I was a little turned off by the prices of fertilisers sold for gardens (at home depot), but I have a bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer for lawns, the sort that does not have any herbicides (ie, not a weed and feed type, just feed).
Would you say that this is approproate for garden with tomatoes and peppers and so on.
Thanks
Yes it's fine. (10-20-10 or 12-24-12 is more traditional for vegetables) Don't use much or you'll drive the earthworms away.
Bob
Use it half strength, get some fish emulsion, and mulch with alfalfa or alfalfa pellets.
I used 1 tbsp per bush, spread around evenly with 1 ft radius.
That should be fine. Last year, my peppers and tomatoes weren't doing very well, except for the one tomato that was next to the compost pile. So I gave them a little fertilizer and they took off. This year, I bought a pick-up load of compost and tilled it in, along with my little bit of compost. The purchased compost didn't look very rich (and it doesn't hold much moisture), so I'll probably have to add nitrogen this year, but going to use it sparingly.
I used shredded paper for a mulch around my peppers last year (junk mail, statements, and bills) and the worms loved it. I had to keep replenishing it as they pulled it down in the ground. That may even have been part of the problem as the decomposing paper tied up the nitrogen.
Bob
I always used to use chicken poop for fertilizer, which worked great, but due to neighbors snitching the chickens had to be eaten.
Has anyone tried composting lawn grass?
Maybe I should save up a pile of it from my lawnmower, and let it rot for a year or something?
Lawn clipping make good compost, but you'll need to mix shredded newspaper with them to get it to work. I prefer to leave the lawn clippings on the lawn to recycle the nutrients in-place, but if I let the grass get too long, I bag the clippings (or rake them if it was
*really* long) and compost 'em.Neighbors shouldn't have cared about you having a few chickens as long as you didn't have a rooster. (I wish I had a couple of chickens living under my apple tree to eat the insects)
Bob
Yes, exactly the point. I usually mulch the grass also. But if I can use some of it for compost, that would be cool.
Yes, they should not have, but they did.
One way to get neighbors to ignore illicit chickens is to give them a box of eggs once in awhile. Yes, it's bribery, but it usually works.
zxcvbob wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:
Better still, use the grass clippings as a mulch around plants to retain moisture and keep the weeds down. After the season, work the the clippings into the soil. Great for the worms and the soil.
This seems like a good idea, can you clarify, do you mean to use them as mulch around food plants like tomatoes?
How thick layer would you use?
Ignoramus8233 wrote in news:gJidnW7hf-sUvaHVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
2-3" layer around the plants; enough to keep weeds out and moisture in. Leave about 2" open around the plant stems so they don't rot and bugs won't have a place to hide and eat away at the stems.
Mulch to about 6", if you can. Mulch will feed your soil and make it healthy but around heat dependent plants like tomatoes, it can work as a barrier to heat. I would wait until your weather is regularly running 85F to mulch. Then pull it back again in the fall, as the weather starts to cool. Build it back up again for the winter or plant green manure.
The other possibility is to use plastic sheeting (plastic mulch) over the (organic) mulch and drip irrigation under it, to feed and heat the soil. The down side is that it is possible to over heat the soil, > 90F, in which case the plastic should be removed until the weather cools. At the end of the season, the plastic should be removed to allow for the penetration of the rain into the soil and the garden should be mulched as needed.
Yes, it works well in a variety of veggies. I also use it in the flower beds along with compost and some wood-ash from the fireplace. Woodash is alkaline so don't use too much of it.
:I was a little turned off by the prices of fertilisers sold for :gardens (at home depot), but I have a bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer for :lawns, the sort that does not have any herbicides (ie, not a weed and :feed type, just feed). : :Would you say that this is approproate for garden with tomatoes and :peppers and so on. : :Thanks
I too was turned off by what I saw at Home Depot and bought nothing. I usually use a 5-10-5 or 5-10-10. Last few years I've used 15-30-15 Miracle Grow, only 1/3rd as much. I'm looking around for alternatives now, but finding nothing I like. Used to be I could buy a 20 lb bag of
5-10-5 for $8 or so in a local hardware store but I haven't been able to find anything like that anywhere. It boggles my mind, frankly.:I used 1 tbsp per bush, spread around evenly with 1 ft radius.
I put mine in gallon jugs with water ahead of need. Then I spread around the plants after watering.
:Has anyone tried composting lawn grass? : :Maybe I should save up a pile of it from my lawnmower, and let it rot :for a year or something?
I put just about anything green in my compost pile, lawn clippings, leaves, whatever. Wet it occasionally, turn once in a while when I think of it and summon the energy. If it's not completely decomposed when I plant I mix with the planting soil anyway. The undecomposed material will decompose eventually and gradually anyway with the moisture in the soil and the natural bacteria and release nutrients to the plants. That's my thinking. Plus it amends my naturally clay soil nicely.
:2-3" layer around the plants; enough to keep weeds out and moisture in. :Leave about 2" open around the plant stems so they don't rot and bugs :won't have a place to hide and eat away at the stems.
I lost one tomato plant this year due to something(s) eating away at the stem and had to go buy a replacement. Don't recall it happening before. I hadn't mulched yet, either. I used to put collars around the seedlings to retard such things, but this plant was well along (10-12" high) when it happened and I was surprised.
Ignoramus22089 wrote in news:HaidnasGcvaI36fVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
You should be able to find some cheap fertilizer that dissolves in water at Home Depot or Walmart. I got a big box of 15-30-15 at Walmart for less than $10.
I like to fix the fertilizer with equal parts pulverized lime to take care of ph issues and prevent blossom end rot.
Get some fish emulsion and use it at full strength and throw your
10-10-10 away. If you can't do that, then use it with your fish emulsion at a quarter strength. Chemical fertilizers kill soil organisms that will feed your plants. If you grow soil, the soil will grow your plants.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.