3 ways household products can benefit your garden

Does your garden need sprucing up? Delay your trip to the store. What you need could be lying around your home.

• Compost is not just a great soil conditioner and fertilizer. It also contains beneficial organisms that resist soil-borne fungal diseases.
• To discourage formation of fungus on plants, such as brown patch, sooty mildew and powdery mildew, make a "tea" treatment using common garden compost.

• 3 L (1 gal) container compost
• 1 burlap bag or old pillowcase
• String
• 11 L (3 gal) water

1. Place compost in the bag, tie the bag shut with string, and drop it into a bucket of water.

2. Set the bucket in a sunny spot, and steep the bag in the water for two or three days — until the water turns dark brown.

3. Remove the bag of compost (use the contents as mulch). Dilute the remaining solution with water to the colour of weak tea. Spray it on roses, rudbeckia, phlox and other plants that are susceptible to fungal infections. Repeat twice monthly during the growing season to prevent outbreaks.

• When a baking soda solution is applied to fungus-prone plants, such as roses and bee balm, before signs of mildew appear, it can prevent diseases including powdery and sooty mildew and black spot.
• And because this spray is cheap and easy to make, you can keep it on hand and apply as needed.
• To further discourage fungal diseases, keep plant leaves as dry as possible by watering the soil without splashing the leaves, and mulch plants with disease-fighting compost.

• 5 ml (1 tsp) baking soda
• 5 ml (1 tsp) liquid dishwashing soap (do not use laundry or dishwasher detergent)
• 1 L (4 c) warm water

Pour ingredients into a large spray bottle and shake to mix. Spray both sides of leaves and stems.

• Ammonia is a concentrated form of nitrogen, which is the nutrient most needed by green plants.
• You can make an inexpensive all-purpose fertilizer and insecticidal spray using ammonia and soap.
• The soap helps the ammonia stick to the leaves and also kills soft-bodied insects.
• Mix as much as you need for garden plants and lawns.
• Store all garden treatments, such as this, in a capped and labelled bottle in a childproof cabinet.

• 1 part household clear ammonia
• 1 part liquid dishwashing soap (do not use laundry or dishwasher detergent)
• 7 parts water

1. In a large container combine the ingredients.

2. Fill a spray bottle and apply mixture to stems and both sides of leaves for garden plants. Use a hose-end applicator to spray the lawn.