Each good gardener has his own little tricks that help him save on summer cottages.
Soak the seeds
Most seeds of garden plants are covered with a dense shell, which is revealed during germination. It happens that the germination rate falls precisely due to the fact that, in the soil of some seeds, the membrane does not lend itself and germination does not occur.
To prevent this, you need to soak the seeds before planting - this will soften the coating and allow some seeds to hatch immediately. You need to take gauze or a clean cotton cloth, dampen it liberally, lay the seeds on top and cover with another fabric layer. When drying, it is necessary to additionally spray gauze with water from a spray bottle.
We use ground coffee
Coffee is a valuable organic raw material with various beneficial properties. Its benefits to the garden are to repel insects that can harm plants.
It is enough to distribute ground coffee or coffee grounds between the beds, and the garden will no longer be disturbed by snails, garden bugs and ants. For a more lasting effect, you can mix coffee with grated orange or lemon zest.
Making a grass garden
To save space in a small area, ordinary wooden boxes or pallets will help - they can be used to grow herbs and spices. Dill, basil, green onions and garlic, cilantro and parsley feel great on mini-beds.
It is necessary to fill the boxes 2/3 of the earth, add a small amount of organic matter (compost or humus) and plant seeds of fragrant plants.
You can arrange such boxes horizontally in the form of a border along the wall of the house or vertically, one above the other - this creates an interesting decorative effect.
Makeshift watering can
If there is no watering can at hand - it can be made independently from an old plastic bottle of 2 or 5 liters.
Using a hot nail, it will be enough to make several holes in the lid large enough to let water through, and the watering can is ready.
We use our old boots
Old shoes can be a great design solution for the garden - old shoes and boots can be used as flower pots or flowerpots.
So, multi-colored rubber boots can be used to grow small, brightly flowering annuals, old shoes with high heels will make an excellent pot for succulents, and worn sneakers covered with acrylic paint can be used as an original stand for ordinary flower pots.
Use eggshell
No need to throw away the shell from the eggs - it will be an excellent fertilizer for plants.
The eggshell frayed into small crumbs is an excellent source of calcium; in autumn it is brought into the topsoil and dug. The shell is also indispensable in soils with high acidity - it neutralizes the soil, leading it to neutral indicators.
In addition, the shell can be used as a means of combating the bear and the Colorado potato beetle. It is enough to mix frayed shells with vegetable oil or just dust them with foliage of plants.
We plant seeds in fruits
The citrus scent helps repel pests. In situations where there are too many harmful insects in the garden, you can take advantage of an interesting trick and plant the seeds in halves of grapefruit or lemons.
To do this, cut the fruit in half and carefully remove all the flesh. The remaining peel must be thoroughly washed and filled with soil, after which seeds can be planted in it. After germination, the seedlings can be sent to the garden along with an impromptu “pot”.
Use beer
The smell of yeast and beer attracts slugs. They are very easy to fight with beer traps. To do this, you need to take several plastic cups (the larger the area of the site, the more containers you need) and distribute them at a distance of about 90 cm from each other.
The glasses are filled with any beer by about 2/3 and dug into the ground so that there is an edge of about 2 cm outside.
Slugs crawl into the beer smell, fall into a glass and die. Once every few days, the fluid must be changed to fresh.
