In our earlier articles, we have given tips about organic gardening. Now we are going to show you some alternative and organic fertilizers that you can use in substitute for commercially-produced ones. Commercial fertilizers could be harmful to the environment as the chemicals from these might run off to water reservoirs and cause pollution. So, aside from the usual compost, we’ve compiled a list of some kitchen wastes and other household materials that you can use to nourish your plants:
Crop Waste
You can chop up some of the plant residues after you harvest them and turn them to mulch. These crop wastes are still packed with nutrients and nitrogen and when mixed with the soil, they can still provide nutrition to your next set of plants.
Coffee Grounds
If you are the type of person who uses caffeine like diesel to fuel your daily routine, chances are you can produce a lot of coffee grounds that just go straight to your waste basket. Why not turn these to fertilizers by mixing them to your garden soil? Not only do these provide plants with nutrients, coffee grounds are also known to be a delicacy for earthworms, which is beneficial to your garden as they aerate the soil.
Legumes
Leguminous plants like peanuts, peas, alfalfa and lentils are “self-fertilizing” plants because they have the ability to use the nitrogen present in the air and convert it into a form that can be used to enrich the soil. You can include these in your homemade organic fertilizer or just plant them every few years to naturally nourish your garden soil.
Pet Droppings
It’s common knowledge that poultry and cattle manure is often used as fertilizers, but if you have pets like rabbits and guinea pigs, you can also use their droppings to fertilize your plants. The advantage of using rodent droppings is that unlike cattle manure, you no longer need to “age” it so that it won’t burn the roots of your plants. Cat and dog wastes can be used as well.
Fish Emulsion
We’re not talking about the ones that you can buy at the store. If you have an aquarium or a fish pond, you can save the old water for your plants. Aquarium or pond water has similar nutrients to the fish emulsion available commercially.
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