It is not hard as you think!Here are interesting facts on how to turn your food scraps to fertilizer, improving the soil quality in your garden in the most natural way!A healthy garden soil produces healthy and better yielding plants. And healthy plants resist insects, pests and diseases. When you take up gardening as a hobby, this question probably would cross your mind on how to improve soil quality.
We’d like to share with you the easiest and simplest way by using food scraps from your kitchen. This method works well, especially for a small garden where the outdoor space and the garden waste is limited. It will definitely save you more time!
Fertile soil is rich with mineral elements (nutrients) that make plants grow.
The most important nutrients are: • Nitrogen (N) – produces green growth i.e. green leaves, stems, grass.• Phosphorus (P) – helps in flower and fruit formation, and is necessary for seed germination.• Potassium (K) – ensures good root development and disease resistance. It also enhances flavour and color of vegetables and fruits. Additional macronutrients required by plants in large amounts are calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S).In addition, plants, like people, need small amounts of trace nutrients including: iron, copper, zinc, boron, nickel, manganese, and molybdenum. Also, some plants must have silicon and cobalt in order to grow.Let’s check how to enrich soil using kitchen scraps:1) Coffee grounds: about 2% nitrogen by volume, it contains some potassium and magnesium. It encourages the growth of micro-organisms, provide food for earthworms and improve soil structure. You can apply a thin layer of coffee grounds on the top of the soil as mulch and it will retain moisture after watering. The coffee grounds can also be placed under a layer of mulch or mix them with the soil.2) Eggshells: provide calcium, some phosphorus and nitrogen. They are effective for liming source and raises pH levels. The shells should be dried and crushed before apply. Just put in a bag and give them a whack with a hammer. You can sprinkle crushed eggshells around plants to prevent cutworms and slugs crawling to your plant and to repel ant. Or work a handful of crumbled eggshells into the soil to enrich it with nutrients.3) Tea leaves: beak open the tea bags and use the tea leaves all teas contain tannin – it is better to scatter tea leaves around plants that do well in slightly acidic soil – like parsley, potato, beans, onion, tomatoes, etc. 4) Fruit and vegetables waste: When we place fruit and vegetable scraps back on the soil we will do as nature intended. It will rot supplying soil with a variety of nutrients. Banana peels have quite potent levels of potassium, magnesium, calcium, sulphur, sodium and phosphorus. It is easier to cut or tear peels into smaller pieces and bury them in the ground or you can air dry it until they are crisp, then crush and sprinkle as fertilizer on top of the soil. Before you apply fertilizer think of your plant needs and what you want to achieve: are you trying to get grass greener, lots of flower blossoms or a strong root system?Have a great time outdoors beautifying your garden!
Source: https://sowsmallgarden.com/how-to-make-soil-fertile-naturally/
www.npr.org/2020/04/07/828918397/how-to-compost-at-home
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