10 Common at Home Items that Make Great Fertilizers

If you’ve ever fertilized your garden, you know how expensive store bought fertilizers can be. Not to mention, many of these fertilizers are filled with chemicals that are not the healthiest for us.

So what’s the solution?

The more expensive, natural fertilizers are usually made of items you can find in your house. Fertilizers don’t have to be made up of crazy, hard to name chemicals. A lot of your food scraps can be returned to the earth, feeding your plants while also keeping extra waste out of landfills.

Aquarium water

As long as you have a freshwater tank, the water from your fish makes an excellent fertilizer.

When you collect the dirty water from your fish tank cleanings, that water is filled with nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. These minerals come from fish waste, plant matter, and the food you feed your animals, making it a 100% organic fertilizer.

Each week, when I replace water in my tanks, I take the bowl it’s dumped into and pour it into my garden beds, rotating which bed gets it each week. Whichever bed gets it that week, I notice an increase in growth and strength within the plants that received it.

That water would otherwise end up dumped down a drain, so why not put it to good use? Fish-based fertilizers are typically expensive on the market. Why buy that when you can produce your own free fertilizer weekly from home?

Egg shells

Egg shells are an excellent source of calcium for your plants. There are many ways in which you can administer eggshells to your plants, whether by crushing them up and sprinkling them, mixing them with water, or even by adding water from boiling eggs into your garden.

Also, when sprinkled around the base of plants, the shells can also deter slugs and snails, keeping them from eating your plants.

With my own, I usually wash the shells as I accumulate them, dry them, and store them until I have a large enough batch to crush. I put the shells on a baking sheet in the oven on low for about twenty minutes in order to dry them out and sanitize them. Once I have enough, I grind them up in a coffee grinder and keep them in a jar for later use.

If I’m feeling lazy, I also take the dried egg shells, uncrushed, and toss them into my composter. They break down over time so the soil my composter creates has all the healthy benefits of the shell dust. This method just takes longer.

My plants look a lot healthier, and forming a thin ring around the base of each plant with the shell dust has created a barrier against pests.

Coffee grounds

Acid loving plants benefit greatly from the addition of coffee grounds in their soil. Some plants require a more acidic pH to their soil, and adding coffee grounds can lower the level to be more acidic. Just make sure the plants in the area surrounding love acid.

Coffee grounds are absorbent, so when water reaches them within the soil, it works like a slow acting fertilizer. That means it releases acid over time, not just in one go.

Coffee grounds also are full of magnesium and nitrogen, both of which are beneficial to healthy plant growth. And, just like the egg shells, coffee grounds deter snails and slugs.

The best method is, after drinking your morning coffee, take the grounds out and pour them underneath whatever plants need the acid and pest control. I like to run my hand over it a few times after laying it out, just so it mixes in with the dirt more.

Tea leaves

Because of their absorbency, tea leaves can help your soil retain water, on top of helping to aerate it. They’re full of magnesium and phosphorus which gradually release into the soil each time the garden gets watered.

The worms and microorganisms beneath the dirt also love to feed on tea leaves. As they consume it and break it down, the waste they produce improves the quality of the soil over time.

Make sure you are using organic, natural tea leaves. Some teas come with additives and sugars mixed in, but this can harm your plants and soil. I normally add my plain black tea and chamomile to my garden, but I avoid the teas I have with candied fruits and flavorings.

Autumn leaves

Removing leaves from your yard can be a pain. If you’re like me, you have a ton of trees that cover absolutely every surface of your yard in leaves every fall. Most people bag them and put them on the side of the road for clean up, but this just adds unnecessary waste to landfills. Why do that when you can put the leaves to good use?

Because of the amount of leaves I end up with in the fall, I have a leaf blower with a mulching setting. I sprinkle the mulched leaves generously around every single plant I have, leaving no space uncovered. By doing this, I’m creating a mulch that will protect my plants from the cold of winter, meaning I have fewer plant deaths.

The mulched leaves also provide vital shelter to important insects like ladybugs, fireflies, bees, and butterflies, all of which pollinate the plants in our gardens. Many of them mate and lay their eggs underneath the leaf litter, emerging in the spring. If we remove these leaves, we remove important nesting grounds and make our gardens inhospitable.

Over the course of the fall and winter months, these leaves will also provide a food source to the worms beneath the dirt, breaking them down and turning them into nutrient rich worm castings. By placing leaves in your gardens, you’re creating new dirt and compost.

Cardboard

Make sure you are removing plastic tape and packing labels, but cardboard is an excellent weed suppressant when starting a new garden bed.

I usually flatten the cardboard and lay it out in the shape of my new garden beds, ripping it up to fit all corners if I need to. I water it in well and then throw on my sticks, leaves, and dirt.

By doing this, it covers the ground in a way that kills off any weeds or grass that might be underneath, keeping it from growing up in your garden bed. The cardboard also breaks down over time, returning to the soil and becoming its own compost.

Banana Peels

Banana peels are full of potassium and make excellent food for the worms in the dirt.

When I use them, I either cut them up into small chunks and toss them into my composter to decompose, or I dig holes next to my plants and bury them underneath the dirt. This not only gets the nutrients straight to the source, but it also keeps it from decomposing on the surface and attracting pests.

Pasta water/rice water

As long as the water is unsalted, pasta and rice water are amazing sources of minerals our plants require. Zinc, iron, and potassium can all be found in pasta and rice water.

I typically let my water cool down, then pour it directly onto my plants. Just make sure to only use pasta and rice water into your outdoor gardens. If you use it indoors, that water takes far more time to evaporate, and can lead to mold growing. By using it outside, the sun evaporates the water before this can occur.

Wood ash

While good for your plants, providing calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus to the soil, wood ash should only be used sparingly.

Where coffee can lower soil pH to make it acidic, wood ash raises it and makes it basic. This can be a good thing, if your soil is too acidic for most things to grow, but you can also make your soil too basic.

The ash you use should only be made of plant matter. I normally collect the ash after I’ve had brush fire, or when I burn leaves and sticks in the fall time. Before use, I make sure the ash is entirely dried out and store it for later use. I might only use this once or twice a year when my plants or soil can use the boost.

Epsom salt

Make sure to use pure epsom salt, none of the scented kind, but a small amount of this can go a long way.

Typically, I’ll add a teaspoon of epsom salt to each gallon of water. I dissolve it and water my plants with it like I would normally. I only do this once a year, usually when my plants are looking a little yellow.

Epsom salt is packed full of magnesium which can increase the amount of greenery the plants produce. I only use it on the rare occasion because too much magnesium can harm your plants.

Summary

Fertilizing our gardens doesn’t have to be a difficult and expensive task. There are many ways we can naturally fertilize our plants, many of which also keep waste out of landfills.

It’s important to understand our gardens and what they need. Different plants prefer different fertilizers. Just like ourselves, we have to feed and nourish our plants in order for them to grow strong.