Gardening is an enjoyable activity but it can become quite stressful when you consider all of the expenses that might come along with crafting your own oasis. Thankfully, there are dozens of ways to maintain a healthy garden without breaking the bank. There are so many natural options to increase your soil’s nutrients. With these 5 ways to add nutrients to your soil, you’ll have a beautiful, healthy harvest in no time!
1. Banana Peels
Banana peels are a great way to provide nutrients to your plants. Containing potassium and small amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium, these peels decompose and can promote healthy growth in houseplants and the like. The easiest ways to use banana peels are to lay the peels on top of the soil two to three inches from the plant’s stem or chop peels and bury them underneath the soil. You can also create banana peel sprays, banana peel vinegar, banana peel tea, and banana peel fertilizer.
2. Coffee
Coffee grounds are can be quite acidic. Grounds can be the perfect fertilizer for acid-loving plants or they can provide much-needed nitrogen to your soil. Sprinkle fresh, dry coffee grounds on plants like azaleas, hydrangeas blueberries, and lilies; be careful, however! If left to dry out, grounds can repel water and dry up your garden. Consider adding rinsed, used coffee grounds to the soil around your plants. You can also add these grounds to a compost pile.
3. Ash
Wood ashes from stoves or fireplaces can be a great source of potassium for your soil. They can also provide phosphorus, aluminum, magnesium, sodium, boron, copper, sulfur, and zinc. Using wood ash in your soil can also raise your garden’s pH! Like coffee, sprinkle wood ash onto the surface of your soil then rake it in! This is especially true around plants like cabbage and Brussels sprouts or fruit bushes like currants and gooseberries, which thrive in high potassium soil.
4. Epsom Salt
Magnesium sulfate – also known as Epsom salt – is perfect to use in your garden. This is known to help seeds germinate and grow bushier while improving a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients! Simultaneously, Epsom salt increases the production of chlorophyll and can deter pests. For houseplants, feed plants monthly, and for a garden that’s just beginning, mix Epsom salt into your soil.
5. Eggshells
Because eggshells are made of calcium, this easily leaches into the soil and provides necessary nutrients to your garden. Eggshells can help you maintain your garden’s acidity levels and thus promoting growth and overall plant health. You can use eggshells by pulverizing shells into a fine powder, steeping dried eggshells to create eggshell water, or as seed starters by adding soil and seeds to eggshells halves.
These natural, affordable 5 ways to add nutrients to your soil ways to help promote your overall garden health are great ways to test your green thumb! If you’re looking for other ways to make your garden thrive, consider Top Soil Pros for all of your topsoil needs.
