fertilizer how and when

[solar flick]

I am interested in how folks fertilize their herbs and vegetables. I have potted herbs - basil, rosemary, mint, chives, dill, cat-mint, as well as lettuce, tomatoes, bell pepper, chilli, spinach...

I would like to know how to fertilize and how often.

I'm thinking of using household ingredients: egg shells for calcium, aquarium water for nitrogen, urine, milk and coffee grounds are all other ingredients that I have readily on hand.

However, I'm not sure how often I should fertilize and in what combination. Obviously some plants like the tomatoes will need more, than say the rosemary. Difficult!

I cannot make a compost heap or have a wormery where I live, so I've gotta do the best I can with what's at hand, and I want to keep it organic.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Billy]

By and large these don't require much in the way of fertilizer or water (except for the basil)

Tomatoes, bell pepper, & chillis are heavey feeders. See below.

All look relatively safe. Too much urine may introduce too much salt, and coffee grounds are acidic, which would be fine with potatoes or blueberries, but with other plants, add it slowly.

Nitrogen content of urine will depend on diet. <

The easiest way is to use "organic" fish emulsion every 2 weeks, or as directed on the bottle.

Manure Chicken Diary cow Horse Steer Rabbit Sheep Alfalfa Fish Emulsion N 1.1 .257 .70 .70 2.4 .70 3 5 P .80 .15 .30 .30 1.4 .30 1 1

K .50 .25 .60 .40 .60 .90 2 1

------

For heavy Feeders N: 18.37 lb. chicken manure or equivalent/ 100 sq.ft. (2.88 oz/sq.ft.)

P: 3 lb. rock phosphate/ 100/sq.ft. (.48 oz/sq.ft.)

K: How much wood ash should you use in your garden? The late Bernard G. Wesenberg, a former Washington State University Extension horticulturist, recommended using one gallon of ashes per square yard on loam to clay-loam soil, and half as much on sandier soils.

[Steve Peek]

If you do a little research I believe you'll find that coffee grounds are basically neutral. The acid is extracted in the brewing process.

[Billy]

That's what I thought, until they killed one of my squash plants. The effects were noticeable within 24 hr. The coffee grounds were from espresso coffee, if that makes any difference.