Every year people spend hundreds of dollars on new soil, fertilizer, pest control, and food for their plants and vegetables in their garden when you could be using food scraps. Things like coffee grounds, used tea bags, egg shells and many others provide nutrients to the soil. And we all know how expensive these gardening products can be when you could be feeding your soil for free!
Tea Bags
Drinking tea is a great way to get the day started and most people simply throw away their tea bags into the trash, but did you know that you could use them in your garden? Most tea bags are made from materials that decompose fast. Tea leaves contain tannic acid and nutrients that act as natural fertilizers for your soil. They also help keep bugs away from your plants and can even keep pesky animals like squirrels from stealing your bulbs in your garden. Plus, they help retain water and keep weeds stay away, which helps you in the long run.
Coffee Grounds
Most people drink at least 5 cups of coffee a week and that’s a lot of fertilizer you are throwing away each week. Coffee grounds serve as a mulching and fertilizing agent for gardens. They are an excellent source of nitrogen, which worms love and other veggie and flower-munching insects hate, so it serves as a pesticide too.
Egg Shells
You wouldn’t think that you could put eggshells into your garden, but remember that eggshells are packed with protein. If you look closely at the ingredients in plant food, they contain protein powder, which you can easily get from eggshells. Crush your eggshells into tiny pieces or leave them to dry and then grind them into a fine powder and sprinkle all over your garden. These too are great pest repellents.
Peels
There are many fruits and vegetables that require peeling, such as oranges, bananas, cucumbers, garlic, and onions. Banana peels are packed with potassium which helps flowers bloom big. Orange peels are not only packed with nutrients, but they can also keep cats away from your garden and garlic wards off pests.
Scraps
Every time you wash the dishes you check the drain and there’s all kinds of scraps left over. Take a closer look because these too can be beneficial to your garden. Things like whole grain cereals, fruits and vegetable peels, can all be collected and thrown into your garden. Just make sure you don’t throw meats, grease, oil, or dairy products to your soil because these can disrupt the soil in a negative way. Give your scraps an extra rinse, just in case.