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The Unbeatable Benefits Of Using Bar Soap In Your Garden
By YVONNE GLASGOW
Deter Animals
Animals like rabbits and deer have sensitive noses and the smelly scent of a fresh bar of soap, like the Irish Spring, can help keep them out of your garden.
You can hang the soap from your garden fencing, spear it with sticks to “plant” in the garden, or shave a few pieces of it into the dirt every couple of days.
Keep Bugs Out
Whether it’s your garden — indoor or outdoor — or your greenhouse being attacked by bugs, placing a bar of soap near plants that are having the most issues can help.
You can also use the soap to coat doors, windows, and other places where the bugs are getting in or simply hang it from a piece of string. Remember to replace it periodically.
Fight Pests
If your garden is infested with bugs you can’t pick off or they’ve laid eggs, lather some soap to wash the leaves clean. Make sure you use bar soap and not dish soap.
This works well on soft-bodied pests like aphids, mites, and whiteflies. For pesky Japanese beetles, spray the plant with soapy water to drench it in the solution.
Aid Bug Deterrents
This is a great way to use the remnants of your bar soap. Simply melt down the fragments and mix them with your insect repellant of choice so nothing goes to waste.
Soap is sticky, so mixing it with a bug-repellent causes the agent to stick to leaves better. This means you can kill a wider variety of pests than with just a bar of soap alone.
Add To Compost
Add chunks of soap into your compost bin to deter pests that are drawn to the pile. This is a great way to use up leftover slivers and keep mildew at bay.
Avoid using soaps with synthetic dyes or fragrances, as these can compromise the pile. It should take around six months for the soap to break down, so replace them twice a year.