Secret Ingredients to Make Your Garden Grow

Healthy plants don’t happen by accident. To grow strong and verdant, plants need sun and water as well as soil that has sufficient nutrients… and that’s where commercial fertilizer comes in. Fertilizer puts badly needed nutrients back into the soil, but it …

Wood Ash

Wood ash has a high alkaline content, which makes it great for neutralizing acidic soil. To determine if your soil could benefit from an application of wood ash, first purchase a pH test kit at any garden center and test a small sample of soil from your garden beds. Before you add any ash to your garden, make sure it is completely cool to the touch.
Bananas

Chop up banana peels, then bury them in the soil when you plant tomatoes, rosebushes, or green pepper plants. The potash and phosphorous content in the peels will enrich the soil and strengthen your plants.
Compost Tea

A strong dose of compost tea can do wonders to improve the vibrancy of your plants. If you already have a compost pile, there’s a benefit to taking the time to brew it into a liquid solution bursting with beneficial microorganisms. Convinced? Here’s everything you need to know.
Club Soda

What makes club soda more nutritious for plants than tap water? Carbonated water contains macronutrients, including carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and sodium, all of which are beneficial for your greenery. For proof, look no further than the University of Colorado Boulder, where researchers watered a group of plants with club soda for 10 days; in the end, the club soda plants outgrew the control group. The trick, for those trying this at home, is to let the fizzy water go flat before pouring it on your plants.