Using Epsom Salts to the garden, be it for vegetables or fruit should be part of your holistic plant management. Epsom Salts can supplement your use of compost, manure and mulching.

Epsom Salts or Magnesium Sulfate is a completely one-of-a-kind, with a chemical structure unlike any other. It is a wonderful facilitator to your garden, helping it reach its fullest potential.

Unlike common chemical fertilisers, Epsom Salts does not build up in the soil over time, so it is safe to use.

Epsom Salts can be used with all fruits, vegetables and herbs, except for sage.

Fill your tank sprayer with 1 tablespoon of Epsom Salts per 3l of water. Then spray your garden either after the initial planting or later when it begins to grow (or after a month or so for transplants), or when the vegetables begin to mature. This will help to bring in more blooms, less blossom rot, more fruit, stronger plants, deeper green colour, along with tastier, sweeter fruit and vegetables.

Spraying with Epsom Salts
An Epsom Salts solution can be sprayed onto tomato plants.

Tomatoes are particularly prone to magnesium deficiency later in the growing season, and display this through yellow leaves and less production. They can greatly benefit from Epsom Salts treatments either at the beginning of their planting or throughout their seasonal life. A spray of an Epsom Salts solution directly onto the leaves might help when leaves turn yellow. Mix a teaspoon of salts with 1l water.

Peppers also respond well to this treatment.

Producing fruit is a long process for a tree and magnesium levels often drop, so applications of Epson Salts can be of great benefit. Apply 2 tablespoons per square metre over the root zone every couple of years.

There is a danger of overuse, as too much of one nutrient prevents the plant from taking up other nutrients. However, the occasional application of Epsom Salts gives depleted soil a lift which shows in boosted plant growth.

Other Uses

Using Epsom Salts in the garden can have other benefits.

It can be used to provide a natural, pesticide-free remedy for slugs. Simply sprinkle where slugs glide.

Try Epsom Salts as a weed killer by mixing 2 cups with 4l of vinegar. Add a few drops of liquid dish soap into the mixture and put into a spray bottle. Then just spray the weeds while avoiding your flowers or vegetables.

Finally, when you work in the garden you can easily pick up a splinter. Soak the affected area in 2 tbsp of Epsom Salts in a cup of water, this will increase the osmotic pressure of the skin and help draw the splinter out on its own accord.

 

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