The idea of organic gardening has become more and more common with home gardeners. While it is fairly easy to locate organic seeds to use, making sure you are using the right soils and fertilizers is often overlooked. We have some great suggestions on the best fertilizer choices for your garden that are organic, and will be a great benefit to your overall produce crop.
7 Best Fertilizer Choices For Organic Gardening
When you have gone to the trouble of locating organic seeds and plants for your organic gardening project, it doesn’t make sense to then spray your plants with tons of chemicals to help them grow. Instead, you should use organic natural choices like the ones shared here to help improve your plant growth. Organic gardening is made easy when you work with natural products to help increase plant growth.
Eggshells-Instead of throwing away your egg shells after making breakfast, rinse them out and let them dry out for a few days. Crush them and sprinkle in your garden then mix in with the soil. Eggshells are a great fertilizer for organic gardening. They break down easily in the soil, and will feed your plants with great nutrients to encourage growth.
If your family doesn’t eat a lot of eggs, don’t be afraid to ask your family, friends, and neighbors for their eggshells. They might think it is a bit odd, but it is one less item for them to dispose of and will greatly benefit your organic garden growth. Even a few dozen eggshells crushed and sprinkled into the soil around your plants can make a huge difference.
Diatomaceous Earth-If using this product as a fertilizer, make sure you are buying Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. Much like other products, this doesn’t improve organic gardening growth directly, but will help your soil retain water longer which in turn helps the plants to grow stronger and healthier.
There are a lot of questions regarding use of this product, but when working on organic gardening, using food great diatomaceious Earth is a great choice. It is safe, cost effective, organic, and of course will help increase the growth of your plants naturally.
Homemade Compost-You can create your own homemade compost year round to use on your gardens. I recommend creating an area that isn’t close to your home as it can smell a bit as it decomposes. Add soil, plant clippings, fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells, and other items to your compost pile Mix in shredded newspaper and allow to decompose naturally. If you have it in a covered bin, you’ll likely want to add water from time to time to help it continue to decompose naturally.
Homemade compost can combine nutrients already found in produce and clippings with your soil to give you a hearty fertilizer to mix into your organic gardening soil blend when you are ready to plant, as well as to sprinkle and mix in around plants throughout their growth process.
Coffee Grounds-Did you know that coffee grounds are a great source of nitrogen in your homemade compost? If adding to your homemade compost, over time they will increase the amount of nitrogen which is great for plant growth. If you add them directly to your soil around your plants, they will not add nitrogen in a timely manner, but they will help encourage water retention and drainage which in turn helps your plants grow larger and healthier.
Instead of throwing your coffee grounds into the trash after your next pot of coffee, add them directly to your garden or into your homemade compost container. There has been no study regarding flavored coffee versus traditional roasted coffee, but make sure your coffee is organic also for ultimate organic gardening benefits.
Plant Clippings-If you have been mowing your lawn and have a lot of extra clippings, rake those up and sprinkle around your plants. As they decompose, they will feed the soil with their natural plant nutrients. You can add a bag to many lawn mowers to collect these clippings making it even easier to manage and store for use around your plants.
Many people also throw in clippings from the plants themselves, shrubbery, and other plants. While this is a great way to help feed the soil, you may want to be careful since these clippings can often include weeds and other seeds that could potentially grow around your organic gardening crops. When using straight plant clippings as a fertilizer choice, you’ll want to be proactive about weeding around your plants.
Earthworms-You can purchase earthworm cocoons to mix into your vegetable garden soil. They will hatch and help you fertilize your garden organically. Worm poop is a great way to move nutrients about in your garden organically and naturally. Plus, at the end of the season, you’ll have a great crop of worms to take fishing to help add even more food into your freezer.
Purchased Organic Fertilizers-If you don’t have time to create your own or find that the tips above aren’t doing the trick, you can always look for some quality organic fertilizer brands. Sometimes you have to invest a bit to make the most of your crops. Jobe’s and Dr. Earth are two brands that are easily available online and in stores. I have used both brands in the past with great success.
When using organic fertilizers, you will likely choose between a liquid and powder variety. For early gardening, I prefer mixing the powder in with my soil as I plant. Afterwards, I find it much easier to manage by using the liquid fertilizer since there is less mixing to do in the soil.
These are some of the best fertilizer choices for your organic gardening project. There are many brand and products on he market you may also look into for a cost effective and simple solution. Just remember that organic gardening is all about removing chemicals from your food. Make sure the brands you purchase also are certified organic and have limited ingredients.
Do you use a organic fertilizer in your garden? Do you find that it helps to produce a higher yield?
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