5 Free Fertilizers You'll Hate Not Making Before Winter, by Thrifty Root Garden on YouTube. 22 min 58 s.
- Video length
- 22 min 58 s
- Time to do it
- 2 hours
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Rake your fallen leaves into a pile and run the mower over them to shred. Shredded leaves break down far faster than whole ones.
Spread a 3 to 4 inch blanket of shredded leaves over bare beds and around shrubs. Worms pull them down through winter and feed the soil.
Stuff spare shredded leaves into paper bags or bin bags, dampen them, tie the tops and leave them outside. This starts leaf mold you can harvest later as black gold.
Top-dress beds with a 1 to 2 inch layer of finished compost now. At the same time, start a new pile with leaves, kitchen scraps and a little soil.
Spread wood ash thinly, about a cup per square yard, only around plants that like alkaline soil. Skip it for blueberries, rhododendrons and acid lovers.
Ask a local coffee shop for used grounds, often given away free in bags. Spread them thin or add them to the compost, and never leave a thick mat on the surface.
Bury banana peels a few inches deep near hungry plants, or dry them and grind to powder. Rinse, dry and crush eggshells to a fine powder and scatter it around tomatoes.
Store everything dry for winter: grounds and powders in sealed jars, ash in a metal can with a lid, leaf bags kept off wet ground. Damp storage brings mold.
Tips and common mistakes
Never use ash from charcoal, treated wood or painted wood, only clean wood ash from a fireplace or stove.
Used coffee grounds are close to neutral, so do not expect them to acidify your soil.
Keep ash away from acid-loving plants and never pile it thick, since it raises soil pH.
Crush eggshells to a fine powder, because coarse shells break down too slowly to help much.
Questions
Can I make leaf mold if I have no compost bin?
Yes. Damp shredded leaves in tied bags left outside for a year or more turn into crumbly leaf mold with no bin needed.
How much wood ash is safe?
Use it sparingly, roughly a cup per square yard, and only on soil that is not already alkaline. A light dusting once a year is plenty.
Do banana peels and eggshells really stop blossom end rot?
Eggshell calcium helps only if your soil lacks calcium, and blossom end rot is often caused by uneven watering. Water steadily and add the powder as a mild boost.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
