Hi all, I'm just curious what people's organic fertilizer recipes look like. Last year when I was more able to have a vegetable garden (I'm constantly moving about nowadays and can't upkeep a garden) I was using a recipe I had found online but unfortunately I was under a giant gumtree and had just endless leaves and bark full of tannins and oils falling on my garden and I believe it was severely stunting my plants. Because of this, I never got to see the real fruits of my labour and so can't comment on the effectiveness of my fertilizer mix. So if you don't mind sharing, what are your mixes or attempts and how have they worked for you?
No recipe. Just make a mulch by leaving plant clippings (from cooking, pruning etc.) and egg shells. This ensures well-rounded nutrition and no unnecesary mental or physical work - maximum efficiency The plants in front of my house thrive, and my grandfather's garden does so well it seems natural.
If you don't let it compost first, raw amendments will steal nitrogen from the soil thus producing the opposite effect that composted amendments do...... So tossing garbage in your garden isn't doing it right. Once composted though the compost can be directly turned into the soil, but you need to turn it in well, or you can make "compost tea", water it down and then fertilize your plants as you water them...... Also a mixture or 10 parts water to 1 part pee/piss/urine (whatever you want to call it) makes a good occasional supplement.... That doesn't mean piss on your plants, but it's valuable so why flush it down the toilet.... Another valuable plant nutrient that usually isn't used and is instead tossed out in the trash would be scraps left over from fish, if you eat fish. Bones, scales, guts, etc. etc. but this needs to be buried deep enough that the cats don't find it...... Some Native American tribes used to bury fish and then fill the hole partially with soil, plant seeds and finish burying the seeds....... Good starter amendment. Ash from your wood stove is good too.....
My never before published Organic Fertilizer Recipe: 4 parts Alfalfa Meal 1 part Blood Meal 2 parts Bone Meal 2 parts Rock Phosphate and most important 2 parts Kelp Meal Combine well, apply evenly on garden beds, about 1/2 pound per square foot, and then till or otherwise incorporate deeply into the soil. Wait at least 2 weeks before planting. Peace, poor_old_dad
Anything I can get for free, so it usually consists of compost made from any kitchen waste (vegetables, teabags, coffe grinds, eggshells etc), chicken manure and their bedding, and horse manure if I can get any.
Oh yeah, compost is still the best thing you can put on a garden, but as fertilizer recipes go, I had great luck with the above one for.... well, I can't remember how long, but at least over 20 years. Because even though I'm retired now, for a real long time I sustained myself and my little farm on what I grew. On compost, horse manure in particular, I had some great deals going with some local horse people. I'd clean out their stalls & haul it off. Nice little extra cash & LOTS of compost, plus you get the manure and urine soaked into the stall bedding. One caution, check to see if the horses are given various drugs. My experience was that the folks who were raising registered horses for racing and/or show always did, and on the other end of the scale folks who had a barn for their families' (pet) horses used very few drugs (on the horses). Peace, poor_old_dad
Thanks. I was fortunate to apprentice under my Grandfather[1898-1971] who had grown up in rural Indiana. He and his family [and almost everyone else] where living on their family farm. There was no non-organic farming & gardening then. He became a pharmacist in the early 1920s and at that time that required learning a lot about chemistry and [what we would now call] formulation of herbal medicines.... in college... in the USA!!! Anyway, when non-natural farming/gardening techniques began being introduced, my Grandfather was among those who could see it was a bad idea. And that included not just application of man made chemicals, but also use of fossil fueled machines. The soil compaction due to the weight of a tractor, plus damage due to leaking fuel & oil were also bad ideas. According to him, and I fully agree, the worst part of the transition from the "old ways" was the loss of intimate, personal involvement of the gardener in his/her garden. I have been told that the most important thing that can fall on a Garden is the Gardener's shadow. I have also been told that to not compost is to strip mine your farm/garden. Peace, poor_old_dad
