Five Free, All-Natural Garden Fertilizers From Your Kitchen, Yard, and Beach

chicken bones that have been pulverized with a hammer

You'd think that finishing harvesting would be the last work in the garden for the season. However, after everything is harvested, I still have one step left, getting the beds prepped for next spring. One of the tasks on my list is to dig in some organic fertilizers.

If you've been following the news these past few months, you've likely heard that fertilizers, like everything else, are getting more and more expensive. So how about some free fertilizers for the garden?

8-10 egg shells, washed, dried and crushed with mortar & pestle

1. composted food and garden scraps, such as vegetable/fruit peeling or trimmings, coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves, plants. You can even add some paper and cardboard to a compost pile. Nutrients in compost: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, boron, copper, iron, zinc, manganese 
2. ground, washed eggshells. I keep a dish in the fridge for rinsed out eggshells. When I have enough, I oven dry them in a cooling oven for about 30-40 minutes (after baking something else) or at 180 F for 25 to 30 minutes, until quite dry. Once dry, I grind them in a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle. (mortar & pestle is my preferred, as it doesn't send eggshell dust into the air -- mask recommended with coffee grinder). Ground eggshells can then be mixed into the soil before planting. Nutrients in eggshells: calcium. Eggshells decompose best in acidic soil.
3. composted animal manure, such as chicken manure or rabbit manure. Don't use cat or dog waste, as you can inadvertently introduce pathogens to the soil. But well-composted manure from poultry and rabbits is beneficial for the garden. If you or someone you know raises backyard chickens (or rabbits), you could have a free source of fertilizer for your garden. Nutrients in composted chicken manure: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium
4. seaweed -- check with your state to find out if harvesting seaweed is allowed. In my area, there is one beach where citizens are allowed to collect a limited amount of seaweed. Seaweed needs to be thoroughly rinsed before use, to remove salt. It can be used as a mulch (directly applied to the soil, composted then mixed into the soil or you can make a liquid fertilizer (see this article). Nutrients in seaweed (may vary according to variety and where harvested): nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iodine, phosphorus, zinc
5. bone meal -- you can buy bonemeal. But this list is about free sources. You can make bonemeal in your kitchen from chicken bones. After our last whole roasted chicken, I put the bones into the crockpot and covered with water, allowing to simmer for about 14 hours. I then picked any remaining meat off those bones, poured off the broth for a pot of soup, then recooked the chicken bones in fresh water for another 14 hours. At the end of this second simmering, I poured off this new stock for another batch of soup. I rinsed the bones in clean water, then spread them out on a baking sheet and baked at 400 degrees F for about an hour. The bones were lightweight, brittle, and browned at this point. After the bones cooled, I placed them into a multi-layered paper bag (the bag from 10 lbs of sugar) and pounded with a hammer on the concrete garage floor. The bones easily pulverized. Very little bone meal is needed in an application, 1 tablespoon max for 2 square feet. Nutrients in bone meal: phosphorus, calcium. Many experts feel bone meal is best for acidic soil. 

Most garden soils benefit from a combination of organic soil amendments when used as fertilizers. No one organic DIY amendment can provide for all of a plant's needs. And some soils can't use one or more of these amendments, due to the soil's pH. My soil is acidic. I use a combination of eggshells, composted yard and kitchen waste, coffee grounds, and bonemeal, as well as purchased chicken manure and commercial compost. 

chicken bones after twice simmered then baked dry

If hammering an animal's bones to pieces before adding to the garden feels weird or macabre to you, can I share my perspective? I feel that if my family is going to use an animal for food, then we should make good use of as much of that animal as possible. Feeding the soil so that more can grow in an area is a good use in my opinion. Besides, becoming a useful soil amendment is a better ending than rotting in a landfill, don't you think? 

Cheap & Cheerful Meals: Trending Toward Cozy Autumn Suppers

We're in this in-between-the-seasons period where one day it feels like summer still, then the next day it's definitely fall-like. Our meals are reflecting this transition period, with meals increasingly autumnal such as meatloaf, roasted whole chicken, chicken and vegetable soup, and  chicken and gravy over biscuits. Of course, there are a few summer-like meals thrown in the mix, like main dish salads, sandwich meals, and lots of fresh tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers.

After each meal entry, I've tried to provide info on which items were virtually free for us, due to our garden, orchard, and foraging.

Friday

Friday
pepperoni pizza, scratch crust, scratch sauce, packaged pepperoni, sale-priced cheese
garden turnip greens and onions, sautéed (mostly free, store-bought onions and oil)
garden turnip roots and onions, oven-roasted (mostly free, store onions and oil)
blackberry and rhubarb jello (mostly free, store gelatin and sugar)
sliced tomatoes (free)

Saturday

Saturday
meatloaf and gravy
steamed garden green beans (free)
sautéed garden squash (mostly free, unripe winter squash that was knocked off the vine plus store oil)
rice

scratch apple crisp (using our apples)

Sunday

Sunday
tuna salad sandwiches on homemade bread
garden tomato and cucumber salad (mostly free, dressing made from store ingredients)
garden cabbage and lentil sprout slaw (mostly free, dressing made from store ingredients)

leftover apple crisp

Monday

Monday
roasted chicken with gravy (sale-priced whole chicken bought in early September)
stuffing, I used various frozen bread bits, including a biscuit, a square of cornbread, a dried tortilla, and a couple of slices of sandwich bread, plus garden celery and sage, plus store onion
oven-roasted garden carrots and onions (mostly free, store onions and oil)
garden plums and apples in dressing made from leftover jello (Friday)
pan-seared garlic green beans (mostly free, store oil, soy sauce, sesame oil)

Tuesday

Tuesday
chicken (leftover from roasted whole chicken), garden apple, garden celery, garden cabbage, and raisin salad 
cream of sorrel soup (mostly free, store flour, salt, and butter)
garden tomato and cheese salad
whole grain pasta

Wednesday

Wednesday
chicken (leftover roasted chicken) in gravy, over
scratch biscuits
garden tomatoes and basil in vinaigrette (mostly free, store ingredients for dressing)
pan-seared garlic green beans (mostly free)

Thursday

Thursday
Italian chicken and garden vegetable soup (chicken carcass simmered in crock pot overnight, meat picked off, garden Swiss chard, zucchini, patty pan squash, green beans, garlic, basil, oregano and tomatoes added to stock for soup)
scratch scones 

garden tomatoes in scratch vinaigrette

These supper menus typify our menus for other meals in that we try to bulk up breakfast, lunch, and snacks with garden produce and scratch-baked goodies. Breakfasts this week included, blackberries, apples, tomatoes, homemade yogurt, milk, homemade blackberry granola, oatmeal, toasted homemade bread, peanut butter, eggs, raisins, orange juice, coffee, tea. Lunches included our fruits such as apples, blackberries, and raspberries, garden veggies such as cabbage, kale, lettuce, sorrel, Swiss chard, green beans, beet greens, tomatoes, carrot greens, celery and lentil sprouts, homemade bread, rice, peanut butter,  raisins, cheese, leftover roasted chicken, boiled and fried eggs, blackberry lemonade, scratch cookies, scratch banana muffins, scratch apple crisp, scratch cinnamon rolls, and quasi-scratch chocolate covered peanut clusters (melted chocolate chips combined with peanuts). Snacks are generally any of the breakfast or lunch foods. 

We had some freebie coupons to stores in the mall to use over the weekend. We got a free pair of underwear at Pink, a free 3-wick candle at Bath & Body Works, and a free tube of hand cream at Bath & Body Works. For all of these freebies, the only purchase that was made was a hand sanitizer at B&BW by one of my daughters (free candle with any purchase). She intended to buy a single Pocketbac hand sanitizer, then I showed her the coupons. I've never seen B&BW give away these $26 candles before. (Going with the fall trend, we chose the Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin 3-wick candle for our cozy autumn evenings.) The hand cream and underwear were free, no-purchase necessary. While at the mall, we walked around a bit. It was before lunch and I was hungry. One of my daughters offered to buy us all a Cinnabon to share. I suggested we head home and I would bake a batch of cinnamon rolls instead. Which we did. We also passed a pricey candy store, which made me think about chocolate covered nuts. Instead of buying any candy, once we got home, I made a batch of chocolate covered peanuts for the family while the cinnamon roll dough was rising.

So when yesterday's post on September's grocery spending indicated a low $ amount spent for the month, our garden, scratch-cooking/baking and simple eating habits contributed greatly. This next month, as the garden winds down and we need to stock up on more costly foods like meat again, we'll spend more. But I'll try to offset that extra spending by cooking and baking as much from scratch as I can and limiting processed food purchases.

Those were our meals this past week. What was on your menu? Are you trending toward more fall meals, also? (If you're in the So. Hemisphere, I guess your meals would be trending toward summer ones.) What's your absolute favorite fall meal?