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Table Scraps that Will Naturally Fertilize Your Garden Soil | IntentionalByGrace.com

Table Scraps that Naturally Fertilize Your Garden Soil

Table Scraps that Will Naturally Fertilize Your Garden Soil | IntentionalByGrace.com
Hold it right there, lady! Don’t throw away those eggshells, coffee grounds, and banana peels; use your table scraps to naturally fertilize your garden!

Since starting my vegetable garden, I’ve been researching like crazy how to boost my garden soil and help my vegetables grow.

I don’t want to pump my soil full of chemicals and other unhealthy things. However, I do want my vegetables to grow. I mean, that’s sort of the point.

I don’t have a compost bin right now. I’m trying to decide how to keep the bears out of it.

In the meantime, I’ve been working some common table scraps that I would put into my compost bin directly into my soil to help give it a boost and encourage root growth in my vegetables.

In case you’re like me, and just getting started gardening, then you might like to know how you can make your food work for you in the garden too!

Here are four table scraps you’re most likely throwing away that can be used to add a nutrient-dense natural fertilizer to your garden.

Eggshells

Eggshells add calcium and magnesium to your soil.

Heavy feeding plants like tomatoes need lots of calcium. When I transplanted my tomatoes to their pots outside, I added some crushed eggshells to the hole.

From time to time, I go out and sprinkle more eggshells around my tomatoes and other plants to continue giving them a little boost.

Plus the shells deter slugs and other slithery critters from climbing onto my plants.

Coffee grinds

I have clay-based alkaline soil so I need all the acidic help I can get! Coffee grounds are acidic and great for adding nitrogen to the soil.

Just sprinkle your used coffee grounds around your acid loving plants for a great natural fertilizer. Coffee grounds also work great for mulching!

Citrus peels

Another nitrogen boosting table scrap!

Just let your citrus peels dry and then grind them up to add to the soil around your nitrogen-loving plants.

Citrus peels also add calcium, magnesium, and sulfur to your soil.

Banana peels

Banana peels are a great source of potassium and phosphorus.

Potassium is one of the prime sources for new flower buds. This makes banana peels great for flowers that you want to continue blooming over and over again!

Because it’s great for making flowers bloom, you don’t want to overuse banana peels in your soil around your vegetables. You want them to produce fruit, not just flowers and leaves. So don’t overfeed your vegetables with banana peels.

For an extra boost, blend some banana peels with your eggshells for a nice rich soil addition.

There are so many other table scraps that could be used to naturally fertilize your garden. What are some of your favorite table scraps to add to your garden’s soil?

 

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Filed Under: Healthy Living

About Leigh Ann Dutton

Leigh Ann Dutton is the wife to the man of her prayers, Mark, and mama to four loveable little cherubs. She takes joy in spending her days creating memorable moments with her family, studying God's Word, reading good books, and enjoying God's creation. She does it all by the grace of God.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah

    July 11, 2014 at 8:13 am

    This is such a great blog, I like you am just getting started in gardening and I want to keep my garden soil healthy, so I’ll be sure to save eggshells, banana peels, the lot!

  2. Sara

    July 19, 2014 at 12:52 am

    Definitely going to start saving some of these! I have done the coffee grinds, but the eggs shells sounds like a great add! One of my friends makes calcium supplements from eggshells!

  3. Lindsey

    July 4, 2015 at 10:43 am

    Awesome advice, thanks…. I am a beginner at gardening and I have actually been grinding up apple cores, when I have them and avocados with the peel, and actually I think it’s working so far…. I have a balcony garden so I cannot compost, but this in addition to what you listed works…. I am cautious because I don’t want to attract bugs… I also read somewhere that if you boil vegetables, save that water and when it cools down you can water plants with that, ie after steaming broccoli, carrots, etc…

  4. LORELL LASECKI

    June 17, 2016 at 10:40 am

    We look forward to using these items in our new garden. This is our First garden ever and it’s been good so far.

Trackbacks

  1. A Garden Update {July 2014} - Intentional By Grace says:
    August 1, 2014 at 5:01 am

    […] working more organic matter into the soil, adding table scraps from my kitchen to my garden, and giving it a weekly Kelp feeding, our lettuce, carrots, and salad brunet have picked back up […]

  2. Edible Landscaping: A Great Alternative to Traditional Landscaping - Keeper of the Home says:
    June 12, 2015 at 12:30 pm

    […] do want to grow my own food, harvest herbs from my backyard, and use table scraps to boost my garden soil. I dream of perhaps raising a few backyard chickens and harvesting my own honey one […]

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