If you like gardening and also like DIY (do-it-yourself) projects, Yard2Kitchen Organic Garden has a lot of fun ideas for you! Pick and choose from a variety of ideas and let us know how you do!
All-Natural Pesticide
Did you know you can make your own natural pesticide for your vegetable garden? All you have to do is mix one cup of vegetable oil with one tablespoon of soap, and then cover and shake it thoroughly. When you are ready to use it, drop two teaspoons of the mix into a quart of water. Shake it up and you are ready to spray. What could be easier?
Compost
You can use your food scraps and other items to make compost. It’s good to use both brown and green materials for the pile. Brown materials might include dead leaves, branches, and twigs. Green materials are things like grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps, and coffee grounds. You can add water to the pile to keep it moist, and regular turning speed decomposition. It will be ready when it is dark and crumbly and has an “earthy” smell.
Mini Terrariums
Here is a great idea that involves recycling an item that might end up in the trash. Did you know you can use as rotisserie chicken tray as a mini terrarium? The containers make wonderful trays for seedlings that need humidity and moisture as they start to grow. It’s also so easy to take care of them.
Drip Feeder
It is helpful to water some plants, such as tomato plants, from the root. This lessens the chance of damage to the leaves and a calcium deficiency which can lead to blossom end rot. Drip watering systems are very helpful for this, and you can actually make your own from a soda bottle! Here is the DIY soda bottle drip feeder project to find out how to do it.
Plant Stakes
Vegetables that are large when grown (such as many tomato varieties) need staking to support the growth. You can buy stakes – or if you are crafty, you can make your own! All you need is a recycled expandable curtain rod and some pantyhose. Then tie the pantyhose to the curtain rod (to protect the stem). And as the plant grows, simply expand the curtain rod and keep tying the stem higher and higher to the support. Brilliant! Here is more info on DIY plant stakes.
Mulch
For all you recyclers out there, another idea is to use old newspapers to make mulch. Newspaper is a perfect way to control the weeds in your vegetable garden, as it adds a barrier that keeps weeds from growing. And this also works with junk mail! With a paper shredder and some water and you can turn unwanted mail into garden mulch.
We hope this has inspired you to try a few DIY garden project yourself! And remember that Yard2Kitchen Organic Gardens is always here if you would rather have us set up and maintain your garden. Just Contact Us to learn more.