easy fertilizer. Kelp? Egg Shells? Coffee grounds?

This kinda relates to gardening and food so it should be a good topic. I have a ton of used kelp in my freezer from making miso soup. I always plan to make a second dashi stock, but I make a lot more first dashi so i always end up wasting lots of kelp (and bonito flakes).

I have been reading that kelp makes a wonderful fertilizer, but I can't find any information regarding how to use it to make your own. Can I just dry it out and grind it up in a blender then bury or sprinkle it on the soil? I don't like the idea of making any kinds of composts or waiting for it to decompose so maybe (hopefully this is an easy quick fertilizer).

A couple others that we could discuss would be coffee grounds and egg shells too. I heard it's a good idea to dry out the coffee grounds first to avoid mold.

Not answering your question, but related, is a suggestion I got from Cookie Monster: banana peels. High in potassium, banana peels can be just chopped up and worked into the ground. The Wife has a stash going in the refrigerator which I intend to put in my garden this weekend.

Awesome, I'm sure i can work up a supply of banana peels. I did a bit of research on the kelp and i have found by 2 sources that you can just chop/blend up kelp dried or wet and put it in the soil mix.

I've often wondered about that stuff...wouldn't it be salty? Isn't salt a bad thing?

Actually that is a concern if you harvest it form the ocean. If that were the case it's suggested that you leave it out in the rain first, or rinse it off. But since i've boiled mine it's not salty anymore. I'm not saying I know for sure, but this is what i've read, and it no longer tastes salty. I'm not sure how much fertilizer benefit i've lost by boiling it though, but i assume it can't hurt to add it to the soil anyhow.

Starbucks actually has a web page about using coffee grounds in the garden.

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost.asp

I know some people on the gardening boards I lurk on have reported that their local Starbucks will give them their used grounds just for this purpose. Since I am mostly a container gardener I've never had to ask them for used grounds, so YMMV.

Kim

I've heard of burying eggshells or banana peels directly under rose gardens to make them flourish (some may remember Annette Bening's smug response in American Beauty when asked by her neighbors why her roses are so gorgeous: "Eggshells and Miracle Gro!" Of course, there was symbolic meaning to that line as well, but eggshells are legitimate in the garden, I hear.)

But aren't we really talking about composting here? Wouldn't you take the peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, etc., let them decay, and then put them in the garden as compost?

If not, then what is the benefit of burying single, non-composted items?

You can compost these items, but this thread is specifically geared toward "easy" non-composting fertilizers. As far as I know these items (egg shells, kelp, coffee, banana peels) can be ground up and mixed with the soil.

aschie30 wrote:But aren't we really talking about composting here? Wouldn't you take the peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, etc., let them decay, and then put them in the garden as compost?

If not, then what is the benefit of burying single, non-composted items?

Hi Aschie,

There is a movement called Layer or Lasagna gardening that involves using organic materials that are easily broken down, like mulch, grass clippings, fruit peels, newspaper, etc to build a bed and then plant there. The idea is that the worms in your garden will break this down rather quickly and create a rich soil.

So, it is one part composting, one part gardening.

Kim

I've actually been doing this for a few years, with container plants. I'll just dump crushed egg shells, fruit peelings/leftovers, end-rot tomatoes, etc., in the containers, either mixing a little with the topsoil or letting them just sit on the top (in my mind, it's my way of mulching, which I never seem to get around to). Usually by the end of growing season nothing has broken down, but it's all been broken down by the start of the next growing season and it's given me some fantastic, worm-heavy soil without having to use a lot of other fertilizing products. YMMV.

Laikom,

You may have an opinion on the direction of this thread, however people do make sidebar comments on threads all the time. It is an LTHforum tradition to drift from the original topic.

If you will refer to this article on composting methods, then scroll down to sheet composting. This method closely approximates what you seem to desire.

The danger of sheet composting as a compost-making method is that carbon containing residues will call upon the nitrogen reserves of the soil for their decomposition. On the other hand, high-nitrogen materials may release their nitrogen too quickly in the wrong form. What may take a matter of weeks in a compost pile, given confined and thermophilic conditions, may take a full season in the soil.

If you don't want to fuss with composting, then consider pit or trench composting below. I liked the three year cycle of composting, walkway and plantings

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m a huge fan of the tangent. In face I think I’ve had as many posts deleted or moved because they are off topic! I was simply explaining why we were all talking about these things as if we’re just throwing them in the garden without composting them. I’ll be posting pictures of my garden soon, I’m quite proud of it!

FYI: the Wednesday Ridgeville Farmer's Market in Evanston has a booth that offers free bring-your-own-container kelp fertilizer. I assume they make it themselves - they also offer worm castings.

Additional FYI - the Ridgeville Farmers' Market is small, at the corner of Elmwood and South Blvd in Evanston, Wednesdays 4 - 8 pm. (If coming from the north, take Elmwood, since Ridge is being reconstructed.)

Just went to a talk on lasagna gardening. Totally facinating...I'm trying it this year.

razbry wrote:Just went to a talk on lasagna gardening. Totally facinating...I'm trying it this year.

I'd be interested in any information on this! We have done something similar in the past but this year we're going to plant in an area that has just been kind of "junk" ground. Sounds like this may be suitable for building up the soil in that site.

You can get all the info from the book called lasagna gardening. The REALLY interesting thing is that you don't plant into the soil at all. You plant right into the layers of materials that you build up.