Four tried and tested ways to feed your garden from your kitchen
Growing your own vegetable patch this summer? One of the trends that came out of the pandemic was gardening, and research says this fad is here to stay.
Puneeta was recently on CTV’s The Social to share how food continues to be beautiful and purposeful long after it’s nourished us. Let’s feed our gardens straight from the kitchen by using food scraps we would normally throw away.
Making tea? Put those used leaves to work.
How: rinse used tea leaves and dry them in the sun for 2-3 days. Crumble the dried leaves into the soil around the base of your plants. Push it all down and water around as you normally would. See TV show for bonus tips too and why this works.
Eggs for breakfast? Save the eggshells.
How: rinse the eggshells out and let them dry for a couple of days. Once dry, crumble and sprinkle in the soil.
Why this works: the calcium and minerals in the shells are great for plants and soil.
Baking Banana Bread? Make banana peel tea.
Reduce what you throw away by making tea from your banana peels…for your plants! This is a great hack for times of COVID when so many of us are still baking banana bread. Another trend that is here to stay.
How: Save the peels for your plants. Steep peels in a bowl of water for 2-3 days, then dilute the liquid with more water (1/2 ratio) and use in your garden.
Why this works: banana peels are a great source of potassium and phosphorus, which are great for plant roots and soil health.
Conserve water and reuse that cooking water.
Another natural way to feed our garden is to reuse leftover (unsalted) water from steaming veggies, rice and boiled eggs.
How: Let the water cool and use to water plants.
Why this works: the conserved water from steamed veggies or boiled rice contain nutrients for plants.
Bonus tip: I fill glass jars and keep them on my kitchen counter. This tip is great for indoor and outdoor plants.
Watch the video for bonus tips on how to make this all work for real life.
