Earth conscience gardeners are always trying to learn new ways to reuse kitchen scraps in the garden, including coffee grounds and eggs shells.

Banana peels can create some garden magic, too. They are great for garden plants and can improve garden soil. Here are some best ways to use banana peels in your garden.

As we all know, bananas taste great, and we get a lot of nutrients from them. Saving the peel and using it in your garden is a way to ensure that no part of the banana goes to waste. There is a wide variety of recipes available online to reuse the peel; turning it into fertilizer is just one way to repurpose the peel.

Banana Peel Fertilizer: The easiest way is to cut the peel into 1/4-inch pieces; this speeds up the decomposition process. Bury these four inches under the plants. As it decomposes (this happens rather quickly), it turns into organic fertilizer, providing essential nutrients, such as iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, which will help your plant grow. Or, gardeners can dry and grind up the peels into fertilizer and spread them around the plants. This is a great way to fertilize more plants all at once.

Banana Peel Tea: This fertilizer will give your plants a mineral boost. Fill a jar with water and add the peels; let it sit for 48 hours. When it is ready, remove the peel and leave the water in the jar. Mix the banana peel tea with 10 parts water. Use it to water your plants. Toss the used peels into your compost pile.

Banana Peel Spray: With this recipe, you will need Epsom salts for magnesium and eggshells for calcium. Dry out four peels, combine with three eggshells, grind them, add one tablespoon of Epsom salts to a spray bottle, fill with water to the top, and spray on plants as needed.

Insect Trap: This is a non-toxic and pet-friendly way to trap bugs. Cut up peels into small pieces, combine with 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, shake to mix, and release the scent of the peel. Poke or drill holes large enough for bugs to go through and place them outside by your garden.

Attract Butterflies and Birds: By placing peels higher up in your garden, like on any raised platform, you will attract butterflies, birds, bees, caterpillars, and wasps. Make sure they are placed higher than your plants, and remove them before the sun sets to avoid critters looking for an easy meal. On the other hand, everything has to eat, so if you don’t mind sharing, just leave it.

Do not use any of the above mixtures on houseplants. This can cause gnats to thrive in the soil, creating a whole bunch of problems sometimes for months on end.

The North Haven Garden Club has a Facebook page with lots of useful and entertaining information and pictures of all the club does in North Haven. For membership information email Italia at italia_a@comcast.net. North Haven Garden Club is a member of The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut Inc., New England Garden Clubs Inc., and The National Garden Clubs Inc.