As of: March 27, 2024, 5:01 p.m
By: Sofia Popovidi
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Your garden can benefit from your kitchen scraps.
Find out how you can use eggshells, coffee grounds, etc. to ensure healthy plant growth.
Munich – Spring brings a lot of work in the garden.
In order to thrive, plants need essential nutrients that they obtain from the soil.
Fertilizing is particularly recommended here.
However, before you buy expensive fertilizer, it's worth taking a look at your own household waste.
Some waste products and home remedies make excellent natural fertilizers for the garden.
Potato water as fertilizer
With the beginning of spring, the garden plants also awaken.
But instead of buying expensive fertilizers, you can simply use your kitchen waste.
(Symbolic image) © Ingrid Balabanova/imago
Similar to how pasta water can be useful in cooking, potato water is perfect for the garden.
It contains substances such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron.
These minerals help plants grow and produce flowers.
When fertilizing, it is very important that the water remains unsalted, as salty soil is not good for many plants.
The water should first cool down and the plants should then be watered with a watering can.
Potato water is also good for controlling weeds.
Here, however, the water does not have to cool down first, but can be poured hot over the weeds immediately.
Natural fertilizer: eggshells
Many eggs are consumed, especially around Easter time.
Here too, it is worth saving waste products such as eggshells for gardening.
The calcium carbonate it contains is particularly nutrient-rich for plants due to its high lime content and at the same time loosens the soil.
To fertilize, the eggshells should be crushed and either mixed into the soil or added to the irrigation water.
However, it is important to check the lime content of the irrigation water: tap water in many cities already has a high lime content, which is why the eggshells would then be unnecessary.
Crushed eggshells can be used as a natural fertilizer for plants as they contain valuable nutrients.
(Symbolic image) © Manfred Segerer/imago
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Coffee grounds as fertilizer for the garden
Coffee is popular not only with people but also with plants.
Coffee grounds in particular are rich in potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus.
According to the online magazine
My Beautiful Garden,
coffee grounds are suitable for use with rhododendrons, blueberries or hydrangeas, for example.
It is advisable to collect the coffee grounds in an airy and dry place so that they can cool down and not become moldy.
For garden plants, the coffee grounds should be worked flat into the soil or distributed in the root area.
For houseplants, cold coffee diluted with water can be used and mixed into the potting soil when repotting.
How do I collect organic waste?
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The most environmentally friendly way to separate your organic waste is to take it directly from the kitchen bowl into the organic waste bin.
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If you work with small waste containers in the kitchen, you can put a little kitchen paper (please not colorfully printed paper) at the bottom to absorb the moisture.
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Empty and clean the container regularly and make sure that it is lockable.
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The less moisture the organic waste contains, the cleaner the collection vessel is.
Source: NABU
Banana peels and rhubarb leaves – waste products for fertilization
Banana peels and rhubarb leaves are also rich in potassium and therefore ideal fertilizers.
Another positive aspect: Kitchen waste finds a useful use.
To fertilize, the banana peels should be cut into small pieces and dried.
They can then be mixed into the soil.
For rhubarb, the leaves should be soaked in water and the plant then watered with the liquid fertilizer.
However, when it comes to waste used in the garden, care should be taken to ensure that it comes from organic farming if possible.
Otherwise, pesticides could end up in the soil.
Hobby gardeners in particular can quickly make a mistake when gardening.
There are a few tips and tricks to ensure that plants are not over-fertilized.
(spo)
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.