Many of us love fragrant and juicy oranges, but having peeled them, we throw away the orange peel. However, it should be remembered that not only delicious pulp pleases our taste and helps maintain good health. The peel of this fruit is no less useful. There are a lot of areas of human activity where the use of orange peels is possible. The most commonly used peel of this citrus in cooking, winemaking and cosmetology. Many housewives use it not only for cooking delicious dishes, but also for environmentally friendly cleaning of the house.
In this article, we will not delve into the secrets of confectioners, culinary specialists, winemakers and cosmetologists, but consider the use of orange peels in the garden, in horticulture and floriculture.
Orange peel
We have all heard about the vitamins and minerals contained in the orange, but few people know that its peel (the outer colored layer) contains more vitamins than flesh, and it also contains essential oils and pectin substances. All this contributes to the fact that the use of orange peels is becoming increasingly popular. It should be noted that they can be used not only in fresh, but also in dried and crushed form. Maintaining your health with these orange fruits, during our long winter you can stock up on dried orange peel for use during the summer season.
Stock up for future use
It would seem that it could be easier - peeled and ate an orange, dried its peels. But it’s not so simple. Modern fruits, including citrus fruits, are abundantly treated with a variety of chemicals, both during cultivation and during transportation and storage. Therefore, before you prepare and start using orange peels, you must thoroughly rinse this fruit, and then pour it over with boiling water.
Only after this can you peel the peel from an orange with a special knife or peeler. The removed "skin" is dried for two to three days at room temperature. Some housewives recommend to dry the peel in the oven or using a vegetable dryer, and only then grind it. You can try to do this with an old coffee grinder or a
mechanical meat grinder. The resulting mass is laid in a clean and dry container, preferably with a tight-fitting lid.
Save potted flowers
Plants grown in the apartment are susceptible to diseases and insect pests. Quite often, flowers are simply destroyed by various ticks and aphids. Fresh or pre-stored orange peels will help in saving green “pets”. The application for flowers is quite simple: 200 g of orange peel must be poured with a liter of water at room temperature. We remove the container with the solution for five days in a dark place. After this period, we filter the solution, and squeeze the crusts. ½ cup infusion mixed with 2-2.5 liters of water and add about a teaspoon of "green" or just sour soap. The leaves of plants can be washed or sprayed with the resulting solution on both sides. Such a treatment is best repeated after a week.
Fluffy "pests"
Many flower growers and gardeners are faced with the fact that cats and cats are very partial to young seedlings, and to indoor flowers, as they say, no, no, yes, and "pull their paws."
Therefore, the following use of orange peels is advisable: put them on a windowsill next to flowers or seedlings. Cats will not come close to them - they don’t like the orange smell very much and tend to avoid places with just such an “amber”. As experiments have shown, deodorants and air fresheners with the aroma of orange are much weaker.
Another problem is the inconsistency of the cat and your idea of the place of the toilet. Therefore, you can mix fresh and finely chopped orange zest and coffee grounds, and then apply around the place favorite animals. The first time it may not help, but after two or three applications your pet will stop going to this place.
Garden chores
After saving home flowers and seedlings with the beginning of the summer season, we take out orange peels accumulated during the autumn-winter season to the garden. Their use in gardening can be the most diverse. First of all, the infusion on the peel of oranges is used to combat pests such as spider mites, thrips and aphids. To prepare it, you need to chop the crusts from a couple of oranges and pour 1 liter of warm water.
Then remove the container with the product for a week in a dark room. After seven days, a little
liquid soap is added to the resulting composition and filtered. Then treat the plants affected by insects. It is worth remembering that against aphids and thrips, treatment is carried out two to three times, and against spider mites - 5-6 times with an interval of a week.
Chasing ants away
Colonies of ants deliver quite a lot of trouble on the garden plot, and orange peels will help in the fight against it. Their application in the country is quite simple: chop the peel of two or three oranges in a blender with a glass of warm water. The resulting puree is applied to the tracks laid by ants on the beds. Having dissolved the crushed powder in a larger amount of water, the anthills can be watered with the resulting composition. The only problem is that insects are likely to move their home to another place.
Protecting flower beds
The use of orange peels in the garden and the garden is not limited to the control of insects. Some flowers planted in the front garden or in the flowerbed enjoy increased attention from feline representatives from all around. In order to save your landings from the visits of uninvited guests, lay the peel of oranges in flowers, especially loved by cats.
You can grate the leaves of plants with fresh peel - then the cats will bypass the flower beds and flower beds. The method is effective, only crusts will have to be changed after rains or watering. A tool used at home, namely a mixture of crushed peels and coffee grounds, can help in this case.
Other features
At the beginning of the summer season, when it is still cold in the house, orange peels will help to light a fire in the stove. Application in gardening will occur somewhat later, but as a kindling, the orange peel is simply irreplaceable. It burns longer and better than paper, due to the presence of essential oils.
In addition, when burning, a very pleasant smell is released, thanks to which in an even cold room it immediately becomes warmer and more comfortable. You can simply spread the peels of orange throughout the house - the musty smell will disappear, and it will be useful for the respiratory system, because the phytoncides secreted by the zest inhibit various pathogens.
An orange peel will come in handy later, when mosquitoes and midges appear. If you are not allergic to citrus fruits, you can simply wipe the exposed parts of your body with fresh orange peel - the smell left on your skin will scare off insects.