These 15 garden hacks will save you a lot of time and money

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Tip 9 is especially useful!

It’s always nice to know a few handy garden tricks that will save you time and money, whether you love gardening or prefer to stay as far away from it as possible. Whether you belong to the first or second category, we’ve listed 20 gardening hacks for you.

Table of Contents

1- Keep Weeds Away With Newspaper

No one wants to step on a pesky weed when they pop outside for a walk, but before you shell out a fortune on fancy material designed to prevent weeds, try this free method using old newspapers you no longer want: Simply cover weed-infested areas with mulch, soil, and grass clipping to keep them in place, then cover them with newspaper. The newspaper will slowly choke the weeds, leaving your garden weed-free!

2- Use Banana Peels for Fertilizer

It’s remarkably economical to grow your bananas, and it’s also a lot less costly than purchasing fertilizer from a gardening shop. Just bury the banana peel in your garden under a bit of soil to save time and money. Bananas are known for being cheap, and this trick saves you money and time. Commercial fertilizers contain a lot of potassium, which is also a key component in bananas. Your plants will benefit from their strength as well as from their disease-preventing properties.

3- Maintain Your Lawn Mower

The most costly lawn and garden tools and appliances, in addition to a lawnmower, require regular maintenance to save money. Having the blades sharpened and the engine tuned will result in better fuel efficiency and lower overall costs. Furthermore, you will save money in the long run by extending the life of your mower.

4- Save Your Seeds

You don’t have to use every seed in your packet when you plant in the spring; you may store a few in a sealed container in the fridge until you plant them next year. Although seeds might not be the most expensive item you can buy, you might save time and effort by not having to visit the store to buy more seeds.

5- Cut Your Grass According to the Season

Maintaining a lawn takes a bit of work, but it’s worth it! When the weather starts to get colder in late winter, mow your lawn about 1-2 inches shorter than you would during the growing season. Afterward, keep cutting your lawn shorter and shorter until early winter, when the grass stops growing and enters hibernation until spring. Maintain your lawn healthy and matt-free by following this advice.

6- Plant Produce in Plain Sight

It is impossible to compare store-bought fruits and vegetables to those grown at home. If you regularly rely on your own grown fruit and vegetables for meals, this tip is for you: Plant your produce near your front or back door so that you see it often and remember to water it. Not to mention, if you need a few carrots for a meal, you’ll have them right there with minimal effort!

7- Start With Good Soil

No matter what undertaking you take on, you must always begin with nutrient-rich soil, compost, dried peat moss, or manure. Having a strong foundation will allow the roots to grow immediately, enabling you to begin growing right away. For a vegetable garden, use a mixture of compost and organic matter. Make sure the soil isn’t sandy or compacted after you amend it.

8- Predators Are Your Friends

If you have a greenhouse, try introducing ladybugs to keep aphid-borne diseases at bay. Leaving birdseed, birdhouses, and birdbaths around your yard is another easy option. Birds eat a range of pests including caterpillars, aphids, and slugs, among other things. In addition to being fun to have around and pretty to look out from your window, they are also neat!

10- Water Your Plants Early in the Morning

Certain plants will flourish in the early morning hours, but they’re not human. By watering them in the morning, you ensure that the moisture is absorbed into the soil without much evaporation. You should avoid watering your plants in the evening, except by using a drip-irrigation system, because water applied at night often stays on the plant through the night, which may be detrimental to their health.

11- Protect Your Garden From Flooding

Rain gardens are especially effective at battling water accumulation in case you live in an area with a lot of rain since they are dug slightly lower and planted with permanent vegetation. You can avoid flooding by creating a rain garden, which is an area filled with perennial plants that are slightly sunken and then flooded. The water will allure the area and nourish the plants when it rains. As an additional advantage, rain gardens are also beautiful to look at!

12- Use Cola as a Pesticide

There are many harmful substances in Coca-Cola, but it can also be a godsend in your garden. You can make your pesticide by spraying it on your plants. Cola won’t kill pests, but it will attract ants, which then consume the larvae without harming your plants.

13- Mulch Leaves for Winter

It’s an undeniable fact that unsightly dead leaves will fall onto your lawn in autumn, but you can still benefit from them. Although it’s a widespread notion that dead leaves will help insulate your lawn throughout the winter, they will not function if they have not been shredded into mulch. You may use your lawnmower to turn the fallen leaves into mulch. The soil microbes will then assist in breaking down the leaves.

14- Use Coffee Filters to Line Your Potted Plants

With this simple trick, you can eliminate the inconvenience of having to clean spilled dirt from your patio, as you simply line your flower pots with a common item you likely have in abundance: coffee filters. The water will still be able to escape through the hole in the bottom of the pot and you won’t accidentally drown your potted plants because everything will be contained.

15- Store Your Hose in the Shade

The hose will age a lot faster if the sun reaches it (Kaufman, 2017). Chemical leaching is more of a problem when the sun’s heat is involved, as it is in your backyard. Store the hose in the garage or someplace else out of direct sunlight to maintain its longevity (and save you money on new hoses). You may have your doubts, but you should avoid the sun’s direct rays at all costs.