DIY Garden Fertilizers

What are the advantages of using DIY garden fertilizers? First of all, it's green in the general sense: you're using something you already have instead of going out and buying something new, so it prevents waste. It's thrifty for that reason, too. And when you look at your garden, you can think - "I did that myself!"

Now, some suggestions, starting with the easiest options and going towards more challenging ideas:

Coffee grounds. If you drink a lot of coffee, it's easy to save your grounds in an empty coffee can. If not, your local coffee shop will still have a lot to spare - they're almost certainly used to gardeners asking, and if they're not, you can suggest to them a great way to reduce their garbage bill by letting you and other gardeners pick up the coffee grounds. Starbucks locations sometimes have signs up in their stores offering gardeners their coffee grounds.

Coffee grounds are a great DIY garden fertilizer because they contain nitrogen, which is good for your soil. Add them around the bases of your plants, and the next time you water, your plants will get an earth-friendly nitrogen pick-me-up.

See this link to read a gardener discussion on coffee grounds.

Crushed eggshells are another recommended DIY garden fertilizer. This homemade fertilizer is good for your plants because it adds calcium to the soil - especially good for plants that grow quickly, and for tomatoes, which need the calcium to prevent blossom end rot. Think of it as a mineral supplement for your plants!

Crushed eggshells are easy to come by - if you don't eat eggs, find a friend who does and ask your friend to save theirs in a container. Make sure to wash eggshells before using them in your garden.

Vinegar can be useful as a DIY fertilizer, especially for houseplants and other plants that need an acidic (low ph) environment. Mix 19 parts water with 1 part vinegar - ideally apple cider vinegar, which has a good mineral content as well, and spritz or sprinkle over the soil.

Lastly, Composting is a process that takes some time and equipment. There are composters you can build cheaply, but if you need something for your garden right now, it's probably not the step you want to take. Nonetheless, it can be very satisfying to find your trash coming around to be next year's treasure, and this is the best homemade fertilizer of all. Recommended for advanced gardeners.

I've included some supplementary links below to sites that have recipes for fertilizer mixtures, tips on composting, and other useful information. Happy gardening!