Plants will grow stronger in winter if 1 food scrap is added to soil in September

As the weather begins to cool and autumn takes hold, September is the perfect time to ensure your plants stay sturdy and strong come winter. A TikTok creator known as Agriculture and Technology shared how you can bolster your plants during the colder months with an organic fertiliser - and you only need to use food scraps to do so.

Instead of throwing away any fruit peels as food waste, these can be used in place of chemical fertilisers. They captioned their video: "Throwing fruit peels onto the soil is too slow. The right way is to compost them or, for faster results, grind them, mix with lemon juice, let rest, then balance with eggshells or lime. This creates a nutrient-rich fertilizer plants can absorb quickly."

Fruit peels are a great alternative for fertiliser, especially if you're looking for something organic rather than a chemical product. Fruit peels contain a lot of nutrients which can help plants to thrive.

They can provide plants with potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. However, they can also improve soil fertility, and double up as a pest control agent.

So how can you utilise your leftover food scraps? The gardening expert dissuaded people from laying leftover fruit peels directly on soil, as this will work too slowly.

While the peels will eventually decompose and release nutrients back into the soil, it will take a fair amount of time to do this. To speed up the process, you can make a compost.

Or if you need a quicker acting fertiliser, finely grind or cut the fruit peels and mix with a natural acid such as lemon juice.

The expert said: "The lemon helps release and dissolve the nutrients trapped in the organic waste, making them soluble and easy for plants to absorb. This mixture should rest for at least 24 hours."

Allowing the plants to soak in the lemon juice will help them become soft. To help balance the acidity, add finely ground egg shells or agricultural lime.

This neutralises the pH level and makes it a safe and effective fertiliser to use on plants. Once ready, the fertiliser can be applied directly to the plants and soil by pouring over in a watering can.

Potassium is needed by plants in the production of flowers and fruits, and can also boost the plant's immune system. It can help make the plant sturdy and strong, but also help the plants absorb more nutrients.

Lindsey Hyland, garden expert and the founder of Urban Organic Yield, told Homes & Gardens: "Using vegetable peel as fertilizer, or banana peels as fertilizer can help to improve the structure of your soil and increase its ability to retain moisture. And, if you want to regain control of your garden, using orange peels to deter pest will help tremendously."