12 Odd But Useful Garden Tips & Solutions

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It is so satisfying when a garden tip is simple yet solves a problem or makes things easier. Have a look at these ideas and see what could help with your gardening.

For more helpful solutions also see 5 Smart Uses for a Dollar Store Waste Basket where this one simple item has several handy uses.

Roll of paper towel and seeds germinating.

Simple Garden Tips That Really Work

While some of these ideas may sound odd to beginners, we gardeners are a resourceful lot and if there’s a neat trick to speed things up or make things easier, we’re in!

These are all simple hacks I use in my own garden.

1Germinate Seeds in a Crock Pot or Instant Pot

If you want to speed up seed germination or check if old seeds are still viable, you can use a crock pot or Instant Pot to encourage them.

2Make Seed Tapes With Toilet Paper

Seed tapes are handy for controlling where seeds grow. I use them for tiny seeds that otherwise might blow away. They are also handy for sowing seeds in a sloped garden bed to keep the seeds in place while roots are forming.

How to Make Seed Tapes From Toilet Paper

3Convert Grass Lawn to Garden Beds With Cardboard

It takes several months, but a layer of cardboard really can get rid of grass lawn without having to dig up the turf.

The Cardboard Method for Turning Lawn into Garden Beds

4Start Unpredictable Seeds in Paper Towel

Start any slow-growing seeds like avocado or mango in paper towels (or scraps of cotton fabric) instead of soil. The advantage is, you can check on them to see if they are indeed sprouting or abandon ship if they’re not. Once they’ve got some roots, you can plant them in containers confident your new plants are off to a good start.

Collage of flowers, garden path, and plant tags.

5Dry Herbs in Microwave

It takes some trial and error to get the timing right, but a microwave oven is handy for drying herbs for cooking and teas. It’s also a fast way to create instant pressed flowers and leaves for crafts. While a food dehydrator is ideal for this, an oven or toaster oven can work too.

6Pick The Right Pen For the Job

If you want a marking pen for plant tags that will not fade in the sun, use an oil-based marking pen. They are often sold as “paint pens.”

If you want a somewhat temporary marking pen, choose a water-based one. These will gradually fade in the sun.

Brands like Sharpie sell both types.

Learn more about Marking Pens for Gardeners

7Use Sticky Traps to Catch Fungus Gnats

It’s such a relief when something simple solves a problem without doing other harm. If you have fungus gnats leaping out of your houseplant potting mix, yellow sticky traps can catch them.

How to Deal With Fungus Gnats

8Grow New Tomato Plants From Cuttings

You can take cuttings from tomato plants any time during the growing season and root them for new plants. Because they are cuttings, the new plants will be clones of (the same as) the original plants. I do this at the end of the summer and grow the plants indoors over the winter.

How to Grow Tomato Plants From Cuttings

9Use Your Fridge and Freezer to Cold Stratify Seeds

If you have struggled to germinate hardy wildflowers and other native plant seeds, have a look at the fridge-freezer method shown here. It seems to fast-track the freeze-thaw cycle many of these seeds need prior to germination.

See the video instructions here: Best Delphinium Germination Method

10Use Organic Yard Waste to Fill Large Planters

If you are growing in large planters or raised beds, there is no need to fill the entire container with (expensive) soil or compost. Depending on what you’re growing, the plants may need just 6 to 12 inches of root space up top. Use yard waste like grass clippings and pruned branches to fill the rest of the space. They will gradually decompose and further enrich your soil.

How to Inexpensively Fill Large Raised Beds

11Don’t Dig If You Don’t Need To

For years we’ve been told to till and turn our soil before planting. Turns out, this may not be necessary and could harm the soil structure. And, ultimately, why do the extra work if you don’t need to?