Newbie veg grower!

LavaLamp

Hi there

I have embarked on my first attempt at vegetable growing and so far so good - last week I planted some seeds, spinach, mixed leaf salad, tomatoes, peppers & some garlic & spuds (from seed spuds & garlic gloves). I have some sprouts appearing in the spinach/salad tub (not sure which, didn't label them oops) so that is good. I have some chilli seeds to plant this weekend (ran out of compost) and will be planting leek, carrot, french bean and watermelon(!) seeds soon too. I am going in full steam ahead on this one, and am determined it is going to be a great success

I am doing all this on a practically non-existant budget, so am looking for super frugal fertilising methods. So far I gather that tomatoes won't mind coffee grinds being spread on their soil, and that old teabags left to soak in water for a while will give good water for nearly all plants - please if I'm totally wrong let me know before I kill everything :eek:

I have a juicer that I use pretty often, and it gives a fairly dry pulp as waster - can I use this in some way to feed my veg?

Any other tight-wad tips greatly appreciated :pac:

johno2

LavaLamp wrote: »

I am doing all this on a practically non-existant budget, so am looking for super frugal fertilising methods. So far I gather that tomatoes won't mind coffee grinds being spread on their soil, and that old teabags left to soak in water for a while will give good water for nearly all plants - please if I'm totally wrong let me know before I kill everything :eek:

I have a juicer that I use pretty often, and it gives a fairly dry pulp as waster - can I use this in some way to feed my veg?

Any other tight-wad tips greatly appreciated :pac:

http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

I doubt you'll take that route though.:D

You really need to compost kitchen waste properly before you use it to feed plants. Fungi, bacteria and worms will convert the kitchen waste into forms that can be used by the roots, but it takes a while, and it's usually low in nitrogen. Some people say that nettles will compost very quickly and can be used as a liquid fertilizer but I've never tried them.

johno

LavaLamp

oooooeerr! :eek: my budget is tight, but not that tight LOL!!

I do tend to compost most of our kitchen waste, but only being doing it for about 3 months so not long enough to use yet.

Have got a nettle patch so might investigate using them when they appear again, without falling headfirst into it in the process!

thanks :-)

fodda

Human manure is used a lot in growing veg in some countries. As long as it hasnt any chemicals in it is as good as any.:D

twenty8

fodda wrote: »

Human manure is used a lot in growing veg in some countries. As long as it hasnt any chemicals in it is as good as any.:D

Not so sure. There is a massive dispute in the US about this at the moment and that human manure adds a lot of heavy metals etc to the veg. Look it up.

johno2

That's a possible problem if it's made in bulk at sewage treatment plants. People will flush anything down the toilet. The book I linked to is about composting toilets. Much safer because you have full control of what goes into it.

johno

francie BradyII

it's well known that cornlfakes use human waste to fertilise their crops!