A savvy gardener has shared a “brilliant” kitchen scrap item that can be used – and it also deters rats and cats in your garden.
Fertilising the garden is one of the best things gardeners can do for it.
Proper fertilising leads to bigger blooms, more abundant harvests, and overall happier plants. However, good-quality fertiliser can be expensive. Thankfully, gardeners have shared a kitchen scrap item that can be used to save money and reduce kitchen waste.
Kitchen waste is something everyone deals with, no matter how hard households try to eat everything before it goes bad. This is especially true when it comes to plant products.
To minimise waste, one gardener asked if she could use orange peels in her garden, what cannot be added in gardens, and whether they would benefit her plants, reports the Express.
Taking to the Gardening UK Facebook page, Angela Knight said: “Hi, I have a few compost questions. Can I put orange peel in the compost bin? I eat loads of oranges but as I never knew if you could I tend to throw the peel away.
“I know you can’t put onions, cooked food and meat in, but is there anything else you shouldn’t put in the compost bin “
Group members were all for adding orange peels in the garden. Louise Gallagher said: “I always add oranges and onion! Not had any problems.”
Mabel Walker said: “I put all uncooked veg and fruit peel, onions and orange banana peel, buckets of unwashed seaweed in and shredded paper and cardboard.”
Brian Corr said: “I have always put onions and also orange, lime and lemon peels in and it’s never been an issue for me. It’s helped my plants greatly and has deterred rats and cats from my garden.”
For those grappling with cats treating the garden as a toilet, the potent aroma of oranges could be a fantastic, safe deterrent. Emma Kelsall said: “We put it all in our compost. The only thing I avoid is anything cooked.”
On the composting front, Chris Taylor said: “Orange peel is brilliant to add to compost as it breaks down it releases phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. Every plant needs as much of these nutrients as it can get to thrive.
“I put the skins of oranges in my compost every day. The family love fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast.”
What savvy gardeners ought to do with orange peels is mix them into their compost heaps. After a couple of years, as the peels decompose, they turn into nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, all key elements that enrich garden soil.
Their acidic nature means they’re ideally suited for crops that favour a more acidic soil, such as potatoes, blueberries and azaleas.
Budget-conscious shoppers will be pleased to hear that oranges don’t break the bank; a five-pack can be scooped up for a mere 95p at supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, and Aldi mere pennies for a plant-boosting hack.
If you want ideas and inspiration to plan your next UK adventure plus selected offers and competitions, sign up for our 2Chill weekly newsletter here
