Worm Tea 101

Worm tea is delicious...for your plants! Learn how to prepare this natural liquid fertilizer from soaked worm castings. Filmed on location at the FOOD ROOF Farm.

When to Harvest Radishes

Learn the optimal time to harvest your radishes for tasty, nutrient-dense produce! Filmed on location at the Kerr FOOD ROOF.

Why Smart Pots?

Learn from urban farmer Alex why we prefer fabric smart pots over plastic ones, and how you can do the same at home! Filmed on location at the Kerr FOOD ROOF.

Potting Up

Learn when and how to transfer your seedlings from trays to individual pots, as well as what kind of water is best for them. Urban farmer Megan and director of urban agriculture Drew walk you through the essentials! Filmed on location at the FOOD ROOF Farm.

Preparing Your Soil

Learn what makes up healthy soil and the steps you need to take to prepare for planting. Urban farmer Megan and director of urban agriculture Drew walk you through the essentials! Filmed on location at the FOOD ROOF Farm.

Why Rye? The Benefits of this Cover Crop

Learn from director of urban agriculture Drew about why we use winter rye as a cover crop in our raised beds! Filmed on location at Fresh Starts Community Garden.

Children's Activities: Garden Scavenger Hunt

Recommended for ages 3-8

Looking for an activity to get children outdoors? A Scavenger Hunt is a great way to make garden exploration fun and to encourage children to engage with nature. Adapt the hunt to whatever you have in your area. Want to encourage sensory play? Try adding items like “bird song,” “sweet smelling flower,” “crumbly dirt,” a “sweet strawberry / cherry tomato / etc” that help children use all 5 senses.

What you’ll need:

• A template like the one included here or here

• Pencil or marker

What you’ll do

1. Add desired items to your hunt template and print it out for each child. For younger children, include an image of the item and explain what they are going to look for.

2. If you include plants, flowers, insects, make sure to let kids know that they don’t have to pick or catch anything, they can just check the item off the list on paper!

Children's Activities: Easy Paper Butterflies

Recommended for ages 2-5

This simple and colorful craft is a hit with children and helps practice fine motor skills. And bonus: It only requires tissue paper and pipe cleaner. You may display or hang the butterflies from a mobile, but children will probably want to play with them and “fly” them around immediately!

What you’ll need:

• pipe cleaners (cut in half)

• scissors

• colorful tissue paper

• (optional) plastic perler beads

How to assemble:

1. Cut tissue paper into 4” x 6” rectangles in several different colors. Children can select at least 3 colors of paper and stack them on top of each other.

Optional: you may want to cut or have children cut a slight curve in the center. Older children may want to cut the edges of paper into scallops or curves for the butterfly wings.

2. Bend the piece of pipe cleaner in half. Take the tissue papers and scrunch them up in the middle, then slide the pipe cleaner over the tissue.

3. Twist the pipe cleaner to secure the tissue paper.

4. Separate tissue layers to “fluff” out the wings. You have a butterfly!

5. Children may want to string beads onto the “antennas” (ends of the pipe cleaners) before twisting them to secure the beads.

Get Started: DIY Organic Fertilizers

The most important factor for healthy plant growth is healthy soil. As mentioned in Part 1, the key to building healthy soil is the regular addition of soil amendments like compost. If you are looking to replenish specific nutrients or to grow heavy feeders like tomatoes, you can make your own organic plant food at home. You need only apply small quantities when plants need it, rather than large amounts over the whole garden. Remember: LESS IS MORE when it comes to fertilizer.

Here are some low-cost or no-cost options for making your own gentle organic fertilizers at home. 

Comfrey Liquid Fertilizer

• Harvest a large bag of comfrey leaves. Be sure to wear gloves, as leaves can cause irritation.

• Fill a large bucket or container with crushed leaves and weigh them down. Cover with a lid to contain the smell.

• Leave for 2 weeks. The leaves will produce a dark concentrated liquid – drain this into a separate container and toss used leaves in the compost pile.

• Mix 1 part comfrey concentrate with 15 parts rainwater (1:15) in a watering can and apply it to the soil at the base of your plants.

Nettle Tea

• Stinging nettles are common plants (even considered weeds!) that can be steeped to create a liquid nitrogen fertilizer.

• Using gloves (plants will sting), cut leaves and stems at the base (do not include the roots) and fold, chop, or crush them into a bucket.

• Fill the bucket with rainwater and cover and place in a warm sunny spot.

• Check every 2 days to stir the tea. Foam on the top is normal.

• The tea will take 2 weeks in a warm location, and up to 3 in a cool or shady spot. You can strain the tea into a new container through a cheesecloth or scoop the plant parts out of the liquid and add to the compost pile.

• To use, mix 1 part nettle tea with 10 parts water (1:10) poured at the base of plants

(Note: You will still need to use compost to get the most out of this fertilizer. It is not meant for beans, peas, onions, potatoes and root vegetables).

Quick Fix Fertilizer Recipe:

• In a 1 gallon container, add 

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp ammonia (quick nitrogen), 

  • 3 tsp instant iced tea (tannic acid), 

  • 3 tsp blackstrap molasses (feeds soil bacteria) 

  • 3 tbsp of 3% hydrogen peroxide (oxidizer) 

  • 1/4 C crushed bone scraps (phosphorus—fish bones provide potassium) 

  • 1 crushed eggshell (calcium & potassium)

  • 1/2 dried banana peel  (potassium)

• Fill the jug the rest of the way with water (rainwater is best)

• Replace cap and allow the jug to sit in the sun for about 1 hour to warm.

• Water your plants with this mixture at full strength.

Kitchen Waste 

These are some common outputs from a kitchen that many home gardeners have adapted to feed their plants. There are many “myths” about these materials, however, they may be used as below:

• Spent Coffee Grounds: Often applied to acidic-soil loving plants like berries or azaleas. Grounds are high in nitrogen, but there is debate among growers if they are beneficial when directly applied to vegetable beds. Due to their residual caffeine and high nitrogen content, they are probably most effective for adding to a compost pile with a lot of woody/brown materials to create a balanced compost.

• Eggshell: High in calcium, egg shells can balance oil acidity and assist with nutrient uptake. Egg shells decompose very slowly, however; therefore, they should be pulverized with a mixer, grinder, or mortar and pestle before you add them to soil or compost. You can steep dried eggshells in water for a few days and use them on both indoor and outdoor plants for a calcium boost.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Can you skip fertilizer altogether? This home gardener explains why he never uses fertilizer and gets results without it.

REFERENCES

Vegetable Garden Fertilizer 101

Feeding Your Plants for Free - How to Make Fertilizer for Your Vegetable Garden

Get Started: Why Fertilize?

All plants need light, water, and nutrients to thrive. Fertilizers can contribute nutrients to plant health, but a general rule of thumb is LESS is MORE. Heavy feeders like tomatoes often need additional nutrients that organic fertilizer can supplement; however, fertilizing is not the solution for most problems you encounter. Plants will only absorb the nutrients they require, and over-fertilizing can lead to wasted effort and a build-up of chemicals in your soil.

GARDEN AMENDMENTS

Worm castings

Soil amendments improve your soil’s nutrition and organic content, while fertilizers have specific nutrients to “feed” your plants. Most home vegetable gardens can avoid expensive fertilizers and focus on adding all-purpose organic material to soil to improve overall soil health and structure. Popular amendments include aged animal manures, worm castings, liquid fish emulsion, fall leaves, compost, perlite, straw, gypsum, and cover crops.

In general, you should add 2 inches of compost or aged manure on top of your garden beds and containers at the start of each year. Throughout the growing season, add a scoop of compost next to your seedlings and young plants periodically – a process known as side-dressing. You do not need to till or mix the compost into the soil; rain will saturate the top layer so that nutrients get absorbed.

WHEN TO USE FERTILIZER

Before you resort to fertilizer to help a struggling plant, review other factors: is the plant in a shady area and need more sun? Is the soil waterlogged or overly dry? Is your soil compacted or lacking adequate organic material? Are you dealing with pests or other pathogens? Is your soil’s pH out of balance?

If you are applying compost or amendments to your beds each year, you will need little to no fertilizer. In specific cases – such as when your plant is fruiting or if you are doing container gardening – some fertilizer may be helpful. Add a moderate amount of fertilizer when you transplant seedlings, early on in their growth. Organic fertilizers are slower-acting and gentler than chemical fertilizers and more appropriate to home vegetable gardening. Never add lawn fertilizer to your garden beds; the high nitrogen content will burn roots and cause imbalances in your soil.

FERTILIZER COMPOSITION

Commercial fertilizers are concentrated combinations of nutrients that are added to the soil to stimulate plant growth. Fertilizer labels include an N-P-K ratio that describes the percentage of (N) Nitrogen, (P) Phosphorus, and (K) Potassium (or Potash). For example, the label 5-3-2 indicates 5 parts nitrogen, 3 parts phosphorus, 2 parts potassium.

These are the 3 main elements that plants require to grow. Nitrogen is used in green plant growth, such as stems, roots, and leafy growth. Phosphorus is useful for strong roots and shoots, and potassium is essential for flowering and hardiness. Avoid high balanced ratios like 10-10-10 (often seen in lawn fertilizer), as this will do more damage than good. An ideal ratio for vegetables is 3-1-2.