Buying organic fertilizer can be pricey. Did you know that there are ingredients you may be throwing away that can be used to fertilize your garden for free? We’ve put together a list of seven free ingredients that can be taken from the trash and converted to organic soil improvement treasure. Let us know if you’ve tried any of these.
Grass Clippings
Did you know that if you mow your grass and don’t pick up the clippings you can actually fertilize your lawn? If you don’t like the way your grass looks when you do this, wait 24 hours. Clippings sink down into your grass and begin breaking down within a few days. If that method sounds reprehensible to you, hold on to your grass clippings for your garden. Grass clippings can serve two purposes: 1.) they prevent weeds and 2.) they conserve moisture. These are two things that store bought fertilizers can’t do.
You might be wondering how grass clippings measure up on the N-P-K scale (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium). The answer depends on how old the grass clippings are. Fresh clippings can be 5% nitrogen, while older clippings are more like 2%.
Careful! If you have treated your lawn with any herbicides, do not collect and use the grass clippings until at least a month later.
Banana Peels
Banana peels are something everyone throws away. The peels are rich in potassium, phosphorous and calcium. The peels can be buried whole or cut up into chunks and buried at the base of a plant. They can also be soaked in water for 48 hours. Just pour the banana juice directly to your plants. If you choose to plant them, they should be planted no deeper than four inches. The peels can also be dried out and ground up into fertilizer. If you want to read more ways to use banana peels in the garden read this article: 10 Ways to Use Banana Peels to Fertilize Your Garden.
Egg Shells
Egg shells are a great way to add calcium to your soil. They can be added directly to your compost pile, if you compost. Alternatively, you can put crushed shells at the bottom of the hole before you plant something new. This works especially well for tomato plants. Egg shells have a secondary benefit, the deter slugs and snails. If you find your plants are being eaten up by mollusks, sprinkle crushed up egg shells around the base of your plant.
Wood Ash
Ash from your fireplace is very rich in potassium and can raise the PH level of your soil because they are highly alkaline. It makes for a good substitute for garden lime. If you are a really hard core gardener, did you know that mixing urine with wood ash is an ideal fertilizer? National Geographic reports that it could increase your garden’s productivity by five times. It’s not for everyone but if you want to read more about it see this article: Human Pee With Ash Is A Natural Fertilizer. If you want to stick with using pure ash, it works very well spread over your lawn. The application should be no more than 20 pounds for 1000 square feet of grass.
Cooking Water
It may not surprise you to know that when you boil or steam vegetables many of the nutrients left in the pan can be good for your plants. A few rules of thumb to stick to: 1.) Don’t use water that has sodium or sugar added to it 2.) Use the water as soon as it has cooled and 3.) Don’t use water that has been used to cook starchy vegetables like potatoes.
Fish Waste
This free source of fertilizer may require a bit more ingenuity than the others listed, but it’s pretty cool. You can actually grow plants without soil in the water from your fish tank. It’s called aquaponics. If you want to learn more about how to do it read this article: Transform Fish Waste Into Food.
Coffee Grounds
Coffee is something many of us drink every day, but it can also be great for your soil. Even if you don’t drink coffee your local coffee shop may save their grounds for you. Just ask them if you can take grounds away; they may have a system in place to help you out.
Coffee grounds are an excellent source of nitrogen. Grounds can either be spread directly onto the soil or mixed into your compost pile. If they are spread on top of the soil, they can act as a moisture barrier like peat moss. If you add them to compost, the ideal compost recipe is 1/3 leaves, 1/3 coffee grounds and 1/3 grass clippings.
To read more about using coffee in your garden, read this article: Coffee Grounds and Composting. Coffee is not a nitrogen fertilizer, but it can improve your soil quality.
If you want to read more about free organic fertilizers check out these articles:
Organic Fertilizers Offer Many Advantages
Build Better Organic Soil with Free Organic Fertilizers
All good advice.
Thanks for detail on making natural fertilizer. It is easy to do.
Tip: For hydroponic/windowsill gardening systems, collect fresh grass clippings, or even stinging nettles and banana peels and chop them up together. Then, find a tub with a lid, and pour the grass clippings and banana peels into it. Cover the waste up to about 3cm (an inch) above the top of the waste (just so it isn’t exposed to oxygen and doesn’t grow mould). Close the tub with the lid and put it outside for a few days (or somewhere warm, this speeds up the rate of decomposition), I leave it for just shy of a week. The mixture should turn a muddy, brownish-green colour. If water has evaporated, keep topping up with water, and don’t be afraid to add more green waste if you come across it (no manure/meat products though, nor tomato-related plants and citrus products). Then, scoop out the liquid and leave the waste (it might be a bit smelly!), and keep topping up with water and green waste if you’d like, or start a new batch. Mix 1 part of the liquid with 10 parts water and water your plants with it every week for a short-releasing nutrient burst.
P.S: If the plant leaves start to turn brown, pale, shrivel, or the plant looks generally over-fed, then obviously cut down on the amount of this liquid you’re using (dilute more or you can just space out each feeding – I do the first).
I’ve done exactly that for years! works great!