How can I make my own organic fertilizer for my veggie garden?
Image by Fugue
Question by ME: How can I make my own organic fertilizer for my veggie garden?
I just planted some jalapeno peppers and some tomato plants 2 days ago and I want to add some good rich organic fertilizer to them. I looked some stuff up on the internet and mostly found stuff with chemicals in it. I want completely Organic and safe! No chemicals please! Any tips for some luscious peppers and tomatoes. This is my first attempt at growing stuff and I want to do a good job. Any suggestions?
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
7 Responses to How can I make my own organic fertilizer for my veggie garden?
Leave a Reply
Do you live near a farm with animals? or a fairgrounds? If you do check with the farmer or the fairgrounds manament to see if they have well-composted (sat around for a year) manure that you could have. Don’t use fresh, it is too strong and will burn the plants. This is about as organic as you can get for fertilizer.
Mulch around your plants with grass clippings from your lawn if you have a mower with a bag to catch them. This will help to hold the moisture in the soil so your plants don’t dry out, but leave a little space close to the stem of the plant for air circulation.
donutqueen
August 18, 2011 at 10:51 pm
it will take a few years to completely cleanse the soil, so while your are waiting buy a few bags of compost at the garden shop. mix it into the soil, water, and mulch well.
versantly
August 18, 2011 at 11:29 pm
To make your own, you will need a compost pile (3 to 6 months +~10, for 1 wheelbarrow’s worth), a compost tumbler (3 to 6 weeks +~$ 300), or the simplest and most cost effective is to simply buy it (3 to 60 minutes, depending on proximity to garden store, + ~$ 10).
When buying at the store, make sure the package contains the word NATURAL. That will ensure it is 100% organic. The word ORGANIC, legally only means a minimum of 51% is actually organic, you could still have 49% chemicals in there and it is still considered “organic”.
For best results, make sure the product contains mycorrhizae, or purchase it separately. Mycorrhizae is a beneficial symbiotic fungus that enhances the plant’s root system. Lastly, be sure to buy some fish emulsion fertilizer which contains the micronutrients all plants need to thrive. Or you can get a Koi or two, which requires a pond or large tank, which will run at least $ 300 for that setup.
Piqchure
August 18, 2011 at 11:55 pm
immediate measures, i would say composted manure and bone meal. and from here on you may do any number of the suggestions you are recieving. thank you for going organic.
nycratkiller
August 19, 2011 at 12:38 am
Getting rich soil organically takes years, you cannot get great soil in one season.
Start a compost heap ASAP. it takes about 9 to 12 months to make good compost (many people say you can do this in 3 to 6 months and this is true if you know what you are doing-there is a lot of skill to making excellent compost)
This fall after the peppers and tomatoes come in grow a cover crop for green manure that will be cut and turned in to the soil next spring. green manures do an incredible amount of good for the soil.
Get a soil test to see what your soil is lacking.
Both peppers and tomatoes like rather low nitrogen and higher potassium and magnesium. Tomatoes love a couple of table spoons of epsom salts per planting hole.
Both appreciate a twice a month foliar feed with kelp or fish emulsion
A great gardening forum with lots of organic growers is http://idigmygarden.com/forums/index.php
Ohiorganic
August 19, 2011 at 1:35 am
Make your own “manure tea”.
Collect grass clippings from your neighbors (be sure it has not been sprayed) and use as mulch. If you do this continuously, it will improve the organic content of the soil and reduce the need for watering and weeding.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1790116/manure_tea_gives_garden_plants_a_boost.html
jt c
August 19, 2011 at 2:00 am
Quite a good way of doing this is to make a concoction of neetles and water since these contain nitrogen fixation nodules. Soaking the nettles (watch out for stings!) will release this and the same principle applies with seaweed if you can get a supply of it.
Growing beans in a plot also helps to fix nitrogen, especially if you cut off the foliage and leave the roots in place for a time after harvesting the crop.
worldsroom
August 19, 2011 at 2:20 am