The very best 8 super hacks for your vegetable garden that will increase your yields and save you time and money!

A vegetable garden is an excellent place to get creative and find more ways to be sustainable, environmentally-friendly, and to save money. Here you will find DIY fertilizer, inventive ways to water and more. 

After looking online and social media we have seen a plethora of vegetable gardening tricks and tips. Many are often used and benefit your plants. While others seem to not be much help at all.

Here we will see some of the best vegetable garden hacks around that can help you care for your plants and increase your yields. They are all organic and low cost. You may want to add some of these ideas to a planner. 

If you’re going to start a vegetable garden this season, then consider these organic low-cost ideas. In some cases, you may use the plants themselves or turn household items into useful gardening tools.

1: Harvesting seeds

Save your seeds from the vegetables that you have grown in your home. This will save you some money and make you more self-reliant. And you will know exactly where your vegetables come from. This helps attract pollinators to the garden. The best pollinators will love the flowers or veggies that have gone to seed.

Every year, take a few seeds of the first nice tomatoes you get, put them on a piece of paper towel, then dry them thoroughly. Then store them in a little homemade sleeve in a dry cool place. This ensures that you have seeds of those tomatoes that grew well in your particular microclimate and situation.

Vegetables like tomatoes to save seeds from include peppers, beans, cucumbers, and peas. Beets, leeks and carrots are biennial crops and require being left in the ground over winter in order to harvest the seed the following summer.

2: Mesh Bag to Protect Crops

You can purchase mesh draw string bags, like the ones on Amazon at a low cost. The ones they often use to package jewelry. They are reusable and can be used to cover seed heads. They offer a way to protect vegetables from pests. As seen on TikTok, gardeners place the mesh bags over the fruit of bell peppers, chilies, tomatoes, eggplants and pull the drawstring closed gently around the plant.

However, this works best for plants that do not require a lot of sun like lettuce, radishes, and kale. This would not work well for tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.

3: Milk jug cloche

if you have planted and it appears that it may frost outside. You can use milk jugs to protect them. To do this you would cut the top off of the milk jug and then place it over your plant. this will keep it warm and moist, and free from frost. Be sure to remove the milk jug before the temperatures get too warm or you will cook your plants.

Milk jugs can also be used by slicing them in half and use them as a seed tray or poke holes in the bottom and use as a watering can.

4: Upcycle containers

Traditionally seeds are started in plastic trays. But there is a range of other unconventional options for growing seeds. Growers often sow seeds into cardboard rolls at the center of the toilet paper and the entire pot is then planted with seedlings. Eggshells can also be used to seed as the eggshell will decompose in the ground.

Another great idea is to use a yogurt container. It is perfect for germinating seeds. After cleaning out the container add potting soil poke a few holes in the bottom to help with drainage.

Then loosely put the lid back on once you have planted your seed. Water thoroughly and place container where it can get lots of sunlight. This creates a mini greenhouse.

5: Plastic fork

This is a great hack to deter animals from causing havoc in the garden. Small disposable plastic forks can be purchased at a low cost on Amazon or food outlets. If you have a problem with squirrels and raccoons digging up your plants. The forks make it difficult for them to dig without harming themselves.

String up aluminum plates or CDs to scare away birds and other animals.

6: DIY watering system

Plastic bottles and glass bottles provide a unique way to water plants slowly. It can be used in ground or in pots.

When using a wine bottle, you would fill the bottle with water then make a small hole in the cap or cork using a nail. Or screw the lid on and then loosen the lid just a little and flip the bottle upside down. Then bury it into the soil.

For plastic bottle, make small holes in cap or neck and bury it, the advantage to the plastic bottle is that you can cut off the bottom and then fill it up again when out of water.

Make sure the bottle is stable and wont fall over.

7: DIY Homemade fertilizer

Making your own homemade fertilizer. Fertilizer can be made using plants from the garden. One fertilizer that can be made is a Comfrey fertilizer. Household waste items can also be used to apply to plants to help them grow.

Eggs work well in the garden as a fertilizer, crushing them up and mixing them into the soil adds calcium to the soil. Coffee grounds can be used as well to repel pests like mites and aphids. Some claim that using oatmeal has some benefits as a fertilizer. Epsom salt is high in magnesium and can be found in most households. This can be mixed one tablespoon to one gallon of water. Use this mixture to water your plants once a month.

8: Growing vegetables from scraps

Did you know that you can sprout from scraps from your vegetables? There are many crops that are perfectly suitable for starting from cut off pieces of celery, leeks, onions.

Make sure to place the base of the vegetable in about one inch of water and change the water every few days. Especially if the water changes color. In a few days there will be signs of growth.

Once you can see the roots on the cuttings, the sprouted vegetables can be planted in the garden or transferred into pots, to grow on into new plants. Store bought herbs can also be harvested and replanted I soil. A little more challenging are pineapples and avocadoes.

There are so many vegetables garden hacks that you can choose from. Just depends on how you want to garden and your size of location.

The important thing is to enjoy gardening!