subject: Information On How To Use Vinegar In Your Garden And Landscaping Efficiently And Safely [print this page] Learn how to use vinegar in your garden and landscaping this year, and life will take on a whole new meaning. The number of purposes for which vinegar can safely be used in the lawn and garden seems almost without limit. It can help clean anything, it improves the health of plants you want and can destroy those you don't, it kills mold, mildew, and germs, and it also works for you yourself as you enjoy your garden.
Both kinds of vinegar, apple cider and distilled white, can be used. The white is cheaper for the quantities needed for weed and pest control, and also for cleaning. You may want to choose the cider vinegar for feeding and spraying plants. Both kinds are safe to handle, very different from the array of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers found on store shelves. To work with many garden chemicals, the prudent person should be encased in gloves, protective clothing, and safety mask and glasses.
Vinegar offers a safe and healthy alternative, not to mention cooler clothes. It is the ultimate in 'green', being so safe you can eat it, it is good for plants while being tough on bugs, and will also safely keep bugs away from you and cool down your sunburn.
Cleaning: Disinfect clay and plastic pots with a vinegar and water solution, and scrub way unsightly mineral deposits as you go. Clean the hummingbird feeders with non-toxic vinegar. Scrub the birdbath with vinegar and rinse to get off the droppings and sanitize the bath.
Rusty tools and other metal items can be left in full-strength vinegar for a couple of days and scrubbed back to the real finish. Garden tools can easily be sterilized between use on each plant by dipping them in a bucket of vinegar and water. Plastic lawn chairs can be wiped free of mildew with a cloth dipped in vinegar, which will inhibit the regrowth of the mold, and decks and wooden furniture can be scrubbed with a strong solution to remove winter's grime and stains.
Vinegar works on people, too. Rub it on berry stains. Wash yourself and the children after being outdoors with vinegar to remove the oils from toxic plants like poison ivy that may otherwise cause skin irritation and rashes. Make sure your hands are germ free before making lunch.
Vinegar is good for ornamental plants. Mix it with water and use it on azaleas or rhododendrons that love an acidic soil. Use it in a foliage feeding spray of diluted compost or liquid seaweed. Mixed with water, vinegar can be sprayed to keep black spot off roses, and fights powdery mildew, mealybugs, and other insects as well. A direct application of vinegar will kill a snail or slug. Mixing vinegar with water and sugar will create a bait to lure insects to bug traps.
Many animals and bugs will stay away from areas sprayed or soaked with vinegar. Soak rags in vinegar and stake them around your garden to keep away the deer. Repel rabbits and raccoons with cotton soaked in vinegar and placed in punctured cans throughout the vegetable rows. Pour it on anthills and spray it on ant trails. Keep cats off the yard and out of the sandbox by pouring vinegar full-strength around the edges. In contrast to this strategy, use a bowl of apple cider vinegar on the picnic table to keep bugs off the rest of the food.
The litany of benefits of this valuable substance goes on and on. A few more highlights include killing grass in the driveway and walkways with full-strength vinegar poured or sprayed to soak. This works with a dead-center aim on dandelions, too. Add a spoonful of apple cider vinegar to a pet's water bowl to prevent its urine discoloring your lawn. Mix vinegar and water for yourself as well; it gives you extra minerals and makes your blood unattractive to biting insects. Pat it on full-strength to ease bites and stings that you do get.
There is more to learn and you will undoubtedly find your own secrets and recipes as you experiment with vinegar, which is good for you, your family, and your garden. Feel free to try vinegar anywhere; there are no side effects and you will not be afraid to eat the fruits and vegetables and smell the flowers.
The value of learning how to use vinegar in your garden and landscaping can not be under-estimated, as you safely nourish, protect, and enhance the gardening experience.
