Fertilizer belongs to every garden, but it’s not always expensive. With the right planning, you can get the most out of your garden by using spare and often homemade fertilizers that can easily improve your soil without breaking the bank.
The option best for your garden can be found by using a soil test kit to tell if your soil’s PH level is too high or too low because this is determined by the nutrients in the soil.
Frugal Fertilizers For Your Garden
Compost
Compost is a great fertilizer for your garden because it is rich in nutrients that break down plant matter. You can compost just about anything, from vegetable scraps to old coffee grounds and eggshells.
A simple compost pile is the cheapest option, but compost cups are another great option for making your own compost on a budget.
Composting takes time, often months, but the end result is worth all the waiting and the little work involved. The best way to use this fertilizer is to sprinkle it directly into the soil before planting or tilling an area.
Compost tea
Compost tea is a great choice for fertilizing your garden because it’s relatively quick and easy to make, and it can be used year-round. This fertilizer provides not only the nitrogen that plants need to grow, but also the trace elements that traditional composting methods take for a long time.
Even if you don’t have the space or time to deal with regular compost, you can quickly and easily make compost tea for your garden.
Epsom salts
Another good option for a frugal fertilizer is Epsom salt. This is especially true if you only want to fertilize certain plants, or if you have limited space in your garden, as Epsom salt spray can be applied to the individual bases of plants as well as the soil around them.
Adding Epsom salt to tomatoes is one of the most popular ways to help tomatoes and peppers produce more fruit. Epsom salts are great for fighting blooming rot.
Banana peels
Banana peels can also be used to make a frugal fertilizer. They are an effective source of potassium and can be left in the garden even before they start to break down without burning your plants.
They are mined and provide potassium to the soil. If you have a problem with leaf picking, you can place banana peels at the base of your plants to give them a better chance of surviving by strengthening them. To speed up the breakdown, you can cut the banana peel into small pieces.
Used Coffee Grounds
Used coffee grounds are a great option for fertilizing your garden because they can be used in large quantities without worrying about over-fertilizing, and the coffee smells great when used as a repellent.
If you don’t drink much coffee, try asking friends and family to save on coffee grounds, or visit your favorite coffee shop, which is often reluctant to share their used coffee grounds with your backyard.
Ash from a wood fire
Wood ash is an excellent fertilizer for your garden. Wood ash is great for adding calcium to your garden. If you’re looking for a great way to lower the pH of your oil, you can use wood ash.
If you test it before planting, it can be tilled into the soil, or mixed with water to make a compost tea that shouldn’t be poured over garden beds with overly acidic soil.
Eggshells
Eggshells are a great fertilizer for your garden because they add extra calcium to the soil. You should chop them up before adding them as a supplement so that any remaining nutrients are not washed away by rain or watering.
The smaller crushed eggshells enter the soil to decompose, while the larger eggshell pieces sit on top of the soil and help fight pests such as snails and snails, but take months to fully decompose and add calcium to the soil.
Fish emulsion
If you have an fish tank, the water left over from washing the catch can be used in your garden. Fish waste provides the nutrients that plants need.
Some hydroponic garden systems even rely on fish to provide plants with the nutrients they need. If you don’t have an aquarium, you can buy fish milk at your local garden store. This is a great organic fertilizer that releases nutrients quickly.