Tomato plants thrive and grow better with 1 leftover food item they 'love'

There is one leftover kitchen item that you should not throw away if you have tomato plants, because it will actually help them grow stronger. Many Brits love to grow tomatoes in their gardens, and there are various things you can feed to the plants to help them thrive. Tomato feeds can be bought in most garden centres around the country, but there is one thing already sitting in your fridge that these plants love, and it will provide your tomatoes with amazing benefits.

One gardening expert and content creator shared her advice in an Instagram post, revealing the "gone-off" item that you shouldn't throw away if you are growing tomatoes at home. That item, she says, is out-of-date milk. The Instagram user, known as Learn Gardening online, shared the tomato plant hack in a viral Instagram post and explained why it worked so well. Gone-off milk is normally just poured down the sink after we have noticed it go bad, so this is a great way to not let it go to waste.

In the clip, we see her pouring the out-of-date milk onto the base of the tomato plant, where it comes out of the soil. She lists two reasons for this being beneficial, and they are both backed by science.

The first reason tomato plants love milk is calcium, which prevents blossom end rot, the black spot you sometimes notice on the bottom of a tomato. The second reason is the nitrogen levels, which are great for leafy green growth.

To use gone-off milk on your tomato plant, first dilute it with two parts water to one part milk. Then, make sure you pour it around the base of the plant.

Pouring the milk onto the leaves could result in mildew. She says this mixture can be applied every two to three weeks during the growing season. Additionally, it works best with slightly gone-off unsweetened milk.

"This simple hack can turn your waste into a natural fertiliser," she wrote in her post. "Try it once, and your tomatoes will grow stronger, healthier, and juicier."

This hack has been shared by a number of gardening experts who praise its benefits. Gardening Know How reports that milk contains proteins, vitamin B, and sugars that are good for plants, improving their overall health and promoting stronger growth and tastier yields when it comes to harvesting.

Other Instagram users took to the comments section of the post to praise the hack. One person shared: "I've used it to spray on my squash and melons to keep powdery mildew away." Another simply commented: "Great tip!"