2 weeks Ago By Matt Jackson
An expert has issued a warning to gardeners who might throw away their milk once it goes past its use-by date. We might be a nation of tea lovers in Britain but there’s always the odd chance that a bottle of milk in your fridge could start to turn before you use it. If that is the case, gardening expert Ben Hunt says you can still use it for your plants.
This is because milk can act as a natural fertiliser, he says. On his GrowVeg YouTube channel, Ben said: “Don't throw out kitchen ingredients that are past their best, use it in the garden. “Just add it to the soil and then just lightly fork it in to incorporate it.
Milk is also excellent used against powdery mildew. You mix one part milk to 10 parts water and then spray it all over the leaves and that will really help with any mildew problems.” Scientists in Chile found expired dairy products contained a high level of minerals and other organic materials that can help soil.
They found putting milk on soil helped to make it more porous and stimulate plant growth. After a greenhouse trial involving wheat, they concluded: “The remarkable improvement of soil quality induced an increase in wheat growth. Expired dairy products can be converted to an organic amendment and this is the ideal practical solution for an integrated ecosystem.
” Ben says another household staple, flour, is also good for your garden because of its nitrogen and calcium content. These are micronutrients needed by leafy plants that can be found around your garden. He continued: “Now you can just spread this over the soil surface a couple of weeks before planting or just add your flour in thin layers to the compost heap.
” Another everyday item Ben says can help your garden after you’ve used it is a plastic bottle. These can help thirsty squashes get water to their roots. He explained: “One of the easiest ways to help recent transplants of thirsty plants such as say squash is to bury a pot next to the plant and then water into that.
Now that contains the water nicely and it drains through the drainage holes at the bottom exactly to where it’s needed, the roots. “An even more effective alternative is to gouge holes into a bottle like this. Now when you bury it, make sure that the holes are facing the plant and they’re on the same side as the roots, now they will be exactly where they are needed and the roots will be able to grow towards the water source.
“Then you can just filter through the neck of the bottle and it’ll drain right through.”.
