Flick over to ITV at 10am on Saturday the 27th April, to catch me on the James Martin show.

I’ll be talking about all the great everyday household items that you can reuse in the garden, to cut down on your kitchen waste and help your best blooms to thrive.

Top kitchen items

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Everything in an eggshell

Keep eggshells rather than throwing them away. Crush into small pieces and drop into a bucket of water. They will add plenty of calcium and minerals and you can use this rich water to feed your plants.

You can also crush up eggshells and sprinkle them in a ring on the soil around plants to deter slugs and snails. They won’t crawl over such a rough barrier.

A sprinkling of tea

Cold tea leaves are a good source of nutrients for plants. You can add used teabags to a jug of water and leave for a week, then pour the liquid around ericaceous plants and add the teabags to the compost heap. Or rip open the bags and add the tea leaves directly to the soil as a mulch.

Great coffee grounds

You can add them to the compost heap or mulch directly onto the soil around plants. They are full of nutrients.

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Brilliant bananas

Ripen green tomatoes in the greenhouse by hanging bananas up among the plants. They release a ripening gas called ethylene, which will encourage the tomatoes to turn red. After a few days, your tomatoes and bananas should be ready to eat.

Feed roses with the added potassium and save money on rose Chop up banana skins and place on the soil around roses, fleshy side down. The skins will rot down and add plenty of nutrients for the plant roots.

These are just some of the many handy helpers hiding in your kitchen cupboards. For more top tips, tune in on Saturday morning.

Happy gardening!

For more on your great garden wildlife, check out this blog:

Or check out my Pinterest board for more ideas: