Fun Fertilizer Formula

Here's the formula: 1/3 cup epsom salt; 1/3 cup liquid iron; 1/3 cup fish emulsion (hold your nose on this one); 1/3 cup of any balanced water soluable general garden fertiziler and 5 gallons of water.


1-4 cups per plant depending on size.  


I haven't tried it yet. Once I get these ingredients I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes. :)

Hello Old Friend!

I know it's been a minute and I am sorry for that, but I have been a little out of it.

First off, not much growth has happened. I mean, cool stuff is going on like baby watermelons and zukes and stuff, but the plants are all sort of at a stand still.

I'm kind of a little embarrassed about this because my garden is starting to look like a turd sandwich. :(

My Zuke and Squash leaves are all sort of turning spotty and yellow and gross. The Zuke tower thing just ended up being a terrible idea. (Pics later)

All of my herbs are going crazy with the exception of my 2nd rosemary. (we lost the first one.)

I keep having to repot everything... which may be doing more bad than good?

IDK... I feel like I am overwatering everyone, but at the same time I feel bad if I don't want them. :(

Also, I have been making my smoothies and such, but I feel like my plants are getting the right nutrients. I found this little gem: http://www.growinggroceries.com/2008/10/calcium-the-forgotten-plant-nutrient/ It basically says that I suck and need to start eating more eggs so I can give my plants calcium. Otherwise I may need to figure something out. Maybe a small contained bonfire in my parking spot?? I wonder how the cops would feel about that??

IDK... I just am pretty upset about it all and I don't really know what to do about it.

Some good things have happened recently.

I got a job! YAY! That will provide me with the extra moneys needed to buy MORE PLANTS! Just kidding... or am I?


Speaking of more plants... I have been hitting the clearance bin lately. I'll post about those later too.

And, I started my raised bed thing. I mean, I bought 1 piece... but thats a start and good things take time. :)

So, be patient. :)

Day 36

Today is Day 36! I can't believe this has lasted this long! lol

There are a couple exciting things going on!

1. Thanks to the smoothie, my rose is SUPER happy!

2. Blake's Oregano is sprouting! Yay!

3. My Hibiscus is coming back from the dead!!

4. The Zucchinis and Squash are blooming like crazy!

5. My tomatoes are still growing... painfully slowly.

6. MY WATERMELON HAS BLOOMED!! Look, a little boy flower!

7. My herbs are doing great! That Sage is so much happier now that it is no longer roomies with Basil!

All and all things are being things, doing their thing. :)

I'm waiting on my female watermelon flower to bloom so we can get some babies started! My zucchinis and squashes are growing, but I thought they would be getting big faster... I'm starting to wonder if my veggies are not getting enough nutrients. :-/ Thus are the difficulties of container gardening. 

I think I really just need to go outside and actually spend some time out there. I mean, I have been doing my daily checkings and waterings, but I haven't really been spending quality time out there. 

I am noticing an increase in bug activity out there and that makes me mad. I need to get some organic bug repellent going or something. I think I am going to spend sometime researching these bugs and find a way to safely remove them. 

I also need to prune some of these Zucchini pants as well.. They are going crazy and they are starting to block sun from the other plants. :(

I guess I have the rest of my day planned out, huh?

Day 34

Just a quick update for all you readers out there!!

Things are progressing. Right now we are waiting on a vegetable harvest, a sick plant to get healthy, and healthy plants to get bigger! In this post I will also reveal to you all how my first smoothie experience went!

LET THE PHOTO SEQUENCE BEGIN!

First off, we have a TON of blooms that will hopefully become delicious veggies soon!

My beautiful Squash has 2 little baby squashes that are coming along!

Here are pics of a couple of the several Zucchini plants I have. Most of these flowers are male flowers and won't produce any fruit, but they are needed to pollinate the couple female flowers that I DO have. 

A couple shots of my fabulous watermelon plants! That close up is actually a close up of a Female flower! That means that if it is pollinated by a male flower, we will have our FIRST watermelon!! 

SO EXCITING!

Here are my beautiful Patio Tomatoes! YAY! There are several little tomatoes on these 2 plants and TONS of blooms!! I am noticing that these tomatoes do grow painfully slow. And, thats annoying. :(

Second, we do have a sick plant that is on the mend.

As you all know, I bought it on clearance, so it was to be expected that the plant would have an issue. However, I didn't know that the plant was going to basically DIE! My thoughts are that the Hibiscus got frozen in that last frost we had a couple weeks ago. Most of the leaves have fallen off, but I have noticed that the very tips of the stems are starting to sport some green! Also, I moved the plant out side so it can get some heat and natural sun. Fingers Crossed!

The third thing we got going on is the continued health and success of the plants that are already healthy and successful.

The first pic is of my gardenia bush. It developed some new beautiful buds and blooms and I couldn't be more excited! The second pic is of my rose! Its doing really awesome and has tons of blooms!

Time for the experiment!

So, I don't drink much coffee, but I have gotten on the Green Tea kick! Green Tea is awesome! It tastes great and is super good for you! However, this is not a health blog, its a gardening blog. 

With that being said, I mentioned how you can use coffee as fertilizer, but I didn't mention how you can use Tea Bags! I'll go into all the chemistry later, but for now, know that I have made my first smoothie!

I gave you all my smoothie recipe in an earlier post, but this is what I used for this particular smoothie:

1 banana peel cut up into squares, 2 green tea bags, enough water to cover the ingredients.

I put all of that into the blends and mixed it until it was finely blended. It smelled AWESOME!

Well, I went outside and poured it over the soil of the rose. I got it all over the top of the soil. I wanted to make sure that all the roots were able to get a taste. :) You can see that the smoothie kind of looks like vomit, but what the hey, the plants like it so it can't be too bad.

This is my first attempt at this, so we'll see what happens. 

Until then, thanks for reading!

:) 

Oregano again!

That title only makes sense if you say it out loud and think "there I go again"... yeah.

Anyway, my fiancé wanted a gardening project. aw. So I bought him a cute little pot and some Oregano seeds. We planted them on the 30th. Here's the proof!

Who knew that oregano seeds were SO small?!?!

Back to Garden Porn

So, I got so caught up on technical stuff I forgot to update you all on the progress we have been having!!

Day 30!

That's right! I have made it 1 FULL month without killing everything! For those of you who know me, you'll know that I haven't always been such an expert ha gardener! But I have done it! I made it though 1 month! Now, at day 30, we are really starting to get somewhere! We have fully developed blooms and even a hint of some real food!

My Zukes and Squash

My Tomatoes

OH YEAH!!! I almost forgot!

I FINALLY made my trellis! I went to Home Depot and this guy totally hooked me up! I told him I needed to make something sturdy that could hold a good amount of weight, but was cheap... like, super cheap. We went back and forth and finally he hooked me up with a "damaged" piece of lattice wood and some super cheap 1 x 1's!! Seriously! He gave me 1/2 off the lattice and the 1x1's were .85 a piece! The total cost of the project was $5.53!!!!! Super excited! Here are my results! (also, I might be getting famous around town! He even recognized my garden when I showed him a pic! lol)

The first pic is it all laid out, then the finished product, then a close up of my zip ties! Boy do I sure love zip ties!! I actually have it glue together with liquid nails, the zip ties are just for extra support!

Here is the finished product in its spot! Looks pretty good if I do say so myself!! Also, check out those crazy watermelon vines!!

Bee Tee Dubs... I found out what those spindly, wire things are that are coming off of my watermelon vines:

VICE GRIP NINJA CHOKE VINES OF DOOM!!! 

Yep... their job is to creep out, find something, grab it, and hold on to it for dear life!! At least I know I don't have an alien plant anymore. 

pH List

Since I touched on it a little in the last post, I am going to dedicate this post to pH's.

Just so everyone is clear, here is a pH scale. 

So, when I reference numbers, just look back at this chart. :)

Here is a list of the plants that I have in my garden, for a lengthy list of plants and their pH's refer Here.

My Contained Garden:

Vegetables/Fruits

Tomato -----------------------------5.5-7.5 A

Crookneck Squash ---------------6.0-7.5 B

Zucchini ----------------------------5.5-7.0 A

Red Leaf Lettuce -----------------6.0-7.0 B

Carrot -------------------------------5.5-7.0 A

Sugar Baby Watermelon --------5.5-6.5 A

Strawberry -------------------------5.0-7.5 A

Ornamentals (flowers)

Marigold ---------------------------5.5-7.0 A

Pansy -------------------------------5.5-7.0 A

Voila --------------------------------5.5-6.5 A

Petunia ------------------------------6.0-7.5 B

Gardenia ----------------------------5.0-6.0 A

Rose ---------------------------------5.5-7.0 A

Herbs

Peppermint -------------------------7.0-8.0 B

Sweet Mint -------------------------7.0-8.0 B

Bee Balm ---------------------------6.0-8.0 B

Lavender ----------------------------6.5-7.5 B

Rosemary ---------------------------5.0-6.0 A

Common Sage ---------------------5.5-6.5 A

Sweet Basil -------------------------5.5-6.5 A 

Purple Basil -------------------------5.5-6.5 A

Lemon Thyme ---------------------5.5-7.0 A

Onion Chives -----------------------6.0-7.0 B

In case you were wondering, A-Acid and B-Base. 

Based on this chart, some things stand out: 

My Watermelon, Violas, Gardenia, Rosemary, Sage and Basils are pretty Acid-Loving!

My Mints and Lavender are pretty Base-Loving!

Everything else is pretty neutral.

This info tells me that I need to get that soil tester quickly so that I can test my soils. I need to know what pH all my pots are at. The thing that I didn't account for is that I have used 4 different potting soils. I am assuming that most commercial potting soils are sold at a neutral pH. I mean, it makes sense... 

(**TIP: To make your soil more basic or alkaline add calcium rich materials like egg shells. If you need your soil to be more acidic try adding some coffee grounds. They are high in caffeine. Caffeine is full of Nitrogens which help make the soil more acidic.)

A helpful link that I want to keep documented is the University of Georgia Plant Analysis Handbook. Here

BANANA PEELS, EGG SHELLS, AND COFFEE GROUNDS???

BANANA PEELS, EGG SHELLS, AND COFFEE GROUNDS AS FERTILIZER??

YES!!!! 

Everyone has these 3 items laying around the house but did you know that you can use them as food for your plants??? In my opinion, these everyday items are better for your garden (and you!) than using store bought fertilizer! (Now, I say this but I am only speculating. Everyone has favorite fertilizers and I am not even sure first hand if these items work. This blog is a trial and error blog, but the idea sounds a lot better than using all those chemical!)

Here is the break down of these 3 items that can benefit your garden. In later posts I will reference this post when speaking about which items to use with which plants.

BANANA PEELS:

The mineral content of a banana peel concentrations in mg/g:

Potassium-----78.10

Calcium-------19.20

Sodium--------24.30

Iron--------------0.61

Manganese---76.20

Bromine--------0.04

Rubidium-------0.21

Strontium-------0.03

Zirconium------0.02

Niobium--------0.02

As you can see, Banana peels are FULL of Potassium (a MAJOR component in commercial fertilizer), Calcium, and Manganese. 

If you remember from my earlier post:

Potassium- A MAJOR commercial fertilizer component. Helps in Building Proteins, Photosynthesis, Fruit Quality, AND it helps your plant ward off diseases!

Calcium- A major part of Cell Walls, (Plant Cell Pic). Calcium also helps in the transport and retention of other nutrients as well as helps strengthen the plant!

Manganese- Aids in the breakdown of carbohydrates and Nitrogen!

My recommendation?? Make a Banana Peel Mulch or simply cut up your banana peel and bury it in the soil of each plant you have in your garden (ESPECIALLY YOUR ROSES!!) Or you can do it like me and cut little squares and put them fleshy part down on the top of your soil. Your plants will thank you! I also saw that you can make your peels into a smoothie mix for your plants. Take your peel, put it in a blender, cover with water, blend well. Pour contents into the soil of each plant. One smoothie per plant. :)

EGG SHELLS:

The mineral content of an Egg Shell concentration in mg/g:

Calcium--------900.0

Magnesium-----24.0

Phosphorus------8.4

Potassium--------8.0

Sodium-----------9.0

Breakdown: Egg Shells = Holy Batman Calcium! 

Calcium- Again, A major part of Cell Walls, (Plant Cell Pic). Calcium also helps in the transport and retention of other nutrients as well as helps strengthen the plant!

Magnesium- Part of Chlorophyll and an ESSENTIAL part of Photosynthesis! It also helps activate needed growth enzymes.

Phosphorus- Another MAJOR commercial fertilizer component! Phosphorus is also essential for photosynthesis. Encourages rapid growth such as blooming and root growth! 

Potassium- Again, another major commercial fertilizer component. Helps in Building Proteins, Photosynthesis, Fruit Quality, AND it helps your plant ward off diseases!

My recommendation?? Lots of Egg Shells!! Not only are eggs really good for humans to eat, you can use their shells to feed your plants! Just crush them up, dig a shallow hole around your plants and bury your shells. :) Easy! 

COFFEE GROUNDS:

The mineral content of Coffee Ground (prepared w/ tap water) concentration in mg/g:

Calcium-----------4.7

Magnesium-------7.1

Phosphorus-------7.1

Potassium------116.0

Sodium------------4.7

Manganese-------0.1

Coffee Ground Breakdown: Potassium Kings/Queens!!

Calcium- Again, A major part of Cell Walls, (Plant Cell Pic). Calcium also helps in the transport and retention of other nutrients as well as helps strengthen the plant!

Magnesium- Part of Chlorophyll and an ESSENTIAL part of Photosynthesis! It also helps activate needed growth enzymes.

Phosphorus- Another MAJOR commercial fertilizer component! Phosphorus is also essential for photosynthesis. Encourages rapid growth such as blooming and root growth! 

Potassium- Again, another major commercial fertilizer component. Helps in Building Proteins, Photosynthesis, Fruit Quality, AND it helps your plant ward off diseases!

CLOSING REMARKS:

So, my overall breakdown? GREAT SUCCESS! I mentioned before the different ways to make mulches and smoothies. You can even just dig a hole and put these items in the ground next to your plants. I think what I might try is making in all encompassing smoothie. 

For each plant (perhaps for every 2 plants depending on size)

1 banana peel (for Potassium and Manganese), a hand full of egg shells (for Calcium), and depending on the pH of your plant a 1/4 to 1 full thing of coffee grounds (for Potassium and Acid)

Take all 3 of those ingredients and put them in a blender with 1 or 2 cups of water. (You want the 3 items to be covered, not drowned)

Blend well into as thin of a smoothie as you can get.

(For plants that love more acid in their lives, give em' more coffee grounds)

Pour the smoothie around the root base of each plant and water in real good. 

As far as how often you'll want to do this? From what I am reading, it seems like you can do this as often as you like. Now, when I say "often as you like" I mean, come on! How many banana's and eggs are you eating? And how many pots of coffee are you making?? I'd say, try to remember the plants you started with and rotate with plants you feed on which days. Meaning, for me, on Monday I'll eat 2 banana's, 3 eggs and 1 pot of coffee. I'll take these items, blend them up and pour them on the soil of my tomatoes. Tuesday, I'll eat the same thing and instead of pouring with my tomatoes, I'll pour it in with my roses. Wednesday I'll do the something but pour it in with my watermelons. Etc, After all the plants get their food, I'll start again with my tomatoes.

Get it? Good. :)

(**TIP: You might want to cut your banana peel up a little bit to aid your blender. Also, I would cut the hard tops off and discard those. Or perhaps you can dice them up. IDK, I just don't like the idea of trying to blend something that hard. Maybe we can just figure out a way to keep them in, yet make them just as easy to blend.)

(**TIP: Make sure your egg shells are washed out and clean. You don't want the animal proteins mixing in with everything. For the most part, as an average DIY gardener with no cows or horses or whatever, I avoid Animal Products (meat, poop, etc) for fertilizer. Plants don't break it down right. Egg shells work because of the calcium levels.)

(**TIP: Do some research (or just read my blog religiously and only buy the same plants that I buy) on the plants that you own. I am investing in a pH reader for my plants. Some plants thrive in Alkaline (Basic) conditions and some plants thrive in Acidic Conditions. (Remember, the lower the number on the pH scale, the more acidic it is.)

As we process with this blog (and I as discover), I will be posting more DIY fertilizers... I'm thinking Tea Bags?? And what about Citrus Peels?

Stay Tuned! :)

WARNING! You may learn something in this post!

Macronutrients

Nitrogen (N)

Nitrogen is a part of all living cells and is a necessary part of all proteins, enzymes and metabolic processes involved in the synthesis and transfer of energy. Nitrogen is a part of chlorophyll, the green pigment of the plant that is responsible for photosynthesis.  Helps plants with rapid growth, increasing seed and fruit production and improving the quality of leaf and forage crops.  Nitrogen often comes from fertilizer application and from the air (legumes get their N from the atmosphere, water or rainfall contributes very little nitrogen)

Phosphorus (P)

Like nitrogen, phosphorus (P) is an essential part of the process of photosynthesis.  Involved in the formation of all oils, sugars, starches, etc. Helps with the transformation of solar energy into chemical energy; proper plant maturation; withstanding stress. Effects rapid growth. Encourages blooming and root growth. Phosphorus often comes from fertilizer, bone meal, and superphosphate.

Potassium (K)

Potassium is absorbed by plants in larger amounts than any other mineral element except nitrogen and, in some cases, calcium.  Helps in the building of protein, photosynthesis, fruit quality and reduction of diseases. Potassium is supplied to plants by soil minerals, organic materials, and fertilizer.

Calcium (Ca)

Calcium, an essential part of plant cell wall structure, provides for normal transport and retention of other elements as well as strength in the plant. It is also thought to counteract the effect of alkali salts and organic acids within a plant.  Sources of calcium are dolomitic lime, gypsum, and superphosphate.

Magnesium (Mg)

Magnesium is part of the chlorophyll in all green plants and essential for photosynthesis. It also helps activate many plant enzymes needed for growth. Soil minerals, organic material, fertilizers, and dolomitic limestone are sources of magnesium for plants.

Sulfur (S)

Essential plant food for production of protein. Promotes activity and development of enzymes and vitamins. Helps in chlorophyll formation. Improves root growth and seed production. Helps with vigorous plant growth and resistance to cold. Sulfur may be supplied to the soil from rainwater. It is also added in some fertilizers as an impurity, especially the lower grade fertilizers. The use of gypsum also increases soil sulfur levels.

Micronutrients

Boron (B)

Helps in the use of nutrients and regulates other nutrients.  Aids production of sugar and carbohydrates.  Essential for seed and fruit development.  Sources of boron are organic matter and borax

Copper (Cu)

Important for reproductive growth. Aids in root metabolism and helps in the utilization of proteins.

Chloride (Cl)

Aids plant metabolism.  Chloride is found in the soil.

Iron (Fe)

Essential for formation of chlorophyll. Sources of iron are the soil, iron sulfate, iron chelate.

Manganese (Mn)

Functions with enzyme systems involved in breakdown of carbohydrates, and nitrogen metabolism.  Soil is a source of manganese.

Molybdenum (Mo)

Helps in the use of nitrogen Soil is a source of molybdenum.

Zinc (Zn)

Essential for the transformation of carbohydrates. Regulates consumption of sugars. Part of the enzyme systems which regulate plant growth.  Sources of zinc are soil, zinc oxide, zinc sulfate, zinc chelate.

I got this little gem from Here.
If you want to use a store bought fertilizer here is a good link to look at to figure out what kind of fertilizer you need. It also explains how to decode those numbers on the fertilizer bags.
(This may be my new favorite website!)
Okay, I am only going to post about the plants that I have in my garden. The website that I keep referring to has recommendations for several different plants, but like I said, I am only concerned with what I have.

Rainy Day in GA

So, its a rainy day in Georgia. 

:) 

First off, I love the rain! Second, My plants love it too!!

They are finishing up construction in front of my apartment and are starting to lay their sod and such. Well, I made friends with the people over there and now I am able to borrow their hose!!! SCORE! For those of you who are in the know, I have been filling up a 5 gallon watering can in my bathtub everyday 4 times a day at least to water my plants. When we signed our lease we didn't notice that there wasn't a place for the hose, or an electrical socket for X-mas lights. :( So, now that I can use their hose,  I can actually give my plants the big ol drink that they need. 

They have been especially thirst lately because... drumroll please... THEY ARE FLOWERING AND PRODUCING FRUIT! 

Now is the time that they need a really good drink, and probably some more to eat. 

I would prefer to give them nutrients via organic or home style. I really don't want to overload my sweet plants with pesticides and harsh fertilizers. So far, I have companion gardening down. And, I also have the Epsom Salt thing (Magnesium Sulfate). But, I need to find a way to deliver the other needed nutrients. 

I guess on this rainy day I'll be spending my time doing research. 

Shouldn't I be getting a grade for this?...