As of: March 26, 2024, 4:46 a.m
By: Simone Jung
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Summer is coming and the garden is calling.
Vinegar could be your best friend and helper to keep animals away and fight rust.
As summer approaches, the time for garden care and planning begins.
After all, you don’t want to lag behind your neighbors.
Unsightly, rusty garden tools or animal excrement in the bed are of course problematic.
But vinegar could solve these problems.
Of course, clean with vinegar and scare away animals
Vinegar is used in many areas.
It serves as a natural cleaning agent in the household, is drunk in the form of apple cider vinegar and is also used in the garden.
However, we advise against using vinegar to kill weeds, as this exceeds the limits of prohibited pesticides.
Brushing or hot water are better alternatives for weed control.
However, the acidic liquid can be useful in other areas if used correctly.
You can use vinegar in the garden in the following ways:
Keep cats and rabbits away from the bed
Removing rust stains
Increasing soil acidity
Germination of seeds
Cleaning garden furniture and pots
Drive four-legged troublemakers out of the bed?
Cat and rabbit don't like the smell of vinegar.* © Simone Jung/DALL-E (AI-generated)
Keep rabbits and cats away from the bed with vinegar
A vegetable patch is a wonderful thing, especially in summer.
Homegrown or sown vegetables right on your doorstep.
If it weren't for animals that like to eat the plants or use the bed as a toilet.
Whether you live near a forest or field and have wild hares and rabbits on your property or keep the animals yourself - a bed represents a tempting buffet for rabbits. This of course damages the vegetables and no one wants to find cat feces in their food .
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However, animals are sensitive to some smells.
A sponge or rag dipped in vinegar will help keep the animals away.
To prevent an animal from licking up the vinegar, you can also place the items in small plastic buckets or containers with holes.
It can't get close, but the smell still spreads.
Properly placed around the bed, the smell of vinegar should then keep animals away from the bed.
Does your neighbor's kitty continue to roam around in your garden?
In addition to vinegar, cats also don't like lemons or other smelly plants.
Removing rust stains using vinegar
Rust is a sign that the garden tools are no longer brand new.
Shovels, rakes and more no longer look good with rust stains.
In addition, rust destroys the material sooner or later.
Vinegar proves helpful here too.
To do this, place the garden tools in vinegar overnight or for several hours (depending on the material, of course).
Then rinse them thoroughly.
A mixture of vinegar and oil can also help.
By the way: If you have rust stains on your car, Cola can help.
Increasing the acidity of garden soil with vinegar
This point is a bit tricky because you have to proceed carefully.
As you can see when using salt or vinegar against weeds, these agents can quickly destroy sensitive plants.
However, there are many plants that thrive particularly in slightly acidic soil.
These include, for example, rhododendrons or hydrangeas.
If you don't necessarily want to purchase large amounts of rhododendron soil, you can try household vinegar.
Water the plants in question with about four liters of water mixed with 250 to 300 milliliters of vinegar.
Above all, this is a good alternative to using controversial peat.
However, there are numerous other methods such as coniferous soil, grape pomace or oak leaf compost that are also suitable.
Vinegar-water for germinating seeds for your own garden
It's never too late: pre-germinated seeds usually grow better and stronger.
Plants like okra in particular need a little more attention and can benefit from vinegar.
To do this, place the seeds overnight in a lukewarm water and vinegar mixture (water to vinegar ratio 5:1).
This promotes germination.
The next day, rinse and sow the seeds.
Cleaning garden furniture and pots with vinegar
Garden furniture as well as ceramics and pots benefit from cleaning with vinegar.
The only requirement: The material must be able to tolerate vinegar, which is not the case with all furniture.
If you are unsure, test in an inconspicuous place.
Even stained pots can be easily cleaned with vinegar water.
If vinegar is too harsh for you, other home remedies such as washing soda can also help with cleaning.
The editor Simone Jung wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
Find out more about our AI principles here.