How To Use Vinegar In Your Garden And Landscaping Effectively

There is a wealth of information available on how to use vinegar in your garden and landscaping. Some of the uses are for cleaning, some for stimulating growth in plants, some for the vegetable garden and some for the yard. There are tips for killing weeds, repelling animals and insect pests, keeping the birds happy, and some advice for the well-being of the gardener.

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.

Instead, enjoy summer and wear whatever you want as you go about your garden armed with vinegar. It is more than environmentally friendly; it is actually good for plants when diluted with water. Incidentally, speaking of warm weather gardening attire, a vinegar spray soothes sunburn and keeps the gnats and mosquitoes at bay.

For spring cleaning tasks, vinegar is your best friend. Wash sticky residue from hummingbird feeders without worrying about leaving anything harmful behind the final rinse. Kill last year’s fungus and mold on both plastic and terracotta pots while you scrub off calcium deposits and discolorations. Vinegar makes it easy to get bird droppings off porches and patios, and will disinfect bird feeders and concrete bird baths.

Soak tools and other metal objects in vinegar for a day or two to get rid of rust. Clean garden shears and loppers with a rag soaked in vinegar before you put them away, and they will be disinfected as well. Scrub mildewed lawn furniture with a weak vinegar and water solution to remove the discoloration and retard the mold itself, and wash down the picnic table and the deck with a stronger solution.

You can also use vinegar on yourself and your family members of all ages, rubbing it on berry stains and using it to get oils from poison ivy and other irritating plants off exposed skin. What a good way to escape the itches and burning that inflict some of us when we venture outside.

Acid loving shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons appreciate an occasional slosh of apple cider vinegar added to lots of water. Foliage can be sprayed with vinegar and liquid compost or seaweed for extra feeding, and diluted vinegar is a great anti-fungal spray for roses and other plants susceptible to things like black spot and powdery mildew. Many harmful insect, such as slugs and snail, can be destroyed outright with a drop or two of vinegar directly applied; being careful with your aim will prevent damage to the plants in the area. Vinegar can be mixed with sugar and used to attract flying and crawling insect pests.

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.

Other uses are too numerous to mention, but some stand out. Neutralize the brown-spot effect of dog urine on your lawn by adding a spoonful of vinegar to the dog’s water bowl. Drink vinegar and water to feel refreshed but be more repellent to biting insects. Kill the grass in your gravel drive by pouring white vinegar straight from the bottle or by spraying well. Dab it on your bee stings and bug bites to combat the itch and pain.

This is just a brief overview. There are many recipes for vinegar preparations, but with common sense and trial and error you can come up with your own. Vinegar is safe for you, your family, and your pets, and will benefit both you and your environment with no dangerous side effects.

Learning how to use vinegar in your garden and landscaping may be the best thing that happens to you and your home place this year.

Cleaning with vinegar in and around your home is 100 percent safe, inexpensive and most importantly effective. Get the ultimate inside scoop on vinegar uses now.