This is TRICK gardeners use the most: why you should put tea bags in the garden

With the arrival of autumn and the temperatures in decline, it is an ideal time to enjoy a nice cup of tea. But after you have boiled your water and steeped the teabag in your mug, you may not want to discard that used teabag. Instead you can recycle it in your garden, as it can provide many benefits for your plants.

What a teabag can do for your plants

First off, by using your used teabags, you are cutting down on waste and improving the quality of your garden at the same time. The used teabag is able to enrich the soil with nutrients by acting as a fertilizer. This is possible because the teabag contains tannic acid, which can also be found in certain types of trees.

Furthermore, not only are the contents of the teabag useful, but also the container itself. The bag is made out of plant material from Abaca tree. Its fiber is known as Manila hemp.

For reference, here is a useful video on how to make your DIY fertilizer at home:

So what exactly do you do with the teabags?

To get the best results in a relatively short amount of time, the best thing to do is to bury the teabags in the ground. After being buried, they will begin to deteriorate and release their nutrients into the earth and eventually to your plants.

Composting with tea bags

Turning you teabags into fertilizer isn’t the only way to recycle them. Thanks to the particular acids they can produce, used teabags are great for composting. They can actually speed up the decomposition process.

Attracting earthworms

All farmers know how important the presence of earthworms in the soil is for the health of plants. Earthworms aerate the soil with the tunnels they create and produce fertilizer from their excrement. It just so happens that earthworms are also quite fond of tea leaves. So by leaving used teabags around your garden you should get the attention of some helpful earthworms.  

Repelling insects

If you are experiencing a problem with unwanted pests in your garden, you have another reason to leave your used teabags around. These unwanted insects and parasites happen to greatly dislike the smell of tea leaves, so your used teabags can act as an excellent repellent.