Remembering When to Feed My PlantsRemembering when to feed my plants Miracle Gro was hard for me to do until I came up with this solution.
Whey for Healthy PlantsI make my own yogurt and strain it for Greek-style. I use the whey in cooking, baking, and gardening. I water my flowers and vegetables with it. As you can see from the picture, my miniature rose bush likes it a lot!
Eggshells for Your GardenEspecially when planting tomatoes, eggshells can really help your plants, to provide nutrients. There is in fact a specific tomato ailment (blossom end rot) that can be cured by supplementing the soil with calcium AKA eggshells.
Crush Egg Shells With a Rolling PinEgg shells are a great source of calcium for tomatoes and peppers. I put a handful in the hole with the plants when setting them out. It helps to prevent blossom rot.
Homemade Fertilizer from Kitchen ScrapsDon't throw out your eggshells, banana peels, or used coffee grounds. Use them to feed your plants! Just cut the peels into small pieces and crush the eggshells with the bottom of a mug. Mix all of them together then spoon into your flower pots.
Plant Matchsticks with PeppersIf you put a couple of matchsticks in the hole before you put your pepper plant in, you will be providing the plant with phosphorus, and you will get a more robust plant.
Save Egg Shells for Planting TomatoesTo prevent blossom rot, I put a handful of egg shells in the hole with the tomato plant when setting them. This gives the tomatoes calcium and it works.
Use Shrimp Water for Watering PlantsI made some luscious sesame panko shrimp recently. I soaked the frozen raw shrimp in plain water until defrosted before I breaded them. I saved the shrimpy water and poured about 1/4 cup of it into each of my plants out front.
Free Garden Fertilizer from Your ChickensEvery year we love to have a huge garden, which takes a lot of fertilizer! Luckily we have an abundance of free fertilizer from our chickens.
Epsom Salts for Inexpensive FertilizerInstead of purchasing multiple, or artificial/chemical, fertilizers we use Epsom salt for everything! A lot cheaper and simpler than the individual fertilizers for vegetables, flowers, and roses in particular. It is used in a ratio of 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt to one gallon of water.
Wood Ashes for WatermelonsI have several old maple trees on my property. I'll hate to see them go. They are a comfort to me. Being old they drop lots of twigs. I was recycling the branches and twigs on the street until I realized wood ash could help with blossom end rot; they now have a purpose.
Use Ammonia to Power Grow Plants like GrandmaMy grandmother had told me that back in the day, they never had Miracle Gro or any other type of fast growing fertilizer. She always had the most amazing flowers.
Composting Manure for FertilizerIf you live near a horse or cow pasture, you live near a fertilizer "factory." My husband and I have, in the past, gathered several piles of horse manure from a field behind our house.
Ever Blooming GeraniumsEvery year, I so admired my Aunt's geraniums that bloomed until October in Michigan. She told me that she uses an empty gallon container. She fills the bottom with ammonia then fills to the top with water.
Ask Riding Stables For Horse ManureGardeners - it seems like a no-brainer, but really, you can collect great fertilizer from the manure pile at your local riding stables, even if you reside in a suburban/urban area.
Fertilize Now For Spring PlantingWe farm, so we have an abundance of "fresh" fertilizer. The past 2 weeks, we have been collecting it and moving it to our raised garden beds.
Banana Peels for RosesThrow your banana peels under your roses to produce bigger roses and more blooms. Just move away a little of the soil or compost, lay them down, then cover it up. The roses love the potassium. Also my roses have never had black spot.
Free Coffee Grounds for Your Garden at StarbucksUsed coffee grounds are a great, free fertilizer in your garden. Roses and acid-loving plants love it. Starbucks will give them to you free!
Save Worm Dirt for GardenFor those of you that love flowers and have a friend or acquaintance that loves fishing, ask them to save the "dirt" that their bait comes in. This can be added to your potting soil to boost its enrichment.
Use Bait Fish As FertilizerIf you want to grow corn or tomatoes and a lot of them, go to the bait shop. Place 3 little fish about 2 inches below the plant. Cover them, plant your plant, sit back, and watch it grow. You will have more corn and tomatoes than you can use.
Gardening: Fertilize With Banana PeelsMy grandmother always had the most beautiful gardens I had ever seen but she never used man made fertilizer. One day after breakfast, she was cutting up banana peels into small pieces and crushing egg shells into tiny pieces.
Epsom Salts for PlantsUse Epson salt to perk up your plants and make them lush and healthy. Use a teaspoon per gallon.
Use Leaves for Free FertilizerLeaves are a type of free fertilizer, and yet we pay our cities to haul our free fertilizer away every fall, and then buy unnatural, non-organic chemicals, or organic fertilizers in the spring to replenish our lawns.
Oil Absorbent for FertilizerHere's a great tip for you gardeners. You can buy a large bag (approx. 20lbs) of oil absorbent from your local auto parts store for less than ten dollars, and it has multiple benefits. It also acts as a great fertilizer; says so right on the bag.
A Drop of Ammonia for Fertilizing Green PlantsI have found that for green plants like ivy, about every 2 - 4 weeks, I add one drop of ammonia to the watering; that's one drop per plant. The green plants, not flowering ones, like the nitrogen.
Compare Soil Enhancer Compositions to Find the Best BargainWe're encouraged to use raised garden beds for our veggies here. Aside from our incredible compost bin, Chris wanted to mix Black Cow with the soil he'd bought. He chafed at the price specially after deciding he needed one more bag.
Prepare Your Garden Soil With Early AdditionsStart preparing the soil by digging in leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable trimmings, leftover vegetables from dinner, hay or straw and anything else you would normally put in a compost bin. It will start decomposing and enrich the soil by planting time.
Buy Mulch Now For Next YearIf you garden, buy mulch now! All the garden centers and other stores that sell mulch in bulk bags, have them on super sale right now. I just bought 5 bags (1.5 cubic feet each) of mulch for only $5! It's usually $2.79 a bag, so this is close to be only a third of retail. Yay, me!
Ask Your Cafe For Used Coffee GroundsMany cafes will give out quantities of used coffee grounds for your garden for free! Our local Borders does this and it is wonderful for the garden, esp. acid loving plants like azalea, lilac, hydrangea, etc. :) All you have to do is ask!
Beverages for the Christmas CactusI started giving the cactus a cup of coffee once a week and it has just exploded! It blooms twice a year and has grown by leaps and bounds. Try coffee!
Add Fireplace Ashes to Fertilize Planting BedsDon't know what to do with those ashes? This is a tip for those who have ash from a wood burner or fireplace. Place it in your garden or flower beds over winter, not all in the same place, just here and there.
Use Hard Boiled Egg Water For HouseplantsCheap and easy feed for houseplants. When you boil eggs - save the water. Sieve out any pieces of egg that may have busted out during boiling. This water, when completely cooled, contains lots of minerals from the egg shell and makes a good feed for houseplants and can be used as often as you water.
Buy Mulch In Bulk From LandscapersIf you have a large area to mulch, check with local landscaping companies about buying mulch in bulk. We did this year for a play area we made for our kids.
Ask Dairy Farmers For Free ManureIf you're doing some gardening this spring planting season, check with your local dairy farmers for free cow manure. It's great fertilizer. Most farmers will allow you to come and take all you want.
Grass is Growing!Grass is growing! Hooray! I've finally got the most beautiful green grass where there was almost no grass, thanks to all those used coffee grounds I put out last month!
Use Tea On House PlantsDon't throw away that old tea, put it in your house plants. They like to have be watered with tea every once in a while.
How to Grow Beautiful PlantsAlways provide music and food for your plants. A balance of diluted 20-20-20 is the best mix for plant food. Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and soluble potash . . .
Potato Peels for Mulch and FertilizerI use potato peels as mulch and fertilizer.
Steer Manure for the GardenI buy steer manure blend at a discount store or home improvement store for less than a dollar to spread around by flower beds and lawn. I use those black weeping hoses for my watering system so the black manure compost makes my gardens look very neat and tidy.
Make Your Own Organic Plant Fertilizer Tea Bag"For gardens to grow, they need to be fertilized. Unfortunately, commercially available fertilizers are an unregulated product that may contain toxic wastes. Happily, you can easily make your own organic plant fertilizer "tea bag" -- and save some money at the same time."
