It is often not necessary to look far to find useful products and tools for the vegetable garden. It is easy to recycle the most innocuous objects and foods of everyday life and reuse them to ensure a superb harvest of delicious vegetables… Simple, economical and good for the planet!
homemade garlic insecticide
To prepare an effective homemade insecticide, put 1 clove of garlic and 2 cups of water in a blender and puree everything. Pour the mash into a covered bowl and let sit for a day. Then, filter the puree by passing it through cotton cheesecloth or a sieve. Dilute the liquid obtained in 4 liters of water and add a tablespoon of black soap to the mixture, to improve its adhesion to the plants afterwards.
How to use it ? Spray this natural insecticide on plants infested with aphids, whiteflies or other insects once a week, until they disappear! As it is a very mild insecticide, you won’t risk burning your plants.
Insect barrier
You may have a piece of old sheer (thin curtain) lying around somewhere: use it to protect your vegetables from harmful insects! After sowing or transplanting, put a few stakes upright in the garden (themselves recycled: sticks for mixing paint, old croquet set, old bamboo stakes, etc.), then cover them with the curtain, thus creating a sort of cage around the plants. Then bury the edges of the curtain all around. Rain, sun and air will be able to pass through it, to the great benefit of the plants, but not harmful insects!
Bells made from recycled bottles
Do you want to get a little ahead of the hot season? Protect the plants from the cold at night with cloches (small transparent shelters) made from 1 to 5 liter plastic bottles. Using a knife, cut the bottom of the bottle, so as to keep the neck and its cork. Place this bell on the plant to be protected (tomato plant, pepper, cucumber, etc.). In May or June, if the night promises to be cold (less than 12°C), leave the plug in place to retain the heat accumulated during the day. If the night looks warmer, remove the cap to let the air circulate. When (finally!) the air stays warm every night, remove the bell and put it away for next time.
Against cutworms
Cutworms, moth larvae (moth moths), eat away at the base of our vegetables during the night and mow them down… often in the days following their transplanting! What a disaster ! Be aware, however, that you can easily protect your young plants with a barrier made of recycled containers. Simply remove the bottom of a few empty cans to create a tube. Place these barriers around the young plants, pushing the bottom of the can at least 2 cm into the ground. With such a barrier around the stems, the cutworm, which always works on the surface of the soil, will no longer be able to do its job.
Homemade seed tapes
You can make your own seed ribbons… out of toilet paper! Take a row-long piece of toilet paper from your vegetable garden and cut it lengthwise into thin strips 2.5 to 5 cm wide. Using a pencil and a ruler, mark the ideal location of the seeds on the strip (according to the information indicated on the seed packet). Then mix a tablespoon of flour with a tablespoon of water to prepare a natural glue. Using a paintbrush or cotton swab, apply a drop of homemade glue to each pencil mark and place a seed there. Fold the paper in half (always lengthwise) and leave to dry. When sowing, make a furrow of the recommended depth along the entire length of your vegetable garden and place the tape in the bottom before covering with soil and watering. When the seedlings sprout, they will have exactly the recommended spacing!
Gardeners, start rummaging through your garage, shed, or attic: you’ll find plenty of produce there that you could recycle for your vegetable patch!