Most of us hope the spring weather will bring joy to our gardens.
After all, it’s the time when new life emerges, colour blooms and our outdoor spaces start to look a little more vibrant. If you’re looking for ways to make the most of your garden, it turns out you may want to turn to your baking cupboard for a little help.
That’s because a gardening expert, known as gardening.with.ish on TikTok, claims using a simple baking ingredient can benefit your garden in a number of ways. He explained exactly how you can make it work.
Ish said bicarbonate of soda is what you need to stock up on, and it can work in three main ways. The first is by using it as a natural weed killer, as it “naturally dehydrates” any plants that you apply it to.
If you sprinkle a little of the powder on the leaves, he said it should work well. Eventually, it should “finish off” any weeds that are on their way out.
Ish said: “As well as having amazing antibacterial properties, bicarbonate of soda is also a really good antifungal, but don’t apply this directly to your plants. You just saw what that would do to your weeds, so make sure you water it down.
“About a teaspoon per 500ml is absolutely perfect and, if you’ve got some light mildew like I’ve got, just lightly spray on the top. Don’t do too much – just enough to soak it in to the actual fungus itself and that should take care of it.
“My third and final thing you can do with bicarbonate of soda is raise the PH of your soil. So things like lavenders, some clematis and even mock orange prefer more alkaline rather than acidic, so adding a little bit of this into the soil will help raise that PH and just help it a little more.”
He also added that there’s another interesting thing about adding it to the soil. If you’re trying to get pink hydrangeas, he said they do “really well” in alkaline-based soil, and that should help to turn white or blue flowers to pink.
The video has been viewed hundreds of times since it was shared, and people were quick to comment. They offered all sorts of thoughts.
One said: “Love this. Thanks Ish.” Another replied: “Great information. Thank you. Now if only I could get rid of the horses tail that grows through everything.”
A third added: “I’ve used this method for a while. My great-grandad used it on his farm.”
Meanwhile, a fourth also commented: “I have hedgehogs in my garden. Can I still use it around them?”