13. Fight fungal diseases with baking soda

Fungal infections are all too common in the garden, but most fungicides are so toxic that you’d be reluctant to use them on your plants, especially vegetables, and houseplants.

Baking soda has many uses in and around the house, including making a relatively inexpensive and non-toxic anti-fungal spray.

It is easy to make and use as and when you see a mildew attack on a tomato or cucumber plant.

In a gallon of warm water, mix one tablespoon of baking soda and use this solution in a sprayer. Soak the entire plant with this solution and allow it to drip down and drench the soil around the plant.

14. Feed your plants some milk

Milk is a nutritious food not just for animals. Plants can benefit from the application of milk every now and then.

Some people are known to inject milk directly into the plant stems. Laura Ingalls describes how this old trick was used to grow a prize-winning pumpkin in Farmer Boy.

The less adventurous can try a foliar spray or root zone soak of diluted milk instead.

Farmers in New Zealand successfully use milk at 20% dilution to combat powdery mildew in Zucchini.

In India, it is used to grow stronger plants and increase yield.

Although milk seems to be beneficial at lower dilutions, it can have adverse effects when used at higher concentrations.

A bad smell from decomposing milk can be a problem, so there should be sufficient intervals between applications to allow its complete breakdown.

15. Bury some pennies in the garden

Not exactly burying treasure but a few coins buried here and there can keep your soil healthy and your plants safe from fungal infections.

Not all coins would work, but only those containing copper.

Copper is a well-known fungicide. The common fungicide Bordeaux mixture is prepared from copper sulfate and lime.

When coins containing copper are buried in the soil, the metal slowly leaches from them, destroying fungal spores in the soil.

For bug control:

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