Improve your Gardening Soil for a Vibrant Garden

There are a number of techniques that you can use to improve your gardening soil, each beneficial to itself but providing the greatest improvement when used in combination with each other. Discover how fish bones and egg shells invigorate your marigolds. Put those messy banana peels and epsom salt. This collection covers some of the simplest ways to help you in having a rich and a vibrant garden. Here are some recipes to superpower your garden growth within a very short period.

Apply Homemade Fish Emulsion Fertilizer

Applying homemade fish emulsion fertilizer is one of the way to improve soil for gardening within a short period. The fish emulsion fertilizer gives the plant the right organic nutriment they need for them to grow strong and healthy. It also acts as a bug repellent.

Although extracting this fertilizer is laborious, it is very easy and economical to use it once you have placed it in bottles.

The fish emulsion contains a lot of oil making the fertilizer to be viscous. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you shake the fertilizer vigorously before using it. Follow these procedures to prepare the homemade fish emulsion fertilizer for watering.

• Step #1: After extracting the fertilizer, ensure that you use one tablespoon of the fertilizer in one gallon of water.Since the fertilizer is very concentrated, diluting only one spoonful in each gallon will give the plants all the nutrients they need.
• Step #2: make sure you use a garden hose to flash the contents that remain stuck on the spoon. You should also make sure you use a watering can when preparing this mixture.To distribute the contents evenly, fill the watering can with the garden hose at high pressure.When you notice foam or froth forming at the top of the watering can, it means that the contents are thoroughly mixed.
• Step #3: Step 3 involves preparing the funnel applicator as well as the watering hole. Cut the top of a used bottle and take the funnel shaped end.Create a watering hole by using a metal rod or a thick stick. The hole should be around three inches. This watering hole will help you to focus the solution to the plants without causing spillages.
• Step #4: Place the funnel applicator on top of the hole and press it down to keep it steady. Gently pour the solution from your watering can. Repeat these steps to water all the plants in your garden.

Video on using Fish Emulsion in your garden

Use Eggshells In The Garden

Instead of throwing the eggshells in a trash bin, you can use them to improve your garden soil. The eggshell packs calcium and other nutrients that plants need for a healthier growth.

Here are some of the ways you can use the eggshells in improving your gardening soil

• Use the eggshells as fertilizers: You can use the eggshells to add calcium in your compost manure. You do not have to worry about grinding or sterilizing them since they decompose very fast. Another way of using the eggshells as fertilizer is using them directly into the bottoms of the planting holes. Distribute the shells on your garden during the winter and incorporate them by tilling.During the summer, the eggshell will have already decomposed and released the necessary nutrients.
• The eggshell also acts as pest deterrent: Sprinkling the coarsely crumbed eggshells around your plants will keep the snails and slugs away. The sharp edges will deter the slugs and snails by abrading their bellies and sensitive feet of other land mollusk.
• Use them as seed starter pots: The eggshells decompose quickly once introduced to the soil. This makes them good seed starters.When preparing to cook your eggs, make sure that you break a small part of the pointier end. Clean the inside of the shell using boiling water and remember to create a small hole at the bottom for drainage. Place them in a carton, fill them with moist potting soil, and then add the seeds. Once the seeds germinate and outgrow the pot you can now transplant them together with the shell into the garden.

You can also use them to feed the birds especially the mother birds that need diets rich in calcium. Eggshells also repel deer. Since the deer hate the smell of albumin, they will stay away from your garden.

More Uses For Eggshells

Use the Old Coffee Grounds in Your Garden

Coffee grounds will help acidify your soil in a localized area.

The coffee grounds are very useful for improving your garden soil. First the old coffee grounds will act as excellent ground mulch especially for plants that love acid. They also contain nitrogen, which is very important to the plants. They will create a ring of protection keeping the slugs, snails and ants away from plants such as tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce among others.

Coffee grounds are also rich in nutrients such as phosphorus, copper, potassium, as well as magnesium. This makes them effective for making high quality liquid fertilizer. Additionally, you can use them to stain your garden benches instead of using paints that leach toxic chemicals into the soil. They also make an excellent substrate for growing oyster mushrooms.

Banana Peel Plant Fertilizer Spray

Is the use of banana peels the best kept secret for improving gardening soil? It might be. The banana peel fertilizer spray is an amazing fertilizer that is rich in much needed nutrients such as Potassium, Manganese, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulphur as well as phosphorus. To prepare this spay fertilizer, you will need about four banana peels. A tablespoon of Epsom salt, three eggshells, water and a spray bottle.

Procedure

• Step #1: Place the banana peels under the sun or use your food dehydrator to dry them. Add the eggshells and dry them well.
• Step #2: Take the dry banana peels and eggshells and place them in your food processor. Pulse until they become a fine powder.
• Step #3: Add the Epsom salt together with the powder to your spray bottle. It is important to make sure that your spray bottle can hold about 32 ounces. If the bottle is smaller, you can use in a couple of bottles. If it is large, you can half the recipe.
• Step #4: Add water to the bottle until it is almost full and shake vigorously until all the powder and salt have dissolved. Use this mixture on your garden plants.

Remember to spray into the soil around the plant and avoid spraying their leaves, as this will not be of much benefit to the plant.
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Manure Tea For Your Garden

Manure tea has many benefits to the plants. First, the manure contains the much-needed nitrogen to your plants. The manure is also affordable over other chemical fertilizers and it is all natural meaning that it will not damage your soil. The manure tea also adds other natural enzymes and micronutrients that are not found in the chemical fertilizer. Additionally, its liquid form enables it to penetrate to the roots for the plant to absorb it easily.

To prepare the manure tea is rather simple. You just need to have some manure, water, empty garbage or storage container, a rope and an old pillowcase or sack.

• Step #1: Place the manure in your pillowcase. You can use a hand trowel to put about ten heaping scoops of manure, remember use only old manure that has decomposed fully. Fresh manure may burn your plant and often contain harmful pathogens that may damage your plants.
• Step #2: Use the rope to tie the pillowcase, making sure that the knot is tight to avoid leaking the manure. The rope will also keep this tea bag from sinking to the bottom.
• Step #3: Place the giant teabag into the container and make sure it hangs on the edge. Of course, you wouldn’t want to stick your hand to scoop the teabag if it sinks. Add about ten gallons of water.

The brewing period is fast but you should allow for about two days for all the manure to dissolve.
After this, you will find that the water has turned to a dark brown color. Spray this manure tea around the roots of your plants.
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Composting

Composting will help you to have better and healthier soil. The process of making the compost is simple although the microorganisms will take some time to break the components. You can use trench composting to compost the kitchen scraps. The compost manure will add all the necessary nutrients that are needed to have healthier plants for better yields.

Use Epsom Salt in your Garden

The Epsom salt is a safe and natural product that can be used to enhance the productivity of your garden as well as in households to provide natural frugal benefits. The salts are mineral compounds of magnesium and sulfate in crystal form. Here are some of the uses of Epsom salts.

• Aids in seed germination: Magnesium found in these salts helps in seed germination and strengthening the cells of the plant. This will increase the germination percentage and development of stronger seedlings.
• Make tomatoes tastier: Since the tomato plants bear many fruits that have weight exceeding the plant size, they tend to have deficiency in calcium and magnesium. Since the roots compete to absorb calcium and magnesium, it is advisable to spray the salts to the leaves.
• Increase nutrient uptake and to overcome transplant shock: Once magnesium is added to the plant, it enhances the plant roots making them to absolve nutrients such as Sulphur, phosphorus and nitrogen easily. The salt will also reduce the chances of a seedling wilting after being transplanted.
• Enhances Greening of the foliage and sweetens fruits: Magnesium helps in production of chlorophyll. When you add the Epsom salt, your plants will achieve healthier and increased foliage.

The development of fruits demands a lot of nutrients. When you add the Epsom salts these nutrients are “more available”.These nutrients will provide the energy needed to make primary sugars, allowing the plant to make healthier and sweeter fruits.

The Epsom salts also helps in deterring pests, prevents leaf curling and leads to better pepper yields and prettier roses.