A healthy and natural garden can be grown with a few items right under your nose. Help your garden or compost bin thrive by using these scraps from your kitchen.

Paper Towel Rolls: When trimmed to 2-inch high strips, these serve as a protective fortress from slugs for seedlings.

Crushed Egg Shells: When added to compost, these help aerate and add minerals to the soil. If there are worms, eggs shells help the worms reproduce.

Used Coffee Grounds: Nitrogen-rich coffee grounds help vegetables such as peppers and tomatoes thrive.

Hollowed Citrus Shell: Take a juiced grapefruit half and set it upside down in your garden. Snails and slugs will be more attracted to it than your garden.

Hot Peppers: Blend the seeds and tops from hot peppers and strain into a spray bottle. Add some water and spray around your plants to deter pests.

You’ll find 7 Kitchen Waste Items to Use in the Garden at Apartment Therapy.