Hello dear Hivers!
I was drafting this post when I erroneously clicked the enter button, it got posted! Sorry for that! I am back with some organic feeds that are just available in your household. Most of my followers know that I am doing container gardening. I plant mostly veggies and berries in containers on my balcony.
As of now, I have 3 different tomato varieties. Their growth is slow and they were stressed because I had weather issues in Spring when I got the newbies from the garden center. At that time when the temps should already be above 10°C, we´ve had freezing nights that went on for two nights and as a result, some plants were damaged. I tried to rescue them, but then somehow the freezing temps left some issues with the plants. Well, I was able to make them grow. I have harvested many tomatoes like the beefsteak variety and a bit of the cherry tomatoes. The third variety is still growing even if it is too slow. I am using feeds that I have at home which are organic.
Boiled Potato Water For My Plants
And so I am sharing here what I have at home. First off... is the boiled potato water. Whenever I have boiled potatoes, I save its water , let it cool down and use it to water the plants. It is rich in minerals and contains nutrients such as phosphorus , calcium, and magnesium. This water nourishes the plants after the stress.
Banana Peels Rich in Potassium
The banana peels are organic fertilizer that help the plants to have a strong growth particularly the stems and the roots. The peel as such is rich in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and particularly the potassium which regulates the plant´s enzymes and helps build up new growth. Another use is to simply add the peels in the compost. But since I only have a balcony, I put the peels in a blender to make a smoothie-like consistency, then make small slots in the soil and distribute this in the slots.
In the photo above, I simply added the peels in a container with water, soaked them for a couple of days.... took out the peels, discarded and added the slimey liquid to about 2 liters of water and used this to water my eggplant. After about 5 days, new flower buds were coming out. I removed the infected leaves and I think they will now survive.
The brewed Coffee
The brewed coffee is very useful as organic feed. Like the banana peels, it is rich in minerals and other nutrients essential for the growth of the plants. I spread them on the soil all around the plant, then mix them with the soil. Also, the coffee rest (leftover liquid without sugar and milk) can also be used to water the plant since it is so rich in nitrogen that would help the plants grow stronger. I also use coffee leftovers on potted indoor plants, once a week just like watering those plants.
Brewed Tea leaves ...
Like coffee, brewed tea leaves are also good as organic fertilizer so rich in minerals and nutrients. I also apply the same procedure as the brewed coffee. It nourishes the plant and keeps them hydrated. But I do not add them as always because too much is also not good. I apply about 2 tablespoons (brewed black tea) around the plants every two weeks. I have heard from one gardener that it contains fluoride which may contain toxic elements.
Eggshells (uncooked), and peels of boiled potatoes...
I only use the uncooked shells, wash off the eggwhite film on the inner part and dry them. Sometimes I pulverize them or just simply crush them and distribute them all around the plant. Eggshells are rich in calcium and will strengthen the plant's growth vigorously. I prefer to use the eggshells because they are the healthiest to use to fertilize the plants.
As regards to the cooked potato peels, I simply dry them and mix them in the soil. The dried peels are better to use so as not to attract insects and ants.
To combat the parasites especially the white molds and aphids :
The pesticide: I mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda to 1 liter water, add a few drops of mild liquid soap in a spray container. The function of the liquid soap is to retain the aphids which will trap them until they dried-off... the same goes with the white molds and other tiny parasites. If you would like to know more on how to get rid of parasites like aphids, you can read an article here
Note: The content of this post about organic fertilizers is intended as suggestions only. I have used the methods personally in my container garden and I did not have any problem whatsoever. If you are not sure whether to apply them on your plants, please check out the web.
