Our previous article on Epsom Salt was quite a blast, according to our readers. Eco-friendly and organic lawn care and landscaping are trends one cannot ignore, especially if you are the type of homeowner concerned with environmental issues and sustainable lawn care and landscaping. Epsom Salt is one of many natural, organic and around-the-house solutions one has to boost the soil’s richness. There are plenty of other materials you probably have in the kitchen or pantry right now that boost the looks and health of your lawn and garden. Today our lawn care Snellville GA experts are here to offer you some advice on such products – with the amendment that you shouldn’t use them without having your soil tested first. While proper fertilization helps your lawn and landscape to thrive, overdoing things is not the right path to walk on.

1. Coffee Grounds

Our lawn care Snellville GA experts are declared coffee lovers who never throw away their coffee grounds. This organic material is an essential ingredient in compost – but we may talk to you about making compost later on. Coffee grounds can be left to dry; you can spread them then in a thin layer all over your turf, around flowers and vegetables, and around trees, ornamentals, shrubs, and hedges. Coffee grounds contain nitrogen, potassium, and phosphoric acid. Mix coffee grounds in a standard bucket of water; let the mixture rest for a couple of days and then water your lawn and flower beds with the mix. Your roses, evergreens, azaleas, berries, and many other flowers will thank you for it!

2. Egg Shells

Now that you kept your coffee grounds around after breakfast, you can keep the eggshells too. Our lawn care Snellville GA experts love egg shells and recommend you to love them as well. Egg shells can play a double role on your property: fertilizer and pest repellent.

  • Fertilizer: egg shells contain 90% calcium; we all know that; what you may not know is that many plants and especially vegetables love calcium as well.
  • Pest control: wash the egg shells and leave them around your veggie gardens or flower beds – they will repel snails and slugs and hurt other pests that crawl on the ground.

3. Molasses

This product is also around the house most of the times and you can use it as a fertilizer as well. You should really think about soil testing, however, say our lawn care Snellville GA experts, as molasses contain magnesium, calcium, iron, potash, sulfur and copper, among others – you don’t want to overdo it. Blackstrap molasses nurture the beneficial bacteria already thriving in your soil and feeding on the microbes there. Mix 1 to 3 tablespoons of molasses with a gallon of water and feed it to your plant’s roots to keep the turf, plants, and vegetables strong, healthy, and well protected against weeds or pests.

4. Banana Peels

Bananas and banana peels are rich in potassium. Burry one or two banana peels in the holes you prepare for your roses or vegetables. You can also add chopped banana peels to compost and fertilize the soil.