SOMETIMES waiting for food scraps and other waste to reduce down in your bin can be like watching grass grow.
There are things that you can do to hurry this process and reusing leftover food is one of them.
We tend to throw away a lot of ‘rubbish’ that could otherwise go straight in the garden.
Things like eggshells, these can be ground up by hand and scattered around your plants, adding vital calcium to enrich the garden.
Even half eggshells can be used by the kids to grow small vege plants and later transplanted to the garden.
Housed in the original recyclable containers, six, 12 or 18 plants can be grown at once and looked after by the kids as a project to accomplish.
After the plants are suitable size, they can be transplanted, and the eggshells crushed and placed in the garden.
Does your family eat pasta dishes? Quick and easy to make, these mixed dishes use water as their base.
But what do you do with the left-over water? Why not disperse it in your garden, enriching the soil and saving a little water at the same time?
It’s hard to do, I know, you’re busy, it’s just so easy to throw it in the bin or down the sink. Maybe another day.
Spicy scraps can deter pests in your garden, chili peppers are a natural insecticide.
Used throughout the garden will deter those midnight visitors who want to partake of a late meal at your expense.
Try orange peel scraps scattered around the garden, the smell can deter many insects.
Recently in my pineapple crop, I had a midnight visitor sampling my ready to pick pineapples.
These have had some sunburn and deterioration of the skin and these animals have been able to penetrate the outer skin and have a bit of a feast, at least I know they’re ripe.
Used coffee grounds contain helpful nutrients including lots of nitrogen.
Easily spread around it becomes a low-cost fertiliser.
Don’t throw away those banana skins, feed them to the elk horns or cut them into small pieces and scatter them around the plants.
This time of the year is the best time to start a windowsill garden.
If you have a window close by in the kitchen, use the space to grow some herbs ready for your home cooking.
Many of the mint varieties, like the common mint, spearmint and peppermint can be grown by cutting.
Snip off a few strong stems from a growing plant and either placing them in water for a few weeks to get roots or place four straight stems in a small pot, these will get roots.
