Fertilizing and Watering
Giveaways

By Robert Laurence

Using Free Organic Fertilizers

In the long run organic fertilizers such as animal manures and leaves - many of which you can often obtain free - will improve soil in the garden (the results can often be seen in as little as a year), whereas commercial fertilizers can actually harm soil by overuse over a period of time. Long term overfeeding with commercial fertilizer leads to an accumulation of soluble salts in the soil that will cause the locking up of certain nutrients. Another disadvantage is that weeds thrive on inorganic fertilizers and, finally, organic matter in the soil is rapidly depleted by overfeeding with inorganic. One should always be careful to follow directions when applying commercial fertilizers. "Use half as much twice as often," is, in fact, a good time honored rule to follow if you're ever in doubt.

The value of organic matter in the soil is unquestioned. It improves soil tilth, increases the water holding capacity of soils, and through its decay, releases nitrogen and other nutrients for plant use. Carbon dioxide from decaying materials helps bring minerals into solution, making them available to plants. Organic matter also stimulates root production, maintains the mycorrhizal fungi that aid plants in the absorption of nutrients, and even reduces insects like nematodes by encouraging the growth of parasitic fungi. That is why farmers have plowed manure and cover crops into their fields for generations.

Organic fertilizers do have certain drawbacks, though. Their chief disadvantage is their slow action. Organic fertilizers do not feed at all in cold early spring weather - plants cannot absorb organic matter until it has decayed in warm soil and broken down into simple chemical forms. On the other hand, organics are long lasting, feeding plants over the entire growing season, while inorganics may run out by fall.

All and all, organic fertilizers are of much more value to the gardener and they certainly benefit the ecology far more than the inorganics. Try to use them whenever possible. Dig them into the soil in autumn, or incorporate them into planting holes when setting out plants. They also save money because they will never burn plants or leach away during a heavy rain as inorganics will. You'll find through experience that little additional fertilizing will be necessary other than, perhaps, a commercial starter solution in the spring, and an organic fish emulsion can even be used as a starter. Many books are devoted to organic fertilizers, government pamphlets abound on the subject and at least one magazine (Organic Gardening) is dedicated to their use. Make it a point to learn more about this important subject. In the meantime, to give you an idea of the value of just a few of the many common organic fertilizers (often free for the taking or saving) here are their percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (or potash) as compared to inorganic fertilizer:

• Fertilizer Nitrogen Phosphorous

• Potassium

• Inorganic 5 10 5 5. 0 percent 10.0

• percent 5.0 percent

• Bone meal 0.0 20 25 0.0

• Blood, dried 8.12 2.5 0.5

• Coffee grounds 2.0 0.4 0.7

• Cottonseed meal 6.0 7.3 1 2

• Cow manure

• (composted) 0.6 0.15 1.5

• Eggshells 1.2 0.4 0.15

• Fish scraps 6.10 7.0 0.8

• Horse manure

• (composted) 0.7 0.25 0.55

• Leaves (oak) 0.8 0.4 0.2

• Pine needles 0.5 0.1 0.03

• Poultry manure

• (fresh) 4.5 1.5 1.5

• Rock phosphate 0.0 25 30 0.0

• Seaweed o.6 0.10 1.3

• Sewage sludge 5 10 3 13 0.0

• Sheep manure

• (fresh) 2.5 1.5 1.5

• Tea grounds 4.0 0.6 0.40

• Wood ashes 0.0 1 2 3 7

 

How to Make Free Fertilizer: A Quick Course in

Composting

Composting is simply the disintegration process in which organic materials are broken down by the action of bacteria and fungi. When these materials are broken down in a compost pile, they decay more quickly than they would in the soil, yielding the dark, rich, crumbly compost that has so many uses in the garden. Compost can be mixed in planting holes when plants are set out, dug into the garden, or used as a side dressing for plants throughout the season. It can't burn plants like commercial fertilizer and benefits the soil in the same ways that organic materials do, only faster. A well made compost has a fertilizer value of about 2 3 5.

There is really no mystery about composting. Almost any plant material can be used to make compost - leaves, grass clippings, vegetable matter, spoiled hay, even weeds can be used. Inexpensive compost making kits complete with safe chemicals to speed up decomposition are available at garden outlets. Many elaborate composting techniques exist (and you should consult a composting manual as you get deeper into the subject), but compost can easily be made in about two weeks by following the informal method described here. Do this throughout the gardening season and you'll have enough free compost to cover over 6000 square feet:

1. Set aside an 8 by 4 foot area in the spring and start the compost pile by filling the area with a four foot high heap of leaves and grass clippings (or whatever other organic material you have on hand). If the pile is low in nitrogen (grass clippings, green plant matter, etc.) add manure to it.

2. Mix up the materials in the pile and shred it all into small pieces with a rotary mower or shredder. This will speed up disintegration by exposing more surfaces to attack by bacteria and fungi.

3. Make four to six inch layers with the shredded material, covering each layer with about one inch of rich soil. Water each layer down and add another layer until the heap is four feet high.

4. By the third day the heap will have begun to heat up. Check it with a thermometer and add more nitrogen if it hasn't. Keep the heap moist and turn it with a pitchfork or shovel on the fourth, seventh, tenth and fourteenth day. By the end of two weeks the compost will be ready to use, although it will take on a richer, more crumbly look if you let it decay a while longer.

5. Covering a compost pile securely with black polyethylene plastic not only eliminates odors and unsightly heaps but speeds up decomposition. Other often free organic materials you can use in the heap include cornstalks, corncobs, vines, sawdust, wood chips, slaughterhouse residues, pine needles, nutshells, bark, coffee grounds, and cocoa bean hulls. Some of these (like wood chips) will take longer to break down than others and need more nitrogen. If you use an acid organic material, such as oak leaves, sprinkle a little lime over them before shredding. It's estimated that the leaves from one large oak tree will make $15 worth of compost.


Free Ways to Drub the Drought

* Not only are water rates rising throughout the country, but as the number of home gardeners increases, devastating drought seems to be decreasing the nation's water supply. There is no need for despair, however. Resourceful gardeners and scientists have developed free and low cost ways to drub the drought, ranging from the use of salt water to the construction of small "solar stills."

* A recent government study, for example, reveals that even seltzer is a great help to thirsty plants these drought ridden days. As a matter of fact, the bubbly liquid is more beneficial to plants than water. Leaf lettuce treated with carbonated water by the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture produced three times more leaf in six weeks than lettuce sprayed lightly with plain water. Chrysanthemums so treated had ready to cut blooms two weeks earlier than untreated plants.

* Experiments in this country have also shown that snap beans and other vegetables and fruits, including strawberries, can be saved by irrigating with brackish or slightly salty water during an emergency, although its prolonged use can be detrimental. Asparagus, beets, kale and spinach showed a good tolerance, and broccoli, cabbages, cucumbers, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, corn and tomatoes proved mildly tolerant to the treatment. Experiment to determine just how salty the water can be on your own vegetables.

* Elsewhere in the world, similar experiments are being made with barley, gladioli and sunflowers. The Ministry of Agriculture in Israel has reported that carnations irrigated exclusively with sea water of 3.5 percent salt content easily survived a nine month drought. The plants actually did better than those treated with plain water, due to the magnesium and nitrogen in the salts.

* With the drought, the rain barrel, far from a modern device, is coming into its own again. Rain barrels, painted to match either trim or shingles, are best set under gutters to catch runoff water from the roof. The drain downspout is placed inside the barrel, which should be covered to discourage mosquitoes. The water can either be stored to ladle out later, or the barrel can be fitted snugly with a pipe and tap at the bottom. The barrel is often rigged at the top with a pipe, "T" connection and hose, so that overflow from heavy rains will be siphoned off to nearby plants.

* Rain barrels remain an excellent way to collect water, but a newly developed method, originated by the USDA, actually "makes" water. It is a simple matter to build a solar still using polyethylene plastic. Just dig a two foot hole in the ground in an out of the way area, place a bucket in its center and cover with the plastic, weighing down the edges and center with stones. The sun will draw water from the soil, which will collect on the bottom of the sagging plastic and drip into the bucket. In a week about two and one half gallons of pure water can be collected.

* One scientific advance in water conservation is still in the experimental stage, but promises much. Windham J. Roberts, an engineer on the staff of the Illinois State Water Survey stationed at the University of Illinois in Urbana, has developed a chemical which is said to substantially inhibit the transpiration of moisture from plants." (Tests were made on hybrid corn and grass.) Certain fatty alcohols in water are applied to the soil just before or after planting. This substance is absorbed by the roots and eventually reduces exhalation from the leaves and other plant parts. The result is a plant that needs less water.

* No green thumb need knuckle under to the drought. An excellent idea is to plant drought resistant stock and to avoid heavy "drinkers," such as willows. Robinson strawberries, for example, do better in hot weather. Petunias have proved to be an excellent drought resistant flower.

* A list of similar plants tolerating dry conditions would include, among many others: French marigolds, nicotiana, gloriosa daisy, candytuft, California poppy, Chinese forget me nots, hollyhocks, four-o'clocks, portulaca, heather, rugosa rose, smoke bush, vitex, privet, Japanese barberry, Russian olive, Chinese elm, ailanthus, juniper, gray birch, mungo pine, golden rain tree and white poplar.

* Common - sense expedients include controlling weeds, soaking the ground instead of sprinkling and using cooking, wash and shower water (small amounts of soap and detergent will do most plants no harm). Another method is to recess open ended No. 10 cans in front of each plant and water into these. Or set inverted bottles of water near plant roots so that watering is gradual and there is no waste. To water deeply and cheaply, when local restrictions are lifted, just tie a sock over the hose nozzle, so that the water seeps out through the sock.

* The most important point to remember is to keep the soil in good tilth. Let it shed no water. Aerate it thoroughly. With a little extra effort, improving the soil is a relatively easy matter, too. Cover crops such as inexpensive annual grass seed can be planted and turned under to provide organic matter. Moisture holding humus like compost, peat moss, manure and well rotted leaves can be introduced to enrich the earth and make it more friable.

* Remember when watering that no water at all is better than shallow sprinkling. Shallow watering causes roots to rise to the surface and dry out, often killing plants in the process.

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