Purchase or build a compost bin

Add a compost activator (manure, healthy soil, alfalfa or a premixed accelerator

Add organic waste (food and yard waste)

Turn your compost regularly to evenly distribute oxygen

Collect your used coffee grounds and lightly spread them over your plant's soil once every few months. This method helps prevent pesky slugs and snails from eating your plants. Sprinkle the coffee sparingly.

Create a coffee-spray to deter animals from eating your garden. Mix unsweetened, brewed coffee with water using a 1:3 ratio. (One part coffee to three parts water). Add the mixture to a spray bottle and spray lightly onto your garden soil once every few weeks.

Best for: cucumbers, potatoes and blueberries.

Dry out the egg shell and once you have collected 6-12 dried egg shells, grind them into a fine powder using either a mortar and pestle or a food processor. Add a light top-layer of egg shell powder to your plant’s soil.

Egg shells are a great homemade fertilizer for broccoli and Brussel sprouts.

Your plants will appreciate weed-blocking grass clippings as a natural fertilizer. In addition to keeping weeds at bay, grass clippings add a boost of nitrogen and potassium to your plants while also improving their ability to retain moisture.

Banana’s are loaded with potassium which helps strengthen plant roots, build up resistance to disease and helps them withstand drought.

Put your banana peels in a glass jar and cover with water. Then put in the sun for a few days. Add the water from the glass jar to a gallon of water and use on your plants.

Banana peel fertilizer is best used as a homemade plant fertilizer for tomatoes, potatoes and fruit trees.

A fish tank is full of fish waste that can be used as a natural fertilizer for plants.

Clean out your aquarium water as usual but save the cloudy fish waste to hydrate your plants with. For best results, use water from fresh water tanks. Avoid fertilizing edible plants if you routinely add special chemical conditioners to your aquarium water.

Epsom salt fertilizer is a quick solution for introducing more magnesium into your plants’ diets. Without enough magnesium, you might notice your green plants turning a pale shade of yellow. To prevent this from happening, use Epsom salts to encourage healthy plant growth.

Dissolve 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts into a gallon of water. Shake and use as a spray on both indoor and outdoor plants.

Epsom salt fertilizer is an excellent homemade fertilizer for roses, pansies, tomatoes and peppers.

There are many different nutrients that go into the water that food is cooked in. Water that is used to boil potatoes, vegetables, eggs, pasta, etc. can be used as a natural fertilizer. Just remember to let the water cool before you put it on your soil.

Ashes can be sprinkled onto your soil to supply potassium and calcium carbonate. Hardwood is best and make sure you don’t use charcoal or lighter fluid.

Don’t use ash in areas where you have acid loving plants. The ashes are alkaline and can increase alkalinity in the soil.

Gelatin is a great nitrogen source. Dissolve I pack of gelatin in 1 cup of hot water, then add 3 cups of cold water. Pour directly on the soil around your plants monthly.

Making your own homemade fertilizer doesn’t get much easier than using manure from your animals. Manure can be used as is after drying or in the form of manure tea.

Before manure is used in the garden, it should be aged and dried and/or composted first. Age fresh manure for at least 6 months. Well-aged manure on its own makes a great fertilizer for garden plants.

Nearly any kind of manure can be used as a natural fertilizer. Generally, horse, cow, and chicken manures are the most commonly used. Some people also use sheep, rabbit, turkey, and more.

It is not recommended that you use manure from your cats, dogs, other household pets—or any other meat-eating animals. These manures are unsuitable for the garden or the compost pile as they are likely to carry parasites.

Manure tea enriches the soil and adds much-needed nutrients for healthy plant growth. The nutrients found in manure tea make it an ideal natural fertilizer for garden plants. These nutrients dissolve easily in water so that they can then be added to a sprayer or simply used in a watering can. The leftover manure can be thrown in the garden or reused in the compost pile.

Manure tea can be used each time you water plants or just periodically. It can also be used to water lawns.

It is important, however, to dilute the tea prior to use so as to avoid burning the roots or foliage of plants. I fill my watering can halfway with the tea and then fill it to the top with rainwater. I use this every 3 weeks or so during the growing season.

Instructions

• Place a shovelful of well-aged manure in a large burlap sack or pillowcase.

• Make certain that the manure has been sufficiently aged or “cured” beforehand. Fresh manure is much too strong for plants, and it can contain harmful bacteria.

• Suspend the manure-filled “tea bag” in a 5-gallon bucket, and add water to create a mix of 5 parts water to 1 part manure.

• Allow this mixture to steep for up to 2 weeks.

• After steeping, remove the bag, allowing it to hang above the container until the dripping has stopped.

• Skipping the tea bag and adding the manure directly to the water usually speeds up the brewing process. Without a bag, the tea is usually ready within only a few days if you stir it thoroughly during this period. Once it has fully brewed, you will have to strain it to separate the solids from the liquid. The remaining manure can then be added to the compost pile.

• To use, dilute the tea by half, as mentioned above, prior to use.

Collect live, green vegetation, as this will break down quicker. Avoid leaves that are waxy or tough. But as long as the vegetation is alive, then you really can use ANY plant.

Cut or tear up the vegetation into approximately 5 – 10 cm pieces. The smaller you make the pieces, the quicker it breaks down and the more nutrients are released into the water.

Put the vegetation in a pot that fits inside a bucket. Put the pot in the bucket and then fill the bucket with water.

Place a lid on or cover loosely or cover with a plastic bag to reduce evaporation and any odors. You will need to pop the lid every day or so to release the gas and it can be smelly.

Put the bucket in full sun and top the water once a week or depending on how airtight and how hot it gets.

After 25 - 30 days your weeds will have degraded and are completely dead.

Weed tea should always be diluted. 5 tablespoons of weed tea per 8 liters of water.