Make fertilizers & pesticide yourself from items around your home
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Instead, you can make a number of fertilizers & pesticide using everyday items that you find at home. Not only is it more inexpensive, reusing, and recycling but also the materials around your home are the great way to be a “green & organic” gardener.
1: Apples aren’t just used to keep the doctor away
Okay, maybe it’s not apples exactly but using a homemade fertilizer that has 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and one gallon of water, can add a definite boost to your plants. This fertilizer is great for house plants and it does an amazing job at boosting those green leaves.
2: Keep your fish tanks clean
This may be helpful but if you have a fish tank, your dirty fish tank water works as an excellent fertilizer since it is chalked full of nitrogen and nutrients, which plants need in their soil.
3: A little Epsom for you and me
Epsom salt can clean those pours and relax those muscles after you have spent a day out in the garden digging up that new flower bed. What is even better, a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt and 1 gallon of water can really help your tomato plants and other plants that require a higher level of magnesium to thrive.
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4: Get cracking
Whenever you make some eggs, save the shells until you have a fair amount. At that point, simply crumble them and then sprinkle them in the soil around your plants. This provides your soil with much needed calcium carbonate.
And there are a few tips to get you on your way to not only saving a few nickles and dimes but also towards being an organic gardener.
5: Garlic Pepper Tea
To make garlic/pepper tea, liquefy 2 bulbs of garlic and 2 hot peppers in a blender 1/2 to 2/3 full of water. Strain the solids and add enough water to the garlic/pepper juice to make 1 gallon of concentrate. Use 1/4 cup of concentrate per gallon of spray. To make garlic tea, simply omit the pepper and add another bulb of garlic. Add two tablespoons of blackstrap molasses for more control.
6: Homemade Horticultural Oil spray recipe
1 tablespoon vegetable cooking oil and 1 teaspoon of NON-DEGREASING liquid dishwashing detergent per gallon of water
7: Baking Soda Fungicide
Mix 4 teaspoons (about 1 rounded tablespoon) of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of horticultural oil into one gallon of water. Spray lightly on foliage of plants afflicted with black spot, powdery mildew, brown patch and other fungal diseases. Avoid over-using or pouring on the soil. Potassium bicarbonate is a good substitute for baking soda. Citrus oil and molasses can be used instead of horticultural oil.
What Not to Compost
Even though you can create compost from many different types of substances, it's important to avoid adding anything that could introduce disease to your soil or garden. Items you should never compost include:
- Bones
- Dairy products
- Diseased plants
- Fish
- Gypsum boards
- Manure from cats, dogs, pigs, or reptiles
- Meat
- Paper (other than newspaper)
Source: http://mastergardenergirl.wordpress.com, http://organic.lovetoknow.com, Sirena Van Schaik from www.gardeningonlinemagazine.com/