As You Crack Open A Cold One After A Long Day Of Work, Save A Sip For Your Yard: The Carbs, Sugars, And Minerals In Beer Can Help Solve A Wide Range Of Gardening Woes
There’s nothing more refreshing than cracking open an ice-cold beer after a long day of hard work watering, digging, weeding, and pruning in your garden. But have you ever thought about sharing some of your drink with your plants?
As you’re quenching your thirst, try not to drain the can of every last drop. Save a little leftover liquid to use in your garden!
The carbohydrates, sugars, and minerals in beer can benefit your garden in many ways, serving as a useful solution for several common gardening problems. Here’s how beer has the power to help your outdoor space thrive.
Beer As A Flying Insect Trap
If you’ve ever tried to bask in the tranquility of your garden only to have your peace of mind ruined by buzzing insects swarming around your head, you know the struggle is real. It’s impossible to relax with so many pests in your presence. Flies love to hang around compost piles and gardens until they become the worst nuisances. Luckily, there’s an easy fix to this.
Many winged insects can’t resist the sweet stuff, so the sugar in beer that’s created during fermentation will draw them in. To make an insect trap, simply add the dregs of an old beer to a few bowls and place them outside. The bugs will fly toward them and stay until they’ve had their fill. You can even include a couple of drops of liquid detergent in the mix to make it sticky so they won’t be able to fly away.
Beer As A Compost Booster
There are so many things you can put in a compost pile, from fruit peelings and vegetable scraps to eggshells and coffee grounds. Eventually, that mountain of items will break down and turn into essential nutrients for your soil to improve plant growth. But did you know that a little beer can help speed up the composting process?
The yeast found in beer stimulates the bacteria that cause the organic matter in your compost to decompose. You can combine a bit of beer with soda, warm water, and ammonia. The liquid will also make your compost pile moist, which is important for the effectiveness of your compost. However, be sure not to add too much because it’ll get ruined if it’s overly wet.
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Beer As A Makeshift Fertilizer
Is your lawn looking a little patchy? Use some beer as a makeshift fertilizer to restore the lush greenery. The nutrients that beer contains will help any brown or bare patches grow back stronger and healthier. Beer is also known for being capable of counteracting the damage caused by nitrogen in dog urine.
Beer is about 90 percent water, but it would still be helpful to dilute it with a little water if you’re not looking to attract an army of thirsty insects. Spray your homemade solution onto the affected areas of your lawn to nourish your garden soil and prompt your grass to grow.
Beer Brings In Pollinators
The birds, the bees, and the butterflies are necessary for making the world go round. Without them to encourage the growth of plants, the human race and the rest of the ecosystems on earth would cease to exist. To attract more of these vital pollinators to your garden, set out a dish of diluted beer for them to enjoy.
In a small bowl, add one and a half cups of beer, five overripe bananas, and a cup of brown cane sugar. Mix everything thoroughly until you have created a thick paste. Place the bowl somewhere high up to prevent crawling critters on the ground from getting in on this sweet treat.
The yeast in beer is almost just like the yeast in the nectar of flowers, so it’ll certainly appeal to the taste of passing pollinators.
Beer Gets Rid Of Slugs And Snails
Any gardener knows that slugs and snails are detrimental to a garden’s success. They can effectively destroy all the leafy plants you’ve worked so hard to cultivate and leave your garden vulnerable to disease.
The good news is that a little beer works wonderfully as a snail and slug trap. Plus, it’s a lot more affordable and environmentally friendly than chemical pesticides.
To prepare a trap, dig a hole that’s large enough to fit your beer can in an area with high slug traffic. Place the can in the hole, leaving about a third of it sticking out. When the slugs and snails come to visit, they’ll slither toward the sweet-smelling beer and become trapped inside the can.
Beer Bottles As Watering Globes
Before dumping your beer bottles in the recycling bin, consider using them as watering globes. If you’ve ever seen one of those expensive watering bulbs but have never wanted to drop the cash on them, beer bottles can achieve the same purpose for a fraction of the cost!
Grab an empty bottle, turn it upside down, and push it into the soil next to your plants until it’s able to stand upright on its own. Then, you can remove it, fill it with water, and put it back in the dirt.
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