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fertilizer – Page 2 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Tag: fertilizer

  • 13 Useful Ways to Reuse Eggshells

    13 Useful Ways to Reuse Eggshells

    If you raise chickens or simply eat a lot of eggs, you probably produce a lot of egg shells! And simply throwing them in the trash is a huge waste. Egg shells are loaded with beneficial nutrients and properties, and there are lots of ways to reuse them and make the most out of your chickens or grocery budget!

    First off, you need to make sure you store them properly. You might be able to get away with tossing them all in a 5-gallon bucket on your back porch, or, if that attracts pests or mold, you might want to take more precaution. Depending on how you reuse them, you also might want to sanitize them before storing.

    The easiest way to sanitize the egg shells is to rinse them off, the spread them out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. This will kill any harmful bacteria that might otherwise fester in your eggshell stash.

    Then, simply store in any container of choice, and use as needed!

    Here are some of the many ways you can reuse eggshells around the house:

    Compost

    The easiest way to put your egg shells to good use is to add them to your compost pile! They’re a great addition to any compost operation, and one of the most highly recommended organic materials to start a pile. You can save up a lot to get your pile started, and just toss freshly used shells on your pile as time goes on. If you’ve got a compost pile, you’ve always got something to do with leftover egg shells!

    Garden Fertilizer

    Eggshells are a fantastic garden fertilizer, as they contain up to 97% calcium carbonite, as well as phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and calcium. You can grind them up in a food processor and sprinkle around your plants, or work into the soil of a new garden bed.

    Pest Control

    Eggshells also work as an excellent pest control! Use ground eggshells and sprinkle in a circle around any plants that have been attracting slugs or snails. The sharp fragments of eggshells will be very uninviting to these little pests, and have the added bonus of fertilizing your plants too!

    You can also deter cats (of all things) from using your garden as their own personal litter box by spreading roughly broken up egg shells around the edges. They won’t want to step on those with their delicate paws, trust me!

    Dietary Supplement

    You’ll want to make sure to use properly sanitized egg shells for this, and grind them up very finely. You can use a powerful food processor or a coffee grinder, and then add to gel caps or simply mix into food. This is an excellent source of calcium and other nutrients, and about as whole as it gets.

    Chicken Dietary Supplement

    Your chickens can benefit from those healthy nutrients too! Simply add to their feed for an added calcium boost. Their eggs will be very healthy, because they’ll be supplemented by, well, the exact nutrients they need for healthy shells!

    Seed Starts

    A very fun and clever way to use egg shells is to start seeds in them! Simply fill the shells with potting soil and plant seeds. Once they’re sprouted, all you’ll need to do is to gently crush the egg shell and plant directly in the ground! It will slowly break down as the plant grows, and fertilize the soil as it goes!

    Bird Seed

    Chickens aren’t the only birds who will enjoy your egg shells! If you crush them up and sprinkle them on the ground, you just might attract a few wild birds who will enjoy the nutritious treat.

    Household abrasive

    You can actually use finely ground eggshells as a handy, and totally natural, household abrasive. Add 1 cup finely ground egg shells to baking soda and use as you would Bon Ami for stubborn stains or grime. It’s excellent for cooked on grease and grime.

    Smoother Coffee

    You can actually add egg shells directly to your coffee to help reduce the acidity. Since egg shells are basic, they counteract the otherwise highly acidic coffee. Add a few egg shells in the machine with the ground coffee, or simply toss into your freshly brewed cup (although the former is probably preferable, I’m sure gritty coffee isn’t too appetizing to many people!)

    Natural Remedy

    Ground up eggshells can actually make a wonderful natural remedy for skin irritants. Let soak in some apple cider vinegar for a few days, and apply to minor rashes, hives, or bug bites.

    Face Mask

    You can even use eggshells in an all-natural, skin-firming face mask! Wisk up finely ground eggshells with 1 egg white, and spread on your face. Let dry, and rinse, following with toner and moisturizer.

    Suggested Article: “Apple Cider Vinegar for Beautiful Skin”

    Laundry Whitener

    This might be in the realm of old wives’ tale, but some say that if you toss some egg shells in with your whites, they’ll come out brighter!

    Candle Craft

    You can make adorable votive candles by pouring wax into an eggshell. Get creative with egg dying or colored wax! Very fun and frugal gift.

    Eggs are a fantastic food, and their shells are almost as versatile! Have you tried any of these eggshell hacks before? Let us know in the comments below.

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  • Never Buy Fertilizer Again

    Never Buy Fertilizer Again

    It’s not just a clickbait title, with a few easy steps you can have nutrient rich soil forever, and never need to buy fertilizer again.  How?  Grow comfrey.  Comfrey is beneficial it is borderline supernatural.  As a dynamic accumulator comfrey gathers nutrients from where other plants cannot and transfers these nutrients to its leaves.  These leaves can then be used in the place of store bought fertilizers with amazing results.  Not only is comfrey an amazing alternative to expensive fertilizers, but it is also incredibly easy to grow, propagate, and use to enrich your soil, here’s how.

     

    1. Purchase some comfrey starts, or better yet make your own from a friend’s plants. To make starts from an existing plant all you need to do is to dig it up and split the larger portions of the roots.  Any root segment that is more than 1 ½ inch long should grow.  Although comfrey is very hardy once it is established it is prone to pest attack when it is just getting started because of how nutritious its leaves are, so place them on a table or inside to get them started.
    2. Comfrey is not a picky plant, it is able to grow in just about any reasonable soil and can tolerate shade. But if you want to get a lot of nutrient rich leaves to use as fertilizer it is best to plant it in the sun so that it will grow fast.  Comfrey grows very dense, and can be used as a border for your garden or around trees.
    3. Once your plants are established they will be virtually impossible to harm. You can take 90% of their leaves at a time and they will continue to bounce back.
    4. Though many people will tell you to make a compost tea with the leaves, a slow release process is much easier, and in reality, just as fast since the act of making the tea will not take any less time. Simply cut off the leaves, and mulch with them.  Worms love comfrey, and the leaves will quickly be part of your soil, releasing the nutrients that their roots have gathered from up to 30 feet into the subsoil where your vegetables will never be able to otherwise access.

    Gardening usually requires hard work with no shortcuts, so it can be difficult to believe that comfrey can so easily solve your soil nutrient problems, but it’s true.  Comfrey is a natural wonder and no garden is complete without a supply of it.

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  • How to Safely Let Chickens in the Garden

    How to Safely Let Chickens in the Garden

    One of the most serious drawbacks to having truly free-range chickens is that they can go anywhere they want to and they tend to want to go to your garden.  This makes sense since, hopefully, your garden is a healthfully functional natural environment filled with potential prey (many of which you would be happy to see eaten) for your chickens.

    Keeping Chickens Out

    The downside of chickens in the garden when your chickens do what chickens do, and  start kicking and scratching until they have unearthed the roots of your plants or even kicked your plants clean of the garden.

    One way to combat this is to put chicken wire around the garden.  This can be costly, even if you opt for the cheaper “bird netting” made from plastic.

    And this solution still doesn’t allow your chickens to be much benefit to your garden, it just keeps them from being a pest. Preferably your chickens will eat potential pests and fertilize your garden while leaving it undamaged.

    Letting Chickens In

    One of the best ways to get the benefits of chickens in the garden without damaging your plants is to take the plastic bird netting and lay it on the ground, over your mulch, and between your plants.  This will work whether you are growing in wooden raised beds or directly in the ground.

    Areas like paths or fallow plots and beds are not necessary to cover.  Concentrate on active beds, especially those with young vulnerable plants.  The bird net can be stretched out to the size of the bed and cut to fit, one wide strips
    are most versatile, “holes” can be made to accommodate the plants by using twist ties or landscaping stakes (or even sticks) to pull the net away from the plants and keep it secure.  Stakes or twist ties can also be used to combine multiple pieces of netting.  While holes could be cut in the net, that will make it more difficult to reuse in the
    future.

    This will allow for your flock to roam and feed to their heart’s content while cleaning out potential pests from your garden like caterpillars and slugs-and holding your mulch and your plants in place.  They will even help fertilize as nature takes its course, and with chickens, that’s pretty often.

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  • Benefits of Compost Tea

    Benefits of Compost Tea

    When it comes to a thriving, healthy garden, one of the quintessential components is a good fertilizer, and homemade compost is one the best things you can make. Using kitchen scraps, garden cuttings and locally sourced organic waste like grass clippings, manure, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc., you can-and should-make your own compost pile for a consistent supply of amazing plant superfood.

    There are many different options for how to build a compost pile and what to build it with, so if you’re not already composting, you’ll want to start there.

    But if you do already have a successful compost pile, compost tea is a fantastic way to use it to give your plants optimum nutrition, minerals, and beneficial microbes.

    Compost tea is exactly what it sounds like-except it’s for plants to drink up, not humans! There are many different methods of brewing it, but it is essentially soaking some finished compost in water for a period of time, and then using the mixture to water your plants.

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    Obviously, you can just dig your compost into the soil, so why go to the extra effort of brewing a tea? Well, the way plants drink in nutrients is through water, the nutrients bond to water molecules and are absorbed into the roots of the plants, so it just makes it more readily available to them. Also, for certain issues like fungus or blight on the leaves of the plant, there might be benefit in certain cases to being able to spray the compost mixture right onto the plant directly (although you’ll only want to do this if you know it is specifically recommended, compost tea can burn the foliage of some plants).

    To make compost tea, there are a lot of different options. Some people prefer to aerate it, with a water tank like the kind used in fish tanks, and others choose to simply let the tea mixture sit and stir once a day. But the basic principle is the same: you take a bucket or large drum, depending on your needs, and place some ready compost in it. You can make a sort-of tea bag, with something like a pillowcase, or just put it in there loose. After about a week or whenever you’d like to use it, you can either strain out the loose compost or simply pour over your plants.

    Compost tea is an excellent way to get amazing nutrients and minerals to your plants, and way cheaper than Miracle Gro! Believe me, your plants will thank you-try some today!

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    Enjoy a quick video from Steve about Compost Teas and their amazing benefits for your garden…