A popular gardener is urging others to avoid doing three things that will actually do more harm than good. According to the Instagrammer, tilling, landscape fabric, and vinegar can ruin your garden.
The scoop
Digital creator Dagny Kream (@thecottagepeach) explains to viewers how these are "three things I would never do as a backyard gardener."
Kream begins with tilling, which she says "kills the microbiome present in your soil, eliminating essential beneficial microbes."
Number two is landscape fabric, which she says "doesn't even work the way it's supposed to." The experienced gardener explains that landscape fabric simply prevents "water and nutrients from reaching the soil" while also leaching chemicals.
Vinegar is the third one, which some people use as a natural solution to kill weeds. But as Kream points out, "It can actually prevent anything from growing in the spot." Instead, she recommends using boiling water "to target the roots of your weeds without damaging your soil's health."
How it's helping
Busting myths about gardening can ensure homeowners have a healthy garden that flourishes and produces plants and food with maximum gains.
The benefits of gardening are plentiful.
For one, they use much less water than traditional grass lawns, saving homeowners money on that water bill and helping to preserve this essential natural resource.
Also, a flourishing garden with plants and trees can bring about "long-term [positive] changes in the incidence of depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and cancer," according to Peter James of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Health.
When it comes to the environment, healthy green gardens also help by sequestering carbon, which means they actually remove planet-warming gases from the atmosphere.
What people are saying
One viewer wrote that "boiling water also kills your soil microbiome. You're cooking them," to which Kream replied, "You're right, but the effect is smaller and temporary, whereas other methods don't allow that microbiome to bounce back."
Another added how they "literally had no choice but to till. We live on property that was once a hay field. The soil was so compacted and had no nutrients. But hopefully there won't be a need to till next year."
"Oh cool I didn't know about the boiling water! Thanks for the tips!" added another user.
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