9 Secret Ingredients to Make Your Garden Grow

Healthy plants don't happen by accident. To grow strong and healthy, plants need sun and water as well as soil that has sufficient nutrients.

1. Wood Ash

   

   Wood ash has a high alkaline content, which makes it great for neutralizing acidic soil. Before you add any ash to your garden, make sure it is completely cool to the touch.

2. Bananas

   

   Chop up banana peels, then bury them in soil when you plant tomatoes, rosebushes, or green pepper plants. The potash and phosphorous content in the peels will enrich the soil and strengthen your plants.

3. Compost Tea

   

   A strong dose of compost tea can do wonders to improve the vibrancy of your plants. If you already have a compost pile, there's a benefit to taking the time to brew it into a liquid solution bursting with beneficial microorganisms.

4. Club Soda

   

   
   

   What makes club soda more nutritious then normal water? Carbonated water contains macronutrients, including carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and sodium, all of which are beneficial for your greenery. The trick, for those trying this at home, is to let the fizzy water go flat before pouring it on your plants.

   
   

5. Aquarium Water

   

   When it’s time to change the water in your fish tank, consider pouring the old water out on your plants. The waste and bacteria in aquarium water may be harmful to fishes, but they are beneficial to plants. Just make sure to use freshwater only, not saltwater, and apply it only to ornamental plants, not edible ones.

6. Coffee Grounds

   

   Old coffee grounds have many uses, but they're particularly effective as plant boosters, thanks to their calcium, potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus content. Because coffee grounds acidify soil, acid-loving plants like rosebushes, evergreens, and azaleas benefit most from a treatment. Scatter fresh grounds lightly at the base of your plant or add them to the compost pile, where they will mix with other food scraps and leaves to create a rich soil.

   
   

7. Eggshells

   

   
   

   Because of their rich calcium content, eggshells should be tossed in your garden and not dust bin. Rinse them, crush them, and add them to plants like tomatoes that are often plagued by calcium deficiency. Or, start seedlings in eggshells that have been carefully halved and rinsed. When the seedlings are big enough to be transplanted, plant them right in the ground, shell and all; the shell will biodegrade over time. 

8. Tea Leaves

   

   Used tea leaves contain the three nutrients you need for a good fertilizer: nitrogen, potash, and calcium. Sprinkle them at the base of your plant.

9. Grass Clippings

    
   

   Adding a thin layer of grass clippings to your vegetable garden can prevent weed growth and help plants retain moisture. Apply no more than one-quarter inch of grass mulch; adding too much could inhibit water from passing through. Grass clippings that are full of weed seeds should be composted rather than applied directly to your garden—the heat from a properly maintained compost pile will kill the weed seeds. 
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Do you know what these juicy veggies are?

Grown in MahaGro Potting Mix, do you know what these juicy veggies are? Thanks ma'am for sharing the pic!  

Gardening for weight loss

Could gardening be the best weight loss exercise?

Apparently, gardening is the world’s best-kept exercise secret. Other than the obvious – netting us fresh, better tasting fruits and vegetables to eat (studies show that gardeners generally consume more fruits and vegetables than non-gardeners) – it also makes us fitter!

Here’s how:

Gardening is Just Like the Gym!

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You know your regular exercise routine? Gardening has equivalents:

• Turning soil = Lifting weights
• Raking = Using a rowing machine
• Pushing the lawn mower = Walking on a treadmill

Each of these exercises (whether in the gym or in the garden) burns close to the same number of calories!

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The exercise intensities of 10 gardening tasks for men and women in their 20s was studied by researchers from Konkuk University and Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea.

They found that all 10 gardening tasks were “moderate- to high-intensity” activities. While planting transplants, mixing growing medium, watering, harvesting, sowing, hoeing, raking, and weeding were all classified as “moderate intensity” – digging was a found to be a “high-intensity” activity and was the most intense task in study. Gardening is a Workout for Every Body Part

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It works all the major muscle groups – legs, buttocks, arms, shoulders, neck, back and abdomen since lots of stretching, pulling and lifting is involved (reaching for weeds, bending, digging to plant a seed...).

It’s exactly how ALL effective exercise regimes are supposed to be structured.

It’s a Great Osteoporosis Exercise

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All action during gardening is smooth and low impact, so there is minimal jarring and stress on the body and joints (unlike in high intensity aerobics workouts). This means there’s a lower chance of injury and wear and tear of bones and muscles. In fact, research says gardening is by far the best way to prevent osteoporosis as it involves lots of weight-bearing exercises.

Those who work in their garden have actually been found to have higher bone density than those who opt for other exercises (like swimming, jogging, dancing, etc.).

It Makes Us Happy

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Picture to yourself two scenarios: Doing crunches in a closed-wall gym. And watering rose plants in a garden. Even the biggest gym nut out there will admit that the latter is a much more relaxed, a far more pleasant activity!

Science proves it too: gardening drops the levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) that influences not just our mood, but also our weight (particularly belly fat). In fact, a study done in Norway showed that those suffering from depression (and other mental disorders like bipolar disorder) experience a measurable improvement in their conditions when they do gardening.

That’s not all! Gardening has various miscellaneous benefits: