One of the key reasons I think people have and allotment is to save money, and while people hunt for pallets, skip dive or make useful items out of what would be classed as ‘junk’, many tend to over look fertilzers. Here is my list of free fertlizers you can start with today:
Pot Ash
With the growth of wood burning stoves using the ash from burnt logs is a great fertlizer to use with potatoes. If you don’t have a wood burning stove another great alternative is to move any dead brambles or your winter clean up to the bed you’re planning on growing next year’s potato crop in and burn that garden waste. Once the fire is out, work the ash into the ground and you have a free potato feed.
Composting
Composting has to be one of the easiest here but also the most important. Start with using left over fruit and veg scraps, collect from your neighbours also! Add it to the composter along with grass clippings, paper and cardboard and you’re all set to go. Weeds can be composted but I’d advise doing this separatly over a longer period of time, 2-3 years, to allow for the entire weed to be broken down.
Kitchen Caddy
The home compost bin is a great location to find liquid fuel, the left over juices, water and liquid found at the bottom of caddy is a super strong feed great for feeding pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, peppers or any other veg on the plot for that matter. Simply add a two cap fulls to your watering can of water give it a quick swish and water away.
Stables
Your council might run a local riding club or you may have one local to you. Most will offer manure collection for free. You want rotted manure here but fresh is great for building a hot bed or adding to the compost pile ready for next year.
Egg Shells
Crushing eggs shells and adding a good layer in the planting hole for peppers, tomatoes and aubergines helps prevent blossom end rot by providing the plant with a good supply of calcium throughout the growing season. As the shells break down they also enrich the soil.
Chicken Manure
If you keep chickens on your plot or in the garden collect the chicken manure, add it to some tights or in a netted sack and drop it to the bottom of your water butt, the manure will break down and will make a very strong liquid feed. Chicken manure is great for the soil as well but it needs to be composted first as fresh manure will kill any crop. So either add it to water or your compost bin, the choice is yours!
Leaves
Collect as many leaves as you can, leave them in a builders sack or its own compost bin for a great supply of leafmould. After 12 months you can use it as a general soil improver or mulch. Leave it for 24 months and it’s an excellent compost for sowing seeds.
Wormery
Another alternative for your kicken waste, add it to the wormery and let the worms go to work. They will slowly eat up all of the kitchen waste and turn the lot into worm castings. This is a great fertlizer for soil improvment. Worm castings can enrich the soil and help keep common pests away such as aphids and spider mites. Its also a brilliant fertlizer to use in the greenhouse / polytunnel.
Hope these help with some ideas to obtain your own free fertilzers. Got one of your own? Please share