Frugal fertilizer?

[cata5]

I just heard about using banana peels for fertilizer around your rose bushes. You put them in the microwave until they are dry and brittle. (I put them in a plastic bread bag and crushed them.) Then you work them into the dirt around your bushes.

I'm winging it as far as caring for my plants, but could use a few ideas like this one. FREE and easy and I like the idea of recycling! I know you can use coffee grounds for some things, but not sure on what.

Please add other ideas.

[AndersonGal]

Cata~

Coffee grounds are good for tomato plants and just about anything else.

Also you can use your egg shells around your roses.
They are good for the soil and when crunched up, they help keep the snails (UGH! should see how HUGE they are out here) from attacking.

Try composting.
*Grass Clipping
*Fruit & Veggie scraps (no lettuce)
*Lint

and just about anything but fats/oils.

[cata5]

Thanks! Do all these work in any flower beds or around hostas? Just wondering if there are specific things that help one more than the other. I don't have any room for composting separately. I like the idea of mixing something in around the individual plants. We have rock around most of our plants and that makes it more difficult, too.

My next door neighbors have a beautiful flower garden that gets bigger and better every year. I would like to have some great looking large blooms this year by fertilizing more.

[mcshelll]

I compost and have never heard of not putting lettuce in the compost pile AndersonGal. I put in everything I have except meat, dairy, fats and vinegar.We also add some paper products to our pile, such as unbleached coffee filters. I have used crushed egg shells to keep snails off plants.
Did you know that the benefits of Grapefruitseed extract were discovered in a compost pile? A gardener noticed that the seeds of grapefruit did not decompose. This led to the discovery that the extract of grapefruit seeds can be used as a broad spectrum antibiotic. That gardeners observation may save us from the super germ problem! That just blows my mind!
Try [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] for good info on this subject.