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Vinegar isn’t just for the kitchen—it can be surprisingly useful around the garden when used correctly! 🌱
In this video, discover practical ways vinegar can be used around your garden, from tackling unwanted weeds and cleaning garden tools to helping with certain everyday gardening problems.
But be careful: vinegar is acidic and can damage or kill plants when applied directly to their leaves or roots. I’ll show you where it can be useful, where you should avoid it, and why using too much can cause more harm than good.
Watch until the end before trying vinegar in your garden!
#Gardening #GardenTips #Vinegar #GardenHacks #OrganicGardening
Vinegar isn’t just for the kitchen—it can be surprisingly useful around the garden when used correctly! 🌱
In this video, discover practical ways vinegar can be used around your garden, from tackling unwanted weeds and cleaning garden tools to helping with certain everyday gardening problems.
But be careful: vinegar is acidic and can damage or kill plants when applied directly to their leaves or roots. I’ll show you where it can be useful, where you should avoid it, and why using too much can cause more harm than good.
Watch until the end before trying vinegar in your garden!
#Gardening #GardenTips #Vinegar #GardenHacks #OrganicGardening
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Most folks keep their vinegar in the kitchen and never dream it has a place out in the garden.
00:04But that humble jug is one of the handiest things a gardener can carry out to the beds
00:09and the potting bench and the tool shed. It cleans and it freshens and it dissolves and it lifts
00:15and it does a good half dozen jobs out there that folk paid good money for special products to do.
00:22But I am going to be straight with you today, the way I always am,
00:25for there is a deal of foolishness told about vinegar in the garden too.
00:30Some of it that would harm the very plants you are trying to help.
00:33And I will not lead you wrong.
00:35So today I will give you the true uses of vinegar in your garden, the ones that genuinely work.
00:41And I will tell you honestly the few places you must not use it so you get all its good
00:47and none of its harm.
00:48Let me show you.
00:50Here is the thing to understand first, the one fact that tells you where vinegar belongs in a garden
00:56and where it does not.
00:57Vinegar is an acid and that is its whole nature.
01:01On a hard surface, a pot or a tool or a bench, that acid dissolves the mineral crust and the
01:08rust
01:08and cuts the grime and it is wonderful.
01:11But that same acid, sprayed on a green growing plant or poured on your good soil,
01:17will burn the leaves and sour the ground, for it cannot tell a weed from a wanted plant
01:23nor good soil from bad.
01:25So the plain rule is this.
01:27Vinegar is a grand cleaner for the hard things in a garden and a help in a few careful spots.
01:33But it is not a thing to go spraying about on your plants and your beds, whatever the clever folks
01:38say.
01:39Keep that straight and vinegar is your friend out there.
01:43Now let me give you its true uses, one by one.
01:46Quick word before we go further.
01:48My name is Esther Yoder and the old household ways handed down to me,
01:52the kind I am sharing today and a great many more besides,
01:56are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
01:59I have gathered the whole of them into a book and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:05If today's tips serve you, that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:10all in the one place.
02:12Now, to the garden.
02:14My grandmother carried her vinegar jug out to the garden as readily as she kept it under the sink.
02:19And she used to say that the same plain thing that cleaned her kitchen served her garden,
02:24if a body knew which jobs were its own and which were not.
02:28She had no patience for the notion that a garden wanted a shelf of special sprays,
02:33but neither would she misuse a thing and harm her plants for it.
02:37So here are her uses for vinegar out of doors, the true ones,
02:41beginning with the cleaning, which is where it shines brightest.
02:45First, cleaning your clay and terracotta pots.
02:48Those good clay pots, prized because they breathe and keep the roots cool, have one trouble.
02:54They drink up the minerals from the water and the soil
02:57and go crusted white and stained with hard water scale over time.
03:01And vinegar, being an acid, dissolves that mineral crust beautifully.
03:06So mix about a cup of vinegar into four cups of warm water
03:10and set the crusted pot to soak in it a good half hour or more.
03:14And the vinegar dissolves the white buildup.
03:16And then you scrub it lightly and rinse it, and it comes up clean as new.
03:21For a pot going to hold a new plant, rinse it well after,
03:25so no vinegar lingers on the roots to come.
03:27Second, and one of the best, cleaning the rust off your garden tools.
03:32A rusty trowel or hoe or pair of shears is a misery to work with and does not last.
03:37And vinegar is the easiest rust remover there is.
03:41You simply soak the rusty tool in plain, undiluted vinegar,
03:45let it sit a good while, hours for heavy rust,
03:48and the acid dissolves and loosens the rust.
03:51And then you wipe it down with a dry cloth,
03:53and the rust comes away and your tulle is bright again.
03:56And here is a good habit after.
03:59Dry the tulle well and wipe it with a bit of oil to keep the rust from coming back.
04:03The same as I told you for your iron pans.
04:06Vinegar to take the rust off, oil to keep it off.
04:10Third, cleaning your outdoor furniture and benches.
04:14The chairs and tables and benches that live out in the weather all year
04:18gather grime and mildew and a dulling film.
04:22And a cloth soaked in vinegar, wiped over them regularly,
04:26cleans them and freshens them and cuts that film.
04:29It cleans and freshens well.
04:31I will not tell you it leaves them hospital sterile,
04:35for that is more than vinegar does.
04:37But for keeping your outdoor seats clean and fresh,
04:41it is just the thing, and cheap.
04:44Fourth, cleaning the bird bath.
04:46If you keep a bird bath or a little fountain for the birds,
04:50it wants cleaning regular,
04:52for the water sits and grows a slippery green algae and can go foul.
04:58So once a week or so, tip it out and scrub it with vinegar,
05:01which cleans away the algae and the slime and the grime,
05:06and cuts the odor and helps keep the new water fresh longer.
05:10And here is a plain care.
05:12Rinse it very well with clean water after,
05:16and let no vinegar linger before you fill it fresh for the birds,
05:20so they drink only clean, sweet water.
05:24A clean bird bath is a kindness to the birds and keeps them coming.
05:30Fifth, a clever one, trapping fruit flies and gnats.
05:34When the fruit flies plague your kitchen or your garden come the warm weather,
05:40hovering round the ripe fruit,
05:42here is a simple trap that truly works.
05:45Take a little jar and put in it a bit of apple cider vinegar
05:49and a drop or two of dish soap,
05:52and set it out where they gather.
05:54The flies are drawn in by the sweet, sour smell of the vinegar,
05:59and the drop of soap breaks the surface,
06:02so they cannot land and rest on it, but sink and are caught.
06:06A few of these little jars set about will clear a plague of fruit flies wonderfully,
06:12and it is the vinegar's smell that lures them, honest and simple.
06:18Sixth, and a small blessing at harvest,
06:21washing berry stains off your hands.
06:24Anyone who has picked a good crop of berries
06:27knows the purple stain that dyes your hands
06:31and will not scrub off with soap.
06:34Well, a little plain vinegar rubbed on your stained hands
06:38cuts that berry juice
06:39and lifts the stain where soap alone will not,
06:43and then you wash as usual.
06:46A small thing, but a welcome one come berry season.
06:51Seventh, washing your fresh vegetables.
06:54When you bring your garden vegetables and greens in,
06:58a vinegar rinse helps clean them better than plain water alone.
07:02Fill a basin with water and add a good splash of vinegar,
07:06a spoonful to a quart or so,
07:09and let your vegetables soak a few minutes.
07:12Then scrub and rinse them well in clean water.
07:15It helps loosen and wash away the dirt and residue clinging to them.
07:20Rinse them well after in clean water so no vinegar taste lingers
07:26and your produce is clean for the table.
07:29Eighth, giving your cut flowers a longer life in the vase.
07:34When you cut flowers from your garden to bring their beauty indoors,
07:39you have cut them off from their roots and they begin to fade.
07:42But you can slow that fading and keep them fresh longer
07:46with a little vinegar and sugar in the vase water.
07:49To a quart or liter of water in the vase,
07:53add a couple of spoonfuls of vinegar
07:55and a couple of spoonfuls of sugar before you set your flowers in.
08:00The sugar feeds them a little
08:02and the vinegar helps keep the water from souring
08:05and between them, your cut flowers last a good while longer.
08:10Change the water and the mixture every few days
08:14and your bouquet stays fresh far longer than plain water would keep it.
08:19Ninth, and this one wants care, watering your acid-loving plants.
08:25Now, I told you vinegar sours the soil and harms most plants,
08:29so this is the one careful exception.
08:32There are a few plants that actually love a sour acid soil,
08:37the hydrangeas and the rhododendrons and the azaleas,
08:41the blueberries, too, and for these, and only these,
08:45a little vinegar in their water now and then
08:48can help feed that acid soil they crave.
08:52Mix about a cup of vinegar into a gallon of water
08:55and water those acid-loving plants with it now and again.
08:59But mind me well, this is only for the plants that truly love acid.
09:04It is an occasional help and not a regular feeding,
09:07and you keep it well away from all your other plants,
09:11which it would harm.
09:13And now, since I promised you honesty,
09:15I must tell you plainly the places folk will urge you
09:19to use vinegar in the garden where you must not,
09:21for they would harm the very garden you are tending,
09:25and I will not have you led wrong.
09:27You will hear vinegar sold as a weed killer,
09:30mixed with salt and sprayed about,
09:33and I will be straight with you about it.
09:35A vinegar spray does burn down the green tops of weeds, yes,
09:39but it does not kill them down to the root as they claim,
09:43so they come back.
09:44And worse, that cup of salt they have you add
09:48poisons the very soil so that nothing will grow there
09:51for a long season, and it spreads in the ground.
09:55So that salt and vinegar spray is only ever
09:58for the cracks in a path or a walk
10:01where you want nothing at all to grow, ever,
10:04and you must keep it far, far away from your garden beds
10:07and anything near a plant you value,
10:10or you will sterilize your own good ground.
10:13Use it on a path if you like, never in a bed.
10:17And you will hear folks say to spray vinegar
10:20right on your plants to kill the ants
10:22and the slugs and the fungus.
10:24Do not do it,
10:26for vinegar sprayed on a green plant burns its leaves,
10:29and you would be harming the plant to spite the pest.
10:34Vinegar wiped on a hard surface or a trail
10:37can wash away an ant's scent path as any cleaner does,
10:41but keep it off your plants and your soil.
10:44And for the slugs and snails,
10:46the true old ways are the honest ones.
10:49Pick them off by hand of an evening,
10:52set out a board for them to gather under,
10:54and lift it and be rid of them.
10:57Ring your precious plants with crushed eggshell
11:00or grit they dislike to cross,
11:02or set a shallow dish for them.
11:05And for a fungus or a mildew on your plants,
11:08the real cure is not a vinegar spray that burns the leaves,
11:13but good air moving between well-spaced plants
11:16and watering at the roots and not on the leaves,
11:19as I have told you before.
11:22Use vinegar for the cleaning and the careful jobs.
11:25Use the honest old ways for the pests
11:28and let your plants be.
11:31Now think a moment about why we came to buy
11:34a special product for every little garden job,
11:37a weed spray and a tool cleaner
11:40and a pot cleaner and a bug trap,
11:43each deer and each its own bottle,
11:45when a jug of plain vinegar does the honest half of them
11:50for pennies.
11:51It is worse than a plot,
11:53for no one had to arrange it.
11:56There is money in selling a gardener
11:58a shelf of special sprays and cleaners,
12:01and none at all in teaching her
12:03that plain vinegar cleans her pots and tools
12:07and furniture and traps her fruit flies for a few cents.
12:11So the plain knowing of what vinegar can and cannot do in a garden
12:16just stopped being handed down
12:19because no one profits by your using one cheap jug wisely.
12:24My grandmother ran half her garden's cleaning on vinegar
12:28and knew exactly its uses and its limits,
12:32and somewhere between her day and ours,
12:35we were taught both to buy a bottle for every job
12:38and, worse, to misuse the cheap thing
12:41and harm our gardens with it.
12:44The mending of it is a jug of vinegar
12:47and the knowing of what it truly does.
12:50You clean your clay pots and your rusty tools
12:53and your furniture and your birdbath with it.
12:57You trap your food flies and wash your berry stains
13:00and your vegetables with it.
13:02You lengthen the life of your cut flowers with it,
13:05and you feed your acid-loving plants a little now and then.
13:10And you keep it off your green plants and your good soil
13:14and use the honest old ways for your weeds and your pests,
13:18and you get all of vinegar's good in the garden
13:21and none of its harm.
13:24That is how it comes home.
13:26One cleaned pot, one honest use at a time.
13:30The keeping of your own garden back in your own hands.
13:35So here is what I would ask of you.
13:38This week, take that jug of vinegar out to the garden
13:41and try one of its true uses.
13:44Soak a crusted pot or a rusty tool
13:46or set out a fruit fly jar
13:48and then come back and tell me in the comments
13:51which you tried and how it worked,
13:53for I do love to hear of a costly product
13:56put out of a job by a cheap, honest one.
13:59And tell me, too, while you are there,
14:02your county and the age of your house.
14:04For the hard water that crusts the pots
14:07and the pests that plague a garden
14:09run so different from place to place.
14:11And I learn from every one of you
14:14how the growing goes where you live.
14:16And if your own mother or grandmother
14:19had a garden use for vinegar I have not named here,
14:22tell me that most of all.
14:24For that is how this goes.
14:26We share what we were given.
14:28I read every comment.
14:30And I learn from you the way the old women
14:33learned from one another across the fence line.
14:35One garden and one season at a time.
14:39Next time, I will show you the honest old ways
14:42to deal with the pests that trouble a garden.
14:45The slugs and the ants and the rest.
14:48The ways that truly work and harm
14:50neither your plants nor your good soil.
14:53For there is a right way to keep a garden's troubles down
14:56that does not come from a spray bottle at all.
15:00There is an old and gentle way to tend a garden
15:03that works with it rather than against it.
15:06But this week, you start with the vinegar jug
15:09and its true uses.
15:10You clean your pots and tools and furniture
15:13and birdbath with it.
15:15You trap your fruit flies
15:16and wash your berries and your vegetables.
15:19You keep your cut flowers fresh
15:21and feed your acid lovers a little.
15:24And you keep it well off your green plants and your beds.
15:28And you will understand,
15:29as my grandmother did with the vinegar jug
15:32in her garden hand,
15:33that the humblest thing serves the garden
15:36as it serves the kitchen,
15:37if you know its true uses.
15:39That an acid is a grand cleaner,
15:42but no thing to spray on a living plant.
15:45And that the honest knowing
15:47of what a thing can and cannot do
15:49is worth more than all the clever tricks
15:52that would harm your garden
15:54while promising to help it.
15:56The garden tended the plain old way
15:59is the one that remembers
16:00how the old women used a jug of vinegar,
16:03wisely and well,
16:05and never harmed a plant for it.
16:07And that is a thing
16:09we are only just starting to remember.
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