Or give your plants the same nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulfur) by burying a whole fish or fish scraps at least 10-12 inches deep under planting beds.
If you’re an angler, you may have access to a boatload of these amendments, but if you aren’t, your local fishmonger may be willing to give you scraps and heads — or sell them at low cost.
Plants will also benefit from used fish-tank water, which is rich in nitrogen and other nutrients.
Cooking water
A man uses a manual lawn mower to cut his lawn in Chicago on May 9, 2007.
M. Spencer Green, Associated Press
After boiling vegetables, cool the water and apply it to plants (as long as you didn’t add salt). It contains vitamins and minerals that will give them a boost. Water from boiled eggs contains calcium, which tomato and pepper plants love.
You can even use eggshells in place of garden lime, as they both contain calcium carbonate. Microwave empty shells for two minutes to dehydrate them, then grind in a high-powered blender, coffee grinder or food processor. Incorporate the resulting powder into the soil around plants. The same can be done with banana peels. Dehydrated in an air fryer and pulverized, they’ll provide plant-boosting potassium.
Making free lawn fertilizer is a zero-effort endeavor. Whether you use a push mower or a powered mulching mower, simply remove the bag and let the grass clippings remain on the lawn. As they break down, they’ll release nitrogen into the soil.
Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.
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