You can use virtually any fruit or vegetable scraps. There's a lot of nutritional value in those scraps that you can capitalize on to feed your plants. Plants need basically the same things humans need. They need vitamins, minerals, water and sun-shine to thrive. And best of all making your own Green Manure tea keeps those scraps out of the landfills and is environmentally friendly to the soil.
What you need:
A bucket (any size with a handle or watering can)
Water (preferably de-chlorinated)
Vegetable, herb and Fruit Scraps, coffee grounds and tea bags (NO MEAT)
Directions:
Place the bucket near the kitchen door or under the kitchen sink, toss the scraps in while you're canning, cooking or preparing vegetable and fruit trays for special gatherings. Remind the kidlets to put their banana peels in the bucket as well. Fill the bucket with water and allow to stand a few days to leach out the nutrients. Water your garden, container plants or indoor plants with the green manure tea.
How to use: Use the *tea* to water your plants as needed. You can pour the *tea* into a water can to make it easier to water container plants if you prefer.
Tip: Don't forget to toss used coffee grounds and tea bags into your bucket as well. Acid loving plants will thrive on the extra acid from those spend grounds and tea leaves. When you're deadheading flowers or vegetables, toss those into the bucket as well. When you're cleaning up the garden at the end of harvest add some of the spent produce and foliage to your manure tea, to use on house plants through the colder months.
Tip: I keep a bucket handy and just keep adding to the bucket. You can compost peels that don't break down easily in the tea, such as pumpkin, squash or watermelon rinds, after the nutrients have been leached out. The object is to leach out as much as possible to benefit the plants. Just refill with water as needed or leave outside to catch rain or irrigation water.
How to de-chlorinate water: Allow the faucet or tap to run a few minutes. Fill a container with the water and allow to stand overnight or 24 hours. The water is ready to use. If you are de-chlorinating water for uses other than the manure tea, make sure you use a clean, sterilized container.
Benefits:
Banana Peels are high in Potassium, Sweet Potato peels are high in Vitamin A, Fruit peels are high in vitamin C, E and the B vitamins. Pea shells are high in Nitrogen. The list goes on, but this short list will help you understand the value of the peels and the blemished produce that you might otherwise toss away. At the very least compost them or feed to the chickens, but there's so much more you can do with them as well to aid in the health of your plants to help them thrive without the need for commercial fertilizers.
Refer to the link to make Manure tea, Compost Tea and Worm Casting fertilizers: justfowlingaround.weebly.com/earth-friendly-projects/manure-tea-compost-tea-worm-castings
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