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Vinegar Uses: How to Get Rid of Deer & Keeping Flowers Fresh

Vinegar is great to use in the house but there are also lots of ways to use it outside!  Here are 4 great ways to use vinegar in the garden!

There are so many ways to use vinegar, including extending the life of cut flower, getting rid of deer & more | Ask Anna

 #1 Animal deterrent

I wish I had known this trick when we built our first house, out in the country, because I couldn’t keep the pesky deer from eating our plants!

There are so many ways to use vinegar, including extending the life of cut flower, getting rid of deer & more | Ask Anna

Deer, as well as other animals, “including cats, dogs, rabbits, foxes and racoons, [don’t like] the scent of vinegar even after it has dried.  [To keep these pesky] visitors out of your garden [soak] several rags in full-strength white vinegar and place them on stakes around [the] garden, particularly around areas such as vegetables and flower beds.  Re-soak the rags every 7-10 days.”

#2 Get rid of bird droppings

Don’t you just love it when a bird flies over your patio furniture and leaves you a nice little souvenir of it’s passing?  We live close to a large river which means good soil, which means lots of worms, which equals a lot of birds!  I was so glad when I stumbled  across this tip! To get rid of “bird droppings [spray] them with full-strength apple cider vinegar.”  You can also “pour the vinegar onto a rag and wipe them off” with the soaked rag.

#3 Flower pot stains
To get rid of the stains on your flowerpots mix “as solution of 1 part white vinegar and 2 parts cold water and soak [the] pots until they look clean and new, sometimes [this can take up to] an hour.  Wash [them] with soap and water before reusing” them for planing.
There are so many ways to use vinegar, including extending the life of cut flower, getting rid of deer & more | Ask Anna

 This has to be my favorite new vinegar trick!  We all love to have fresh cut flowers in the house, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that gets sad when they wilt after only a few days!  To “keep cut flowers fresh longer (or even perk up droopy ones) [add] 2 TBS of white vinegar and 1 TBS of sugar to the vase of water.”  You better believe I will be using this trick once all my tulips pop up!

Tomorrow is the last day of this vinegar series. 🙁  I hope you’ll join me to learn how to use vinegar as a solution to so many of our beauty problems!
Vinegar Tip And Tricks

This series is based on a book I received from my mom at Christmas. All items in quotations are referenced from Vinegar: 1001 Practical Household Uses.

 

About Anna

"Hi, I'm Anna! Wife, mother, child of God, and the founder of Ask Anna. I have always enjoyed cleaning, organizing, decorating and helping people, so I've put that all together on the pages of this blog. I truly hope my tips help you in your home and make sure to contact me if you have a question!"

Comments

  1. guest says

    I’m a guest to your site and really want to use it…but your video on the side bar that keeps autoplaying is killing me…! Please fix!

    Cheers!

  2. jennifer says

    i wonder– do you think you could mix a solution of vinegar and water to directly spray on plants to keep the deer and the bunnies away?? or would that kill the plants?? :o)

    • REGINA says

      Straight white vinegar is used as a weed killer, and is known to damage ornamentals as well. Even diluted I would imagine that it would damage your plants at the very least.

  3. Steph says

    I’ve just had my small garden damaged by deer and I am going to try vinegar in yogurt pots and lay these around my plants.

    Should I use full or diluted vinegar?

    Thanks 🙂

  4. billy kelley says

    enjoyed reading about vinegar preventing deer invasion. Gonna try this. Seems the most economical way to go. Thanks.

  5. Dena says

    In keeping Cut flowers fresh longer, vases vary in size, vinegar and sugar in how much water?

    • Anna says

      I usually just fill it about 1/2 way. If you get it too full then the extra leaves are in the water and start to rot/stink.

      • Amy says

        I think Dena was asking, and I’m also curious, if it’s a small vase would you use less vinegar and sugar. So we really need a ratio of water to vinegar to sugar. For example, 1 gallon of water to 2TBS vinegar to 1TBS sugar.