Skip to main content

5 Ways to Use Tea Leaves in Your Garden!

 


 From Fighting Weeds to Boosting Soil

Nurture your plants and reduce household waste by reusing that afternoon cuppa.


There are many household items you can use to improve your plants and outdoor spaces, like Epsom salt to promote foliage or baking soda to freshen up garden decor. Another natural trick is using tea leaves to nurture plants and deter unwanted pests, among other benefits.  


Tea leaves provide natural acidity to plants that enjoy the boost and can bump nitrogen levels when added to compost. But be wary of using any tea leaves that have soaked up milk or added sweeteners, which can do more harm than good. Read on to see how our experts use tea leaves in their own gardens and discover how your afternoon cup just might benefit your plants. 


1.Speed Up the Compost

Recycling is a big part of Lindsay Etemadipour’s daily life, and it's no different when it comes to the herbalist and founder of Symbi’s leftover tea leaves. "I make three to four cups of tea a day and add the leftover tea leaves to my compost,” Etemadipour says. “This allows for more nitrogen in my pile, which is what speeds up the decomposition.”


Sue Ure, a homeware designer and gardening expert in the southwest of France, is an enthusiastic tea drinker and her used tea bags go straight into the compost bin, as well. "I use tea bags more often than loose tea and try to buy ones that are compostable," she says. "It turns out most tea bags, like almost everything else, contain microplastics. If you aren’t sure whether your teabags are plastic-free, it’s best to compost the tea and discard the bag."


2.Ward Off Weeds

While used tea leaves may not directly help ward off weeds, sowing them into a healthy mulch is a surefire trick to keep the weeds at bay. A thick layer of mulch prevents seeds from reaching the soil and smothers out the sunlight for any weeds that have already buried themselves. 


3.Boost Nitrogen Levels

Another option that is beneficial for the garden is adding the tea leaves directly into your garden soil. "This can help increase the nutrient content, encourage beneficial microbial activity, and even improve soil structure," says Etemadipour. "The leaves are also slightly acidic, which is great for acid-loving plants. I swear by adding the tea leaves to my roses specifically." When her plants need a bit of extra support, Etemadipour might also add leftover tea by re-steeping tea leaves and using the second, weaker cup directly in her garden.


Ure also recommends adding tea along with the leaves if the plant enjoys the extra dose of nutrients. "When I drink loose tea, I might well empty the remainder of any cold tea, along with the leaves, onto a large azalea I’ve got growing just outside my kitchen door," Ure says. "Camellias, rhododendrons, and azaleas are all acid-loving plants and will appreciate an occasional top dressing of your leftover tea—but like all things, it’ll appreciate it more in moderation."



4.Fight Off Fungus

Some plant fungal infections can be fought naturally, and adding a diluted cup of chamomile tea to a spray bottle can do wonders for plants both indoors and out—but be sure the solution has cooled before application. To employ tea leaves in this application, let your used leaves sit in water and continue to steep until a weak brew is achieved.


5.Feed Your Worms

A healthy earthworm population in your garden has several benefits, from enhanced soil structure to heightened nutrients. The best way to encourage earthworms is to feed them nutrient-rich compost regularly, and adding your used tea leaves to the compost is a simple way to boost its organic structure. 


#Martha Stewart

#Food

#Holidays

#Entertaining

#Home


#Gardening

#Cleaning & #Organizing

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Man Who Invented The "Psychopath"?

The Man Who Invented the “Psychopath”? Hervey Cleckley, an influential psychiatrist, is often credited with shaping modern understandings of psychopathy, even though his original intent was to help rather than stigmatize those affected. His 1941 work, The Mask of Sanity, was pivotal, as it introduced the concept of the psychopath as a specific personality type with 16 distinct traits. Cleckley described individuals who seemed outwardly rational but exhibited shallow emotions, lacked empathy, and engaged in destructive behaviors, though often without malice. Cleckley’s perspective was initially sympathetic; he saw these individuals as “forgotten” by psychiatry—people who needed understanding and treatment. However, as psychopathy entered the public lexicon, the term was quickly associated with malice, violence, and even inhumanity. Cleckley’s nuanced portrait of the psychopath was adapted by later researchers like Robert Hare, who created the widely used Psychopathy Checklist, a t...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Often Should You Blog? A Guide to Ideal Posting Frequency

Blogging consistently is key to keeping your audience engaged and growing your reach. However, just having a blog isn’t enough. To attract traffic, establish your brand, or generate leads, you need a steady flow of fresh, valuable content. But how often should you post to get results? Here’s the answer: there’s no universal number of posts per week that’s perfect for every blog. Finding your ideal blogging frequency depends on your niche, audience size, content quality, and your goals. Here’s how to determine what’s right for you. --- Key Factors for Deciding Blog Frequency 1. Goals and Audience Define your primary goal: brand awareness, thought leadership, or sales? Different goals may require different paces. Understand your audience’s preferences. A tech guide blog may thrive with in-depth, less frequent posts, while a news blog benefits from regular updates. 2. Blog Age and Maturity Newer blogs need frequent, high-quality posts to establish a presence. As the blog matures and gains...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Conduct Audience Research For SEO:A Simplified Guide!

To excel in SEO, understanding what your audience searches for and why is crucial. Audience research unveils the intent behind search queries, helping you align strategies with user needs. This approach can uncover search behaviors, map audience intent, and identify SEO opportunities, even with limited resources. Traditional Audience Research: Methods and Challenges Traditional audience research focuses on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral insights to build audience personas. It often involves: Surveys: To gather customer feedback. Focus Groups and Interviews: To understand audience preferences and behaviors. However, as advertising pioneer David Ogilvy noted, traditional research can be flawed because people often don’t act as they say. Tools like Similarweb, Audiense, and Brandwatch can assist in audience segmentation but may not fully capture search behavior or intent. A Better Approach: Audience Research for SEO SEO-focused audience research analyzes search behavior to unc...
Post a Comment
Read more