10 Genius Orange Peel Hacks You'll Want To Start Using In Your Yard And Garden

Waste not, want not ... no truer words can be said for common food scraps that you may think belong in the trash. In reality, you can give cast-off food products a second life by repurposing many of them in your yard and garden. And orange peels, in particular, are one such food scrap material that can have many purposes that far exceed their lifespan as a delicious snack. From acting as a nitrogen booster for your garden soil to creating an insecticide to rid your yard of critters large and small, old orange peels have a lot to offer the mindful upcycler.

Oranges are jam-packed with some of nature's most helpful ingredients for use around the yard and home. Filled with citric acid, a mild agent great for natural cleaning solutions, oranges and their peels can act as disinfectants, deodorizers, and nutrient-rich sources for many household hacks. While there are plenty of uses for orange peels inside the home, like crafting a homemade coffee descaling cleaner to DIYing an awesome degreaser for your kitchen cabinets, their practical uses in your garden may be some of the most overlooked, but best, ways to get more use out of them than simply throwing them in the garbage. Give your garden a boost, and your orange peels more life with these tricks.

As it turns out, orange fruit waste makes for some of the best fertilizer for your garden. When orange peels break down, they become a rich source of nitrogen-based nutrients for the soil that improves fertility and promotes plant growth. Furthermore, orange peels may also alter the acidity of the soil, giving a boost for plants that do well in acidic environments. Growing hydrangeas, for example, may be all the easier with some orange peel compost, as these flowers thrive in acidic soils and turn that vibrant blue when the pH composition is just right.

Not only are orange peels full of nitrogen and other great nutrients for your garden, they are also packed with volatile compounds that can act as an insecticide or deterrent against pests like mosquitos and ants. To make this pest-fighting solution, place your orange peels in a jar, then fill it with hot water. Close the jar, and let your peels sit in the water for at least a day. This allows for the natural volatile extracts found within the oils to fully soak. Transfer the solution into a spray bottle and use it in your garden!

While you may love a cuddly cat or two, it's not all that fun when the neighborhood cats act like your yard is its litterbox or boxing ring. You can ward the furry intruder off with orange peels, though, just by simply lining the perimeters of your garden with substantial pieces of peel. Cats dislike the strong and potent smell that the oils found in orange peels, so scattering them throughout the yard, and most importantly, at the cats' favorite entrances, will help keep them away.

An unusual but creative idea to repurpose orange peels is to craft a petite bird feeder for your garden. This trick works best if you cut the oranges in half first, then hallow them out (don't worry, they'll still taste the same as slices). Working with one half of the full peel at a time, poke four holes evenly around the sides, about a half-inch below the peel's rim. Slide two wooden dowels through the holes so that they intersect in the center. Use string to tie handles onto the dowels and fill the peel up with seeds. 

This genius hack is a no-waste and budget way to start your garden off for the season. Like with the birdfeeder, hallow out your orange halves before poking some drainage holes on the underside of the peel. Fill it with soil, then plant a seed or a seedling in this impromptu pot. Let the seeds grow or the seedlings harden off inside the house, and when it's ready to plant in the garden, simply place the entire thing — orange peel pot and all — into the ground. No accidental root disruption and extra compost to boot!

If you're hosting a bonfire in your backyard, but you're missing newspaper for kindling (because let's face it, who still has a newspaper lying around?), then try using dried-out orange peels instead. While this sounds like a strange idea, it's not all that far-fetched when you think about it. When dried, citrus peels harden, resembling strips of wood, and those same volatile compounds in the peel's oils that are great pest deterrents are also highly flammable, which helps the fire get going. As an added bonus, peels burn off less creosote than newspapers, too.

Like we've mentioned, the oil in orange peels is useful for many reasons. Extracting the oil is a bit of a process, but once you do, you can leverage its properties for a number of additional uses throughout the yard, including DIYing a natural weed killer. After distilling the oil from soaking peels in alcohol for several days, measure out four tablespoons of oil. Mix that thoroughly with a gallon of white vinegar and four tablespoons of dish soap before decanting the solution into a spray bottle. Use directly on weeds as an herbicide.

If you want to add a zesty flare to both the aesthetics and the nutrients of your garden, consider using your old peels as mulch. This way, you'll get all the benefits of an orange-based fertilizer but with a little added visual benefit. You can either dry out the peels and cut the strips for a chunkier version, or you can grind the peels up to make a finer, more powder-like mulch to sit in your garden beds. Either way, orange peel mulch will help suppress weeds, promote soil moisture, and boost nutrient content.

Utilize your orange peels as both a soil booster and a deodorizer by concentrating the peels in areas of the yard that are particularly stinky. Place peels near piles of manure or fertilizer to negate the pungent odor of this yard material, or strategically set handfuls of peels around stinky garbage cans or compost containers for the same smell-fighting tactic. If the peels are sitting directly on soil, you reap the same benefits as composting them and using them as pest deterrents, while making the space more odor-tolerant for you at the same time. 

This orange peel candle is as wonderfully aromatic as it is practical to ward off insects during dinner al-fresco. Hollow out the peel like our DIY seedling pots, for, but this upcycle, the thicker the rind the better. Set a cotton wick in the center of the peel, then pour liquid candle wax inside the rind. Add some extra orange essential oil to the wax to make the scent — and therefore its pest-fighting properties — stronger. Let it dry, and then use it in the yard like you would a citronella candle. Keep in mind that orange peels can be flammable.