by Michael Smith

Created on: March 05, 2007   Last Updated: October 16, 2010

Many commercial fertilizers on the market today contain ingredients that may harm or burn plants. The solution? Go organic. Think of the things you use every day.. specifically food items, such as eggs. A very beneficial fertilizer can be made using eggshells. Eggshells contain a high level of nitrogen and protein which are important to a plant's nutrition and can help your plants grow and prosper. After cooking breakfast, save your eggshells and put them in a blender or food processor and grind them down to a powder. To this powder you can also add coffee grounds, tea grounds, and even vitamin and mineral tablets. Add bottled water to the mixture, since some water supplies contain too much chlorine that can be harmful to plants. If you see yellow leaves or burned edges on the leaves of your plants, it could be due to the chlorine content of the water you are administering to the plants.

Another method of feeding plants is to mix a teaspoon of sugar to a pitcher of bottled water and add a pinch of crushed aspirin to the mixture. The sugar feeds the plant and the aspirin serves to keep the plant's capillaries open in order to deliver water and nutrients to all parts of the plant.

You could also feed and water your plants with freshly brewed tea or coffee (let it cool first, of course) and you can also add a few teaspoons of sugar.

Try filling a pitcher with bottled water and adding some nails (rusted or not) dried leaves, dried manure, and bread crumbs. Set the container in the sun where it will be undisturbed for three days, strain the liquid and water your plants.

Create a portable compost heap using a medium sized plastic garbage can and use it only for discarded foodstuffs from your kitchen. It can be kept in your garage or you could leave it in your back yard and the sunlight can slowly "cook" the ingredients. Periodically add bottled water to help mix the nutrients. Using a large cooking spoon, scoop out a bit of the compost and add it to a pitcher of bottled water and let it sit for a few hours, then water your plants.

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