A concept we as gardeners love is finding something that has more than one use or purpose. Not only does this save money, but it can also save shopping time as well as space around the house as your store such things between uses. One item in particular that is small enough to store with ease, even when bought in bulk, yet still has a plethora of uses is cinnamon. Many of us probably have cinnamon in the house already for our consumption needs. It could be that you’re baking a delicious apple pie with cinnamon packed inside or maybe sprinkling some on top of rice pudding. Maybe you even like it in a warm beverage such as apple cider from time to time. Whatever you use it for around the house, that is only scraping the surface of its usefulness as cinnamon packs a punch in the garden as well. One of the many uses of cinnamon is to keep pests under control. Whether you have ants in your garden or gnats flying around the seedling you are starting inside the house, a bit of cinnamon is all it takes to send them on their way. Just sprinkle a bit around plants or anywhere else you wish to stop ants and gnats in their tracks. Another type of unwanted intrusion in the garden is fungus. Whether you have mold and mildew trying to grow on plants sprouting indoors or instead are plagued by mushrooms in the garden, add a bit of cinnamon to stop these things from occurring. Just a little will go a long way towards restoring plant health and giving fungus the boot. No veggie gardener wants to see the appearance of any type of dampening off disease on their precious veggies, especially seedlings that hold so much promise for future growth. Since the root of dampening off diseases are often caused by soil conditions and fungus growth, go directly to the source to stop the problem. Just add a sprinkle of cinnamon to soil and see dampening off diseases come to an end! When the time comes to plant cuttings, you will find plenty of commercial options for root hormones. Instead of spending a bunch of money on chemicals, why not try an alternative? Simply add cinnamon to cuttings when planting and you’re good to go. Sometimes when trimming veggies from plants or even doing general garden work, we accidentally get a little overzealous. Perhaps your shears hit an unintended mark, injuring a plant. In order to fix this, add some cinnamon. This will help the plant heal while keeping fungus and resulting infection at bay. For a $10 investment, you can purchase five pounds of cinnamon that will come in a container that both stores and carries easily. Whether it is cooking in the kitchen or tending plants in the garden, cinnamon is useful all around. Considering the human health benefits as well as those that can be had in the garden, it just makes good sense to add cinnamon to your garden program right away!

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