It’s much easier than you think. Peter Ferrigine gives some excellent tips on how to feed your garden with everyday food waste. This sort of information is priceless because everyone and anyone interested in changing to a more organic lifestyle can do this – it’s so simple, and doesn’t cost a penny.

Bananas

Anyone with young children will have an excess of banana skins. Banana peel contains high levels of potassium which is can be used to enrich soil. Simply dry the skin out. Once dried, cut it into very small pieces (or use a blender if you dare!) and use as a mulch for container plants, flowerbeds or vegetable patches.

Use fresh banana skins to clean and shine indoor houseplants or tropical plants. Just wipe the inside pith of the peel over the leaves and see the difference. A good way to avoid spending money on leaf shine wipes or plant sprays. Once you’ve finished shining the leaves, let the skin dry out and use it as described above as a garden mulch.

Coffee grounds

When you’ve finished with your fresh coffee grounds, use them in your garden as a natural fertiliser. You can use the grounds anywhere in the garden to add nitrogen, but they work especially well for acid-loving plants such as hydrangeas, azaleas and rhododendrons, even tomato plants.

Eggshells

Once you’ve cracked your eggs, remove the membrane from the inside of the shell. Then just crush the shell and scatter on the soil around your plants. Not only are eggshells rich in calcium, they are also a great slug deterrent as the slugs cannot move over the sharp pieces.

Peter makes the point that plants do need food. Many people (myself included) often just water their garden plants. However all plants will look infinitely better with a little bit of nutrition given every now and then.

We love this advice. It’s sensible, straightforward and simple. It makes so much sense to feed your garden with ‘leftovers’ rather than spending money on specialised products that are not necessarily any more effective. Organic gardening is made much easier when people share these sort of tips.

Filed under: Organic Farming

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