Here are some of the natural garden remedies I use to help fix some common problems with my plants. These remedies either fix a problem, like deter pests, or help with plant growth. Either way, I think every gardener should incorporate some of these tricks into their gardening.

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Banana water for Plant Growth

Banana water is perfect for supplying added nutrients to your plants, particularly potassium which is essential for overall plant growth (shown in this study). Therefore, small amounts of banana water can be added to soil to help give your plants a little nutrient boost.

However, this should not be a frequent or common remedy, as overly concentration amounts of potassium in soil can actually disrupt plant growth. Instead, aim to do this every few months to maintain soil nutrition and plant health.

How to make Banana Water

Banana water is super simple to make, simply steep a banana peel in warm water for a few hours before pouring it onto your plants. You can also do this with cold water, just simply leave the banana peel in cold water overnight and use it the next morning. The water should be a dark brown colour by the time it’s ready to use.

Egg Shells for Plant Growth

Egg shells are a great garden remedy for several reasons. They provide calcium for your plants and kill garden pests like slugs (I prefer deterring methods, which I’ll show later). Both of these work by creating eggshell power and working it into the soil around your plants. The calcium from the shell dissolves into the soil, and the shell itself creates a sharp barrier against soft bodied pests.

How to make Egg shell powder

The process is fairly simple; you just have to dry, and crush the egg shells. Also, you may have to wash them to avoid smells forming in your garden. This just means using a small amount of water and your fingers to lightly wash any residue off.

For drying them, you can air dry them or use an oven or air fryer. Air drying simply involves laying them flat on a paper towel and placing them off to the side. The shells will dry in the air after a few days, but will only take around 20 minutes in an oven or air fryer. For drying them in an air dryer, simply place them in the fryer at 160 degrees Celsius. You don’t want to set the temperature too high in case the shells burn. Then, air fry the egg shells for 20 minutes, the shells should be brittle and crumble easily once done.

To grind the shells, simply use a mortar and pestle to crush up the shells into a fine powder, or place the shells in a bag and roll them over with a rolling pin. You could use a blender, but I don’t personally think it is necessary when the powder is folded into the soil.

Beer Traps to get rid of slugs

These are an easy and simple solution to reduce the slug and snail population in your garden, and only involves a shallow container and some beer. Simply bury the container slightly into the soil around your plants, then fill it with beer. Be sure to leave the container slightly above the soil, so that other bugs don’t get caught. Also, be sure to plant several around your plant beds as these traps only attract slugs within a few feet radius.

These beer traps work by attracting the slugs to the beer, and causing them to fall in. This will cause the slugs to drown if left in the trap.

Soapy Water to Get Rid of Pest Eggs

Pest infestations can be something of a nightmare to deal with, particularly in a garden where the pests can lay eggs on multiple plants. I first used this trick to get rid of fruit flies, and it was surprisingly effective. It gets rid of eggs whilst not harming your plants, and deters any new flies from laying eggs. Even better, you can use this in place of pesticides for your harvestable plants like fruits and vegetables.

Simply mix a small amount of dish soap and water in a spray bottle and lightly spritz the mixture over your plants. The mixture does not need a lot of soap, simply enough to form a thin layer bubbles when shaken. Do this each day for a week and you should notice that the eggs are gone.

The spray bottle is important, since you don’t want large amounts of soap water to run off into the soil. The bottle allows you to cover the larger leaf beds with at little mixture as possible.

Strong scented Plants to deter pests

Do you know that you can protect your plants with other plants? It’s great! BY simply planting stronger scented plants like rosemary and Thyme, you can deter pests like slugs and aphids. Even better, these herbs attract pollinators like bees to your garden, which is always great for local plant life.

Another great feature of this is that you can use these herbs in your own kitchen, since rosemary and thyme are super common herbs for a variety of meats and dishes. For a guide on how to plant and harvest these herbs, check out my guide to growing an herb garden.

Tea and Coffee grains to increase soil acidity

I mentioned this trick in my Strawberry Growing Guide, but tea and coffee are super easy for increase soil acidity. This is super useful for plants which prefer acidic soil like strawberries, blueberries, azaleas, and hydrangeas.

This is super easy to do, simply sprinkle tea and coffee ground into the soil around your plants and lightly fold it into the soil. You could also soak them into water and pour that onto your plants. This doesn’t need to be done frequently, simply every few weeks or months when you notice your plants growth starts to slow down.

I hope you found this page helpful in showing you a variety of natural remedies to use in your garden. If you did, feel free to share with me how they went! Thanks for Reading!