You will be amazed at the amount of information that can be found on how to use vinegar in your garden and landscaping. Vinegar can be used for cleaning and disinfecting, for improving the health and growth of vegetation both in the yard and in the vegetable garden, to kill weeds and grass growing where you don’t want it, to safely sterilize bird feeders and baths, and keeping yourself comfortable while you work outside.

Apple cider vinegar and distilled white vinegar can both be used in the garden. Both are non-toxic, unlike the sprays, powders, and crystals you will find at most garden centers. Reading the back of the packages on these chemicals will, if you are smart, scare you into long pants tucked into heavy boots, long sleeves tucked into heavy gloves, safety glasses, and a mask to cover your nose and mouth. Great attire for hot weather!

When working with non-toxic vinegar, however, you’re as free as the breeze. You can breathe it, mix it with your hands, even drink it or spray it on yourself. You can spray a vegetable with vinegar and eat if fresh picked the same afternoon. While you are working, vinegar helps keeps gnats away, and it will soothe your sunburned skin afterward.

For spring cleaning tasks, vinegar is your best friend. Wash sticky residue from hummingbird feeders without worrying about leaving anything harmful behind the final rinse. Kill last year’s fungus and mold on both plastic and terracotta pots while you scrub off calcium deposits and discolorations. Vinegar makes it easy to get bird droppings off porches and patios, and will disinfect bird feeders and concrete bird baths.

Rust will dissolve in a vat of vinegar, so you can rejuvenate tools, free up bolts, and restore other metal items. Vinegar disinfects as it cleans, so you can dip cutting and digging tools in a bucket of water and vinegar to keep from spreading organisms from one spot or plant to another. Lawn chairs that have mildewed over the winter will sparkle again and the mold will not grow back. A stronger vinegar and water solution will work as a scrub for decks, wooden furniture, and concrete floors.

You can also use vinegar on yourself and your family members of all ages, rubbing it on berry stains and using it to get oils from poison ivy and other irritating plants off exposed skin. What a good way to escape the itches and burning that inflict some of us when we venture outside.

Acid loving shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons appreciate an occasional slosh of apple cider vinegar added to lots of water. Foliage can be sprayed with vinegar and liquid compost or seaweed for extra feeding, and diluted vinegar is a great anti-fungal spray for roses and other plants susceptible to things like black spot and powdery mildew. Many harmful insect, such as slugs and snail, can be destroyed outright with a drop or two of vinegar directly applied; being careful with your aim will prevent damage to the plants in the area. Vinegar can be mixed with sugar and used to attract flying and crawling insect pests.

Many animals and bugs will stay away from areas sprayed or soaked with vinegar. Soak rags in vinegar and stake them around your garden to keep away the deer. Repel rabbits and raccoons with cotton soaked in vinegar and placed in punctured cans throughout the vegetable rows. Pour it on anthills and spray it on ant trails. Keep cats off the yard and out of the sandbox by pouring vinegar full-strength around the edges. In contrast to this strategy, use a bowl of apple cider vinegar on the picnic table to keep bugs off the rest of the food.

Other uses are too numerous to mention, but some stand out. Neutralize the brown-spot effect of dog urine on your lawn by adding a spoonful of vinegar to the dog’s water bowl. Drink vinegar and water to feel refreshed but be more repellent to biting insects. Kill the grass in your gravel drive by pouring white vinegar straight from the bottle or by spraying well. Dab it on your bee stings and bug bites to combat the itch and pain.

There is more to learn and you will undoubtedly find your own secrets and recipes as you experiment with vinegar, which is good for you, your family, and your garden. Feel free to try vinegar anywhere; there are no side effects and you will not be afraid to eat the fruits and vegetables and smell the flowers.

Knowing how to use vinegar in your garden and landscaping is the first step. Now you can put this knowledge to good use as you keep your surroundings in good order with safe, effective vinegar.

Cleaning with vinegar in and around your home is 100 percent safe, inexpensive and most importantly effective. Get the inside scoop on vinegar uses instantly.