9 GARDEN HACKS YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU KNOW

The spring gardening season is upon us, and if visions of red, ripe tomatoes and strawberries are dancing in your head, here are a few tried-and-true garden tips and tricks to help make this growing season among your most productive.

• Coffee Grounds Do Double Duty – Adding coffee grounds to the soil around your plants helps to keep pests away and adds nutrients to the soil.

• Try Crumbled Eggshells – Coarsely crumbled eggshells form an effective barrier against soft-bodied garden pests like snails and slugs that eat your plants.

• Hydrogen Peroxide Prevents Root Rot – If your garden suffers from root rot or fungal disease, spritz it with a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution once a day or add a solution of one part hydrogen peroxide to 32 parts water weekly.

• Diaper Trick for Potted Plants – Placing a diaper in the bottom of a pot before adding potting soil will help the plant retain moisture.

• Epsom Salts Can Help Transplants – When planting seedlings or new plants, dig a hole and place a tablespoon of Epsom salts into the hole. Cover it with a thin layer of dirt, then put the plant in the hole and finish planting.

• Use Cooking Water to Fertilize – When you boil eggs or steam vegetables, don’t toss the cooking water. Let it cool, then pour it into plants to help fertilize them.

• Deadheading Boosts Flowering – Pinching off spent flowers from your plants promotes more blooms—and pinching off emerging flowers from your herbs will promote healthier growth.

• Muffin Tins for Spacing – When planting seedlings, use muffin tins for marking holes in the soil at an equal distance. Simply press the tin in the garden soil to make an impression. You will have equally spaced-out holes for planting seedlings.

• Baking Soda for Sweeter Tomatoes – Homegrown tomatoes will taste sweeter if you sprinkle a little baking soda on the soil around them.