Okay, so, I’ve been getting into gardening lately, and I wanted to try making my own flower fertilizers. I mean, why not, right? It seemed like a fun little project, and I figured I could save a few bucks while giving my plants some homemade love.
First, I did some digging around online. Just, you know, casually browsing through gardening forums and blogs. I wasn’t looking for anything too complicated, just some basic recipes. I found a bunch of different ideas, but a few kept popping up: banana peels, eggshells, and coffee grounds. Sounded simple enough.
I started with the banana peels. I just tossed them into a bucket and covered them with water. Then, I let that sit for, like, a week. I did stir it every now and then, it smelled kinda funky, but hey, that’s fermentation for you, right? After a week, I strained out the peels and diluted the liquid with more water. I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry, didn’t want to burn my plants with super-strong fertilizer.
Next up, eggshells. I rinsed them out and let them dry completely. Then, I crushed them up as finely as I could. I used a mortar and pestle, but I guess you could use a blender too. Once they were all powdery, I just sprinkled that around the base of my plants. Apparently, they’re good for calcium, which is supposed to be good for, like, strong cell walls or something.
The coffee grounds were the easiest. I just took my used coffee grounds and mixed them into the soil. I heard they’re good for nitrogen, and they can also help with drainage. I did read somewhere that you shouldn’t overdo it with coffee grounds, though. Something about them being acidic.
- Collect banana peels.
- Soak them in water for a week.
- Stir occasionally (it’ll get smelly!).
- Strain out the peels.
- Dilute the liquid with water before using.
- Rinse and dry eggshells.
- Crush them into a fine powder.
- Sprinkle around the base of plants.
- Mix used coffee grounds into the soil.
- Don’t use too much (they’re acidic!).
The Results
Honestly, I don’t know if it was the fertilizer or just me paying more attention to my plants, but they seem to be doing pretty well. My roses are blooming like crazy, and my sunflowers are getting huge! It’s probably a combination of things, but I like to think my homemade fertilizer played a part. Plus, it’s kind of cool to use stuff that would normally just go in the trash, you know? It feels good to be a little more sustainable. I’m definitely going to keep experimenting with this. Maybe next time I’ll try adding some other kitchen scraps to the mix. Who knows what kind of plant-boosting concoction I might come up with?
