No need to go to the garden centre to strengthen your crops! Cheap and respectful of the environment, here are 5 natural DIY fertilizers.
1/ Coffee ground
We knew that you could read the future from it, freshen up the fridge or unclog the drains, but coffee ground can also be used as a natural fertilizer. Indeed, it contains nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. Dried and mixed to the ground in small quantities beforehand, it is particularly adapted for seedling.
2/ Eggshells
Dried and crushed with a rolling pin, eggshells – raw and cooked – are incorporated on the surface of the surface of the ground to bring minerals to the soil including calcium. Tomato aficionados often put it at the bottom of plant holes to prevent top necrosis or “blossom end rot” (in that case, it is better to turn them into a powder to optimise their efficiency).
3/ Used tea bags
Put on the soil, they act as fertilizers for plants and feed the worms, wards off some insects which don’t like their smell. In fact, they can even replace swelling clay beads at the bottom of pots as a layer of drainage.
4/ Banana peels
Full of potassium and other substances healthy for the vegetable garden, banana peels – ideally organic – can be added under "greedy" vegetables (tomatoes, aubergines, cucurbits...) when planting them: they feed them as they are decomposing. Infused in water for a week, they can also be used to enrich the water used to water plants. They are also great for winter mulching in small vegetable garden as they ward off aphids. Who says better?
5/ Ashes
Finally, if you have a chimney or a barbecue, keep the ashes from natural untreated wood. They are rich in calcium, potash, silica and magnesium. You only need to add them – once cold – at the bottom of vegetable and strawberry seedlings so they feel right at home. Beware: keep a light hand so as to avoid disrupting the soil’s balance and harming the plants!