Use garlic to achieve healthy plants: find out how to use garlic in the garden or in the vegetable patch

Taking care of the garden or vegetable patch means constant vigilance and, not infrequently, having to resort to a whole series of special products to help our plants grow luxuriantly or to ward off unwanted guests such as animals and various destructive parasites. In the marketplace there are all kinds of solutions available, some of which are very effective, but not always friendly towards the environment. And above all, they can often be quite expensive.

But when you can try eco-friendly alternatives based on ingredients that we often already have at home, why not try it? One of these is garlic, which is useful in several ways in the care of plants. Read on to find out more:

Creativo

A garlic tea

The simplest method is one that involves the use of garlic powder, to be diluted in water. This becomes a kind of tea to sprinkle on plants. A couple of tablespoons for every liter of water used is fine.
Otherwise, you can use two cloves of garlic for every liter of water: in this case you will first have to crush the cloves, (which have already had their skins removed), and put them in a saucepan. Into this, pour the water that you have already boiled, and let it rest for at least one night and then filter everything and pour it into a spray bottle. Spray the plant to the bottom of its' stem.

Garlic has antibacterial, fungicidal and insecticidal properties, so it can be used to prevent pest infestations or fungal diseases. However, very fresh garlic cloves must be used for this type of remedy.

• Around roses or vegetables

You surely know the garlic cloves that we forgot to use and that produce sprouts? From these we can give rise to new plants - after all, the single cloves are, in fact, bulbs! And these bulbs can be buried around a rose gardens, fruit trees, peppers, carrots, aubergines and many other vegetables. These new plants work as a deterrent against animals that can harm the plants.

• In the burrows of moles

It seems that the strong smell of the garlic bulb is repellant to these creatures, and therefore a traditional remedy is to put cloves inside the mole tunnels that we find in the garden. The mounds show us where the tunnels are and it takes very little effort to uncover the tunnel and put some garlic cloves into them. 

• To keep snakes away

This is a remedy whose effectiveness is not 100%, but it seems that the sulfenic acid contained in garlic is an irritant to snakes (a bit like when we cry when cutting up onions - which are also rich in this acid). Hence, a solution such as the afore-mentioned garlic tea, enriched with salt and lemongrass oil, can work as a mild deterrent for snakes.

Have you ever tried these uses for garlic?