Gardening tips 2023 — Quick trick to get a super green lawn using a cheap kitchen item we all have in our pantries

Identifying squirrel damage: Soil or mulch disruption

Squirrels enjoy digging up the dirt and mulch in garden beds and pots, so if you notice this in your garden, you may have a squirrel problem.

Master Class recommends that you protect the roots and use one of the various natural squirrel repellents.

Identifying squirrel damage: Missing bird food

Squirrels are scavengers of rodents and they look at every prospective food source, including bird feeder seeds, Master Class reported.

Sunflower seeds, which are commonly found in bird feed, are a favorite of squirrels.

Squirrels will not only eat what falls to the ground but also climb up and eat from the real bird feeder.

Identifying squirrel damage: Bulb damage

Squirrels eat natural foods, and they don’t recognize the difference between food that falls from trees and food planted in a garden by homeowners, according to Master Class.

Squirrels dig up planted bulbs in the spring and fall, not only for food but also to provide hiding places for other foods they’ve acquired.

Identifying squirrel damage: Absent crops

Master Class wrote that if your plants are consistently lacking harvests, it’s likely that a squirrel got to them before you had a chance to harvest them.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, berries, lettuces, and other fruits and vegetables are examples of this.

There’s still time to use repellents if you see nibbling on any leaves or the crops themselves.

Why are squirrels attracted to gardens?

Squirrels are food-obsessed and will eat practically everything in a garden, Master Class reports.

Squirrels are known for their fondness for acorns, but they aren’t fussy eaters.

They will eat vegetables from your vegetable garden, flowers, flower bulbs, and any birdseed you may distribute around your lawn, yard, or garden.

Squirrels may be attracted to your home by even mundane items like rubbish.

Pots can be too big or small

The experts at Lifehacker shared life-saving tips for any plants that just can’t seem to make it in the long run and revealed that one of the key factors is the size of the pot your plant is in.

“If the pot is too small, your plant’s roots will be constricted, and less soil means less nutrients for it to absorb,” the experts explained.

On the other hand, if your plants die off despite having “plenty of room,” you may accidentally be drowning or starving your plant.

“A pot that’s too big can result in soil that’s too moist, and can make it difficult for the soil to be firmly packed around the roots,” the pros added.

How to use garden lime to kill weeds

To combat pesky weeds, the experts at Balcony Garden Web advised to: “Spread lime using a spreader if your soil doesn’t have a calcium to magnesium ratio of 7 to 1.”

The best way to figure out if your garden could benefit from lime is to have a soil test done by state Cooperative Extension offices, according to Better Homes and Gardens.

Simply follow their soil-sample collection directions and you’ll receive all kinds of information back about the conditions of your garden, including its calcium and magnesium levels.

$4 weed killer

According to the experts, the secret to a weed-free garden and lawn is lime, and no, it’s not the kind you eat.

Lime used in gardens is made from crushed-up limestone, rock, or dolomite, and when applied to soil, it raises the pH level, making the soil less acidic.

Lime also contains magnesium and calcium, which are vital for a healthy garden.

It’s actually the lack of calcium in soil that provides the condition for weeds to thrive in.

Save hundreds by using sugar

Expert Jordan Page — the “Fun Cheap or Free Queen” — revealed how she uses sugar to keep her lawn greener than ever.

Rather than spend somewhere around $300-$500 on weeding and fertilizers, you can use white table sugar to solve many of your lawn’s problems.

Typically costing around $4, sugar is both super cheap and super easy to apply to your lawn.

Other than making your grass extra green, she said sugar is also beneficial for the environment.

Replace fertilizer with sugar

Sugar helps feed the beneficial microbes, insects, and worms within the grass, which would usually be killed by fertilizer.

These microbes and insects help to improve the soil structure, increase photosynthesis, and provide resistance to extreme climates.

How pool noodles can help your garden

A garden pro named Jamie, who goes by @mama.jmarie on TikTok, loves the look of oversized planters.

These giant pots, however, are sometimes hard to fill so that the flowers stand tall enough.

Jamie said she has an easy solution— and it only requires one Dollar Tree purchase.

“For those large flower pots, use pool noodles to take up extra space,” she said, while cutting up chunks of a foam noodle and placing them at the bottom of the pot.

“This also provides drainage for your plants.”