gardens. And on closer observation, I realized the fabulous gardens are not made with the latest technology. She used clever gardening tricks, which I’m going to share with you here.
30 Insanely Clever Gardening Tricks
While there are many garden tips, I settled on the following 30 insanely clever gardening tricks. These hacks will enable you to have a beautiful home garden using readily available materials at home. Besides, these garden hacks are environmentally friendly with minimal or no costs.
1. Use Old Car Tires To Plant Flowers
If you have an old car tire, do not throw it away. Instead, put it down on the ground and spread polythene paper at the bottom. Place some rocks or pebbles at the bottom and fill it with soil.
Then plant your seeds, cuttings, or seedlings in it. This type is most suitable for outdoor use just outside your doorstep, backyard, or along the driveway.
2. Reuse Takeout Containers
Most takeout containers such as plastic cups, shoe boxes, and foam clamshells are difficult to recycle. But you can save the environment by reusing them as planters.
Just clean the containers, fill them with soil, and plant your seedlings. You can either place it in the living room or backyard.
3. Plastic Bottle Irrigation
With a busy schedule, you can easily forget to water your garden plants. Luckily, here is one of the clever gardening tricks. Make a simple and reliable irrigation system using a plastic bottle.
How to do it…
- Cut out the bottom part of a plastic bottle and remove its cap.
- Make a small hole next to a potted plant, taking care not to damage its roots.
- With the bottleneck facing down, Insert the plastic bottle into the hole.
- Fill the bottle with water. Water will start seeping to your plants, thus saving you time while irrigating the plant.
4. Incandescent Bulbs Terrariums
If you recently replaced the energy-inefficient incandescent bulbs, you can still use them. They are perfect for water-saving succulents and air plants. Hollow out and clean the bulb.
Next, place pebbles and soil inside it. Gently place succulent plants.
5. Wood Ash Is Good For The Garden
Wood ash has been used for a long time in home gardening tricks. Sprinkle wood ash in your garden, and it will help in the following ways.
- Improves soil fertility – an excellent source of potassium and lime.
- Pest control like snails, slugs, etc.
- Improve soil pH
6. Bucket Gardening
You can still have beautiful flowers and plants even if you live in apartments or you don’t have a backyard in your house. Bucket gardening is perfect for small spaces.
Instead of spending a small fortune buying containers, use worn out or damaged buckets for large plants like squash, eggplants, and tomatoes. To prevent being waterlogged, make small holes at the bottom.
7. Toilet Paper Rolls
Toilet paper rolls make fantastic mini planters.
This is how…
- Cut small strips at one end of the toilet paper roll.
- Fold the strips inwards so they overlap to seal one end of the roll.
- Fill the roll with soil.
- Plant a seed or a cutting.
8. Propagating Succulent
Propagating Succulents featured in gardening tips that my friend showed to me. It is relatively easy, and within no time, I had grasped the nitty-gritty of it. You will need to remove a leaf or a cutting from the main plant for planting.
9. Improve Soil Quality With Used Tea Leaves
In most homes, used tea leaves are quickly thrown into trash bins. It is beneficial to plants. Simply spread in your garden or add to potted plants to improve soil quality and increase nutrients.
10. Make Watering Can From Milk Container
This is another excellent home gardening hack I learned at my friend’s place. Most households buy milk in containers, which are perfect for making watering cans. First, clean the container, and with a hot needle, make small holes in its lid.
They are easy to fill, carry, and use. You can make different hole sizes on different lids to have an additional flow by just changing the tops. And if the container gets old or damaged, just swap the perforated lid onto a new one.
11. Grow Basil Cuttings On Soda Bottles
More gardening tips and hacks. Fill an empty bottle with water and then throw basil cuttings inside. Within three weeks, the basil will have grown beautiful roots and more leaves.
12. Wheatgrass In Eggshell
It is simple to grow wheatgrass indoors in eggshell. You need eggshells, wheat seeds, and moist soil. Place moist soil on the eggshells, arrange them on a tray, and plant the wheat seeds. Keep the soil moist, and within a short time, you will have beautiful wheatgrass.
13. Bath Caddies To Make Hanging Gardens
Do you know you can make a cheap hanging garden using bath caddies? Oh yes, you can, of course, with clever gardening tricks. First, line 2 caddies with felt. Second, fill with soil.
Finally, plant succulent cuttings on it.
14. Vertical Plants Next To A Wall Look Fantastic
If you have a small garden or none, then think of vertical gardens. A hanging pocket shoe store is perfect. Here is how to create a vertical garden from the pocket shoe store.
- Fix a pole to the wall.
- Attach a hanging shoe store to the pole.
- Fill each pocket with soil.
- Plant your seeds, seedlings, or cuttings in the pockets.
15. While You Are Away, Keep Your Plants Moist With A Strip Of Cloth
Roll one end of a cloth strip and put it in the soil next to your plants. Drape the other end in a jug of water. The cloth strip will keep your plants moist.
16. Enrich Your Plants With Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds are rich in nutrients and adding them to your plants will make them grow faster and healthy.
17. Test Your Seeds On Paper Before Planting
Before planting your seeds, test their viability by growing some on damp paper.
18. Keep Plant Moisture With A Diaper
Baby diapers are applied in garden hacks, too. They are suitable for placing at the bottom of the window boxes to minimize water drainage.
19. Use Vodka To Keep Cut Flowers Fresh For Long
Vodka reduces the ageing of flowers, thus keeping them fresh for longer. Simply dilute Vodka with water in a container and place freshly cut flowers for preservation. This is one of the gardening tips and hacks used by florists.
20. Improve Soil Fertility With Eggshell Calcium
Place eggshells into a blender and grind them into fine powder for easy absorption by plants. Sprinkle the powder in your garden.
21. Use Beer To Kill The Slugs
Do not use the cruel old garden hacks such as salt or squishing to kill slugs. Using beer is kind-hearted. Pour some beer on a shallow dish and place it in your garden, and you will find dead slugs in the morning.
22. Seedling Pot From Citrus Fruit
Make a small hole at the bottom of a citrus peel, add potting soil, and plant a seed on it. Add water, and after germination, transplant the whole thing. The citrus peel will decompose, providing vital nutrients to your plants.
23. Bucket-In-Bucket Method
If you don’t enjoy landscaping your garden every season, then this – clever gardening tricks – is for you. Make a hole in your garden and place an empty bucket inside. Thus you can quickly drop and remove your seasonal plants there.
24. Plastic Pot Watering System
Make a hole in the middle of your garden and place a plastic pot with holes. This will enable an easier and deeper roots watering system, especially in dry seasons.
25. Put Invasive Plants On Hold
Remove the bottom of the plastic pot, dig a hole, and put it in. It effectively controls the invasive plants, such as lilies that quickly spread over gardens. The pot limits the spread of its roots, enabling you to control the invasive plant.
26. Line Pots With Coffee Filters
This technique is suitable for indoor pot plants. It allows water to drain while containing the soil.
27. Keep Away Pets
Cats are notorious for pooping in gardens. Place plastic forks in the garden around plants. The plastic forks will deter the cats and other small animals from damaging your plants.
28. Enrich Plants With Vegetable Soup
When you steam or boil vegetables, do not pour the soup away. Simply use it to water patio plants.
29. A Quicker Qay To Dry Leaves
Spread a newspaper sheet on your car seat and place herbs and leaver on the newspaper in a single layer. Next, close all the windows and doors. While retaining vital attributes, like smell and color, the plants and herbs will dry faster with high perfection.
30. Grow 100 Pound Potatoes In A Drum
If you have a small space and prefer low maintenance, then here is another home gardening hack. Put soil into a drum. And plant one or two potatoes.
Add manure and water to your crop.Harvesting is also simplified. Just overturn the drum and pick your harvest.
Conclusion
That’s it. It’s simple to have green thumbs up on a budget. You don’t need much money or space to implement the above clever gardening tricks. Thanks for reading this – 30 insanely clever gardening tricks.
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