You Should Use Orange Peels in Your Garden
After you’ve finished eating or juicing an orange, your first impulse may be to throw away the leftovers. Of course, what you do with your food waste is up to you, but you should be aware that orange peel can provide a lot more, especially if you have a garden.
Ignore TikTok posts claiming that banana peels are the magical, potassium-rich lifesaver plants your garden needs: orange peel produces better results at a much lower cost. Here are some ways to use orange peel in the garden.
seedling starter pots
Even before (outdoor) gardening officially starts, the orange peels are ready for you, serving as small seedling starter pots . Before eating an orange, cut it in half, then remove the fruit and poke a hole in the bottom of the peel to drain the liquid. Add some dirt and seeds and watch it grow. When it’s time to move it outside, it can be planted in the ground entirely.
Snail bait and removal
Need to get rid of slugs in the garden? Place the peel of an orange half (so it looks like the pots above) in your garden (or better yet, a few peels all over the yard). The next morning there is a good chance it will have live snails from your garden. From there, you can move the skins – slugs and all – somewhere far away from your garden.
Peel as a pest control
Snails are just the beginning: orange peel can repel all kinds of garden pests. After double-checking that all the fleshy fruits are peeled, cut them into strips and scatter them around the garden.
As it turns out, many of the insects and rodents that love to tear up your garden are not fans of the smell of oranges . So when you place these peel strips around the base of the plant, many pests will move on. Just be sure to replace the peels as soon as they start to dry out (the drier they are, the less effective they are).
Natural pest control spray
Orange peels can also be used to make a natural pest repellent spray that will keep slugs, aphids, ants, whiteflies, fruit flies, and other insects from entering your garden. Just put a few orange peels and one cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat.
After it has cooled, strain the liquid and pour it into an empty spray bottle. Spray plants in your garden (and home) with it every three to four days.
As plant food
When you use orange peels in your garden as starter pots or as an insect repellent, they also provide your plants with important nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium.