Master The Dark Art Of Gardening (With Diapers)

Gardening is more than just a chore, it’s a lifestyle. It’s something that helps people to unwind and get closer to nature. Gardening has repeatedly been shown to help stressed out parents relax. It can lower blood pressure and is a great substitute for walking or other exercises. What’s more, you get to learn a lot about different plants and animals and get more in touch with nature.

If you can pull it off, gardening can be incredibly satisfying. There’s nothing quite like nurturing your own bed of flowers or growing your own food and getting it right. But sometimes gardening can be a bit of a dark art. Making a success of it takes a lot of know-how and reading. At times, it can be a labour of love.

Here we’re going to investigate all of the things that you can do with your garden to make your life better. Let’s dive in.

Grow Your Own Tomatoes

If you’ve ever bought tomatoes from the supermarket, you’ll know that they’re bland and lack flavour. That’s because they’re grown out of season in conditions which don’t allow the fruit to ripen fully.

Many people gave up on supermarket tomatoes a long time ago and have started growing their own. Growing your own tomatoes is satisfying, delicious and better for you. Homegrown tomatoes are higher in the critical substance lycopene which is great for your skin. According to the evidence, a tomato a day can help to protect you against various types of cancers. Tomatoes are also very rich in vitamins and minerals that help the body to flush out toxins and run smoothly.

Growing your own tomatoes is relatively easy too. Most people who grow their own tomatoes grow them in aluminium lean to greenhouses. That’s because it’s important that the soil is kept above 50F.

Get A Rain Barrel For Droughts

We all know how serious the drought conditions can get in places like California. That’s why more and more people are choosing to collect their own rainwater and store it at home. How exactly? They’re investing in so-called rain barrels in preparation for droughts. Plenty of tutorials online show how to create a rain barrel out of an old whisky barrel. The great thing about having a rain barrel is that you don’t have to use up precious mains water in the dry season to water your plants. You can keep all your plants watered from the rainwater you collect throughout the year. Rain barrels are an excellent way to protect your local area’s water supply from depletion.

Use Pallets To Grow Strawberries

Strawberries are one of the lowest calorie and healthiest fruits out there. They’ve been linked to reducing the incidence of all sorts of lifestyle-related diseases. You need to eat an entire bucket of strawberries to get as many calories as are in a single chocolate bar.

Gardeners have been growing their own strawberries for as long as anybody can remember. But creating ideal conditions in which they can thrive has never been easy. Farmers spend vast amounts of their time experimenting with different varieties and growing conditions.

Something that appears to work regularly is the so-called pallet method. Here, strawberry plants are packed into a raised bed constructed from old pallets. The pallets act as a defence against changing conditions in the soil. Strawberries, as well as other berries, tend to be very sensitive to changes in their environment. Small changes in soil, water, and so on can dramatically change the flavour of the berry.

Building your own strawberry pallet system is both fun and easy.

Use Your Old Egg Shells In The Garden

Eggshells are a fantastic addition to the soil in your garden. As you might expect, shells are rich in nutrients, especially calcium, that help to enrich the ground. When the soil is rich in calcium, so too are the plants that grow in that soil. And when those plants are rich in calcium, you get more of this essential mineral in your diet.

Making your egg shells as a fertiliser is easy. First off, crush them into a fine powder and then put them in a plastic bag. Next, add some leftover coffee grounds and blend the two ingredients together. Finally, pour the mixture around the base of your plants. Over the coming weeks, they should grow stronger and more robust. You can also use egg shells to help make your soil healthier for any new plants you plan on growing. Just mix the eggshell mixture into fresh soil and then plant your seeds as normal.

Get Composting

Most big DIY and garden stores sell compost. But nothing quite compares to making your own. Industrial compost is good if you’re just getting started. But it doesn’t compare in terms of richness to the compost that you can make yourself. The great thing about compost is that it completely takes care of all your biological waste. You can throw pretty much anything on the compost heap, so long as it was once alive.

Now that it’s autumn, one great thing you can put on your compost heap is dead leaves. Rake them up and dump them on the compost heap. They will soon biodegrade into their constituent parts, full of nutrients and ready to give to the next generation of plants. You can also dump anything else on there, including egg shells and vegetable clippings. If you’re worried about pests, you can get a composter to keep larger animals out. If you do get a composter, don’t forget to fill it with worms to churn up the compost and help break it down. A composter will make the process of creating new soil faster.

Use A Natural Weed Killer Made Of Vinegar

Vinegar is often used as an alternative to industrial cleaning products in the house because it is non-toxic. But, thanks to its unpleasant smell, most people don’t want it in their homes.

There is, however, another place where you can use vinegar that won’t stink out your house: the garden. Strangely, vinegar has a number of interesting functions around the garden. It’s good for keeping pests at bay. And it helps fight those unwanted weeds.

Getting rid of all your unwanted weeds is time-consuming and laborious. It’s far easier to make your own natural weed killer, based on vinegar, and just spray the plants you don’t want. According to the experts, the best time to use vinegar as a weed killer is on hot days when the sun is out. Your unwanted weeds will quickly wilt and die. And your garden will remain non-toxic and safe for you, your children, and the animals that live in your garden.

Grow Your Own Summer Squash

Summer squash is an amazing vegetable, low in calories and high in nutrients. But actually growing summer squashes is difficult. Summer squash is a plant that relies on the soil temperature being warm when the seeds are planted. The soil temperature must be more than 65F for the seed to germinate properly. If you live in cooler climes, you’ll often have to grow the squash plants inside and then transplant them to avoid the threat of frost. Squash plants are very susceptible to frost and may die if the frost is severe.

Squash seeds should be planted in late spring. The best way to sow squash plants is to put them in hills that are around four feet apart. Squash requires lots of rich, fertile soil. So this is a perfect opportunity to use your compost from the previous year.

Use Your Little One’s Diapers

Diapers are disgusting. But they’re also a big environmental problem, filling up our landfills like nothing else. 

It might sound strange, but you can use your used diapers in the garden. Some innovative gardeners are now using their children’s diapers in their hanging pots. Yes, that’s right – in order to make them more fertile. It turns out that your baby’s waste is actually an excellent source of feed for flowers and it will help them to grow better. A word of warning, though. Don’t use diapers in your compost or anywhere you are growing your own food.

To use a diaper in your hanging baskets, grab the diaper and use it to cover the bottom of your hanging pot. Then fill the rest of the basket with soil from your compost heap or garden. Then simply level out the soil and plant your seeds as you normally would. It’s as simple as that.

Make Your Own Insect Spray

There’s nothing more annoying that insects and other critters constantly chewing up the plants you’ve worked so hard to grow. Most people buy commercial insect spray. But commercial sprays often contain a lot of unnatural chemicals that can get into your soil. Fortunately, nature has given us natural compounds which also help to repel insects from your plants. You can find out how to make your own insect repellent spray here. It’s super simple to make.