Put down the banana water. 5 TikTok hacks fact-checked by an NC State gardening expert
As summer gardening season in the Carolinas steadily continues, our social media feeds might be filled with tips, tricks and things to know about giving your garden a little extra boost.
The News & Observer spoke with Ashley Troth, an extension agent at NC State Cooperative Extensions’ Durham County Center, to fact check information in some of the videos that came across our feeds.
“This is exciting to talk about because there’s so much information swirling around, and people love to get creative and pumped about their summer gardens. But that doesn’t mean it’s all true or particularly helpful advice,” she said.
Here’s what Troth taught us:
Should I water my plants with compost (banana peel) tea?
Social Media Myth #1: Soak banana peels and other produce scraps in water, then use that “tea” to water your plants. The fruit and vegetable nutrients will help with plant growth.
Fact Check: Making tea from banana peels is kind of one way of doing something people have been doing for much longer, which is compost tea. You take decaying plant matter and add water to make tea and pour it on the plants. However, there’s not consistent research that supports doing this is better than just adding compost.
The tea element of this is not essential, but the composting part is. When you compost your fruit and vegetable scraps and add that compost to the garden, there are two things to know:
One, compost is a broken down, crumbly item that looks nothing like the original scraps, and this is what really helps our plants.
“The banana peel doing the helpful work in your garden doesn’t look anything like a banana peel anymore,” Troth said.
Two, the microbes are doing the important work of making nutrients in the soil from the banana peel. If you’re worried about getting nutrients to your plants, get fertilizer.
To have good microbes in your garden, cover your soil and don’t let it dry out. And of course, practice composting so you can use those food scraps in the best way for next year’s garden.
Should I plant vegetable scraps, eggshells in my garden bed to compost?
Social Media Myth #2: A few months before planting, add produce scraps and eggshells directly to your garden bed. By the time you’re ready to plant, those scraps will have broken down to provide compost.
Fact Check: It’s a common practice to grind eggshells finely and add them to your soil for calcium, but that’s not a quick fix. Balanced fertilizer will help with those immediate calcium deficiencies.
But again, compost is a crumbly matter thanks to microbes, and placing uncomposted food scraps directly into a garden bed isn’t the same.
“It’s a great idea to use food scraps and turn them into beneficial matter for your garden, but planting them directly into your soil is not the way to go about it,” Troth said.
Instead, you can turn a corner of your backyard into a scrap pile, or you can get a compost bucket. This is the best way to be as zero waste as you can and turn organic matter into helpful garden materials – planting scraps directly isn’t doing what you hope it will.
But another helpful thing to remember, if you’re caring for your soil by keeping it properly moist and covered, you have great nutrients in there already and might not need anything additional.
Do I need a compost bin to be able to compost?
Social Media Myth #3: You need to buy a new compost bin to make compost.
Fact Check: A scrap pile in the back corner of your yard can be a very easy way to compost — no bin required.
“If you’re actually worried about using your kitchen scraps for the garden and overall being a good steward of your resources, the first part is to refuse. That’s the first R — refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle,” Troth said.
“So much of what we’ve been doing for gardening, we’ve been doing for an extremely long time. … Those who are the most successful aren’t the ones with cool new stuff. They watch their plants and soil, and they do research on straightforward methods on how to do things.”
Make sure your compost pile has a healthy mix of browns (dead leaves and branches) and greens (produce scraps and other “live” plants, but no meat or dairy). These add necessary carbon and nitrogen.
Keep the pile wet and relatively shady. And every once in a while, take a shovel or pitchfork and turn the pile over.
(Note: If you do want a composting bin, local programs in the Triangle offer them at reduced rates. For a full story on composting and local programs, visit newsobserver.com/news.)
Can I water my plants with leftover pasta water?
Social Media Myth #4: Save your pasta water and use it to water your vegetable garden.
Fact Check: Pasta water that has no added salt can be used to water your garden.This is not because the pasta adds helpful nutrients to the water, but it’s because you can re-use (relatively) clean water to help your plants grow.
You can do the same with dirty water from washing vegetables or the cold water that comes out of your shower as your water heater is kicking in. (Water with soap should not be used on plants.)
You should also strongly consider rain barrels to keep water out of wastewater systems. These are all ways you can be a good steward of our environment and keep all your resources in a helpful cycle.
Can I turn vegetable scraps into new vegetable plants at home?
Social Media Myth #5: You can plant vegetables bought from the store directly in your garden and get abundant vegetable plants.
Fact Check: You can absolutely grow your own plants from a single vegetable bought at the store, but there are ways to do it right.
▪ First, you should try this with plants bought from a local farmer’s market, as you know these items can grow in our current climate.
▪ Second, you need to take proper care of the scrap to have it produce a full plant. (Meaning planting a whole carrot from the grocery store in your garden will not produce many carrots later in the season).
▪ Third, know if you should plant from scrap or from seed. Lettuces and roots (onion and garlic, for example) can grow from a piece of the vegetable scrap, while peppers and tomatoes need to grow from seed.
Expert gardening advice in North Carolina
▪ Did another video come across your feed that you want to fact check? NC State Extension’s Garden Help Directory can help you contact the best person for your needs. For more information, visit emgv.ces.ncsu.edu/need-gardening-help.
▪ To find your local program, visit emgv.ces.ncsu.edu/find-your-local-program.
▪ Almost all of your initial gardening questions can be answered via the NC Extension Gardener Handbook. Find the handbook at content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook.
Here are some NC State Extension guides that can be especially helpful at the beginning:
Vegetable Gardening: A Beginner’s Guide: content.ces.ncsu.edu
Growing Edibles in the Landscape: content.ces.ncsu.edu/growing-edibles-in-the-landscape
Soil, Plots, and Planters: content.ces.ncsu.edu
Garden Calendars: gardening.ces.ncsu.edu/garden-calendars
▪ If you’re interested in connecting with gardeners local to your area, you can visit the NC Community Garden Partners’ Garden Directory at nccgp.org/garden-directory.
▪ The Extension office holds intro to gardening classes, called Ready Garden Grow, at Wake Public Libraries. To find a program near you, visit wake.gov/events and search “Ready Garden Grow.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2023 at 12:17 PM.
