A compost heap is a great way to recycle kitchen waste and improve your garden soil for free. However not everyone has the space needed and depending on where you live, you may want to deter any unwanted furry visitors.
It’s not always necessary to compost kitchen waste before adding it to your soil. So here are a few tips on how you can improve your garden soil without a compost heap using three kitchen scraps you’d normally throw away.
3 Kitchen Ingredients That Improve Your Garden Soil
EGG SHELLS
- Rinse out any egg shells you have and allow them to dry for a few days in a bowl on a sunny window sill or by a radiator. When they are dry they crush very easily. This will help them to break down quickly when added to the soil.
- Crushed eggshells improve drainage and the addition of the calcium is excellent for promoting plant growth and preventing blossom end rot in tomatoes and squash plants. If you have an old coffee grinder or food processor this make short work of it.
- They are also a good deterrent for slugs and snails. Scatter a generous barrier around any young seedlings that you want to protect to keep the pesky molluscs away. This is apparently the equivalent of us walking barefoot on broken glass.
COFFEE GROUNDS
- Coffee grounds can also be added directly to the soil. They act as a general fertiliser, adding organic matter, improving drainage, water retention and soil aeration. As they break down they will continue to add nitrogen which is so good for plant growth.
- Used coffee grounds will not affect the PH level of your soil unless used in very concentrated amounts. However unused coffee grounds or leftover coffee is always such a wonderful pick-me-up for acid loving plants.
- Coffee grounds also work very well as a mulch around plants. This keeps earthworms very happy as they seem partial to a little caffeine hit too!
BANANA SKINS
- Adding banana skins is another excellent way to improve your garden soil. More, they can be added directly to the ground as long as they are cut up into very small pieces. These will break down faster and allow all the micro-organisms in the soil lots of surface area to work their magic.
- This will create plenty of organic matter resulting in a light, well drained soil which is full of lovely earthworms. Once the banana skins have broken down they will add a powerful cocktail of nutrients; calcium, magnesium, sulphur, phosphates, potassium and sodium, all of which help plants to grow well and develop their fruit.
Can you use the whole egg? Or just the shells?
For this method I would only stick to the egg shells to avoid attracting any unwanted visitors. You can use a whole egg to feed plants, but they should be buried deep when you are first planting out your plants.
Hi Sara,
I mixed all with a liitle water and put on the soil. But I noticed some flies around, is that ok?
If the flies are a nuisance just try to bury the mixture slightly, by covering it over with a little earth, that should put them off!
Can this be used on succulents?
I must admit I don’t grow succulents, but I do know that they like a very well drained soil – a mixture of equal measures of standard potting soil, sand and perlite is ideal. They don’t like a rich soil or need a lot of moisture, so no coffee grounds and banana skins, but ground up egg shells would be good. .
Great tip! I will use it on the next compost change! It`s easy to change the soil by using Worx Aerocart, the perfect ally in gardening an house jobs. Check it out : http://www.worxaerocart.net/worx-aerocart-8-in-1-wheelbarrow/.
Keep up the great job & tnx 🙂
Great article! Can you add compost to a container garden? No earthworms on the 3rd floor lol
Yes indeed! The beauty of this method, is that because the egg shells, coffee grounds and banana skins break down so easily, you can add them straight to the soil. It would probably work best for you to dry out the banana skins and egg shells either in the sun or oven, and grind them up together – to make a nutritious powder you can add to the coffee grounds and then just top dress your pots and tubs.
I was told that planting a banana peel with a rose Bush helps it start out good.not sure
Yes Dena, it will give your roses a very good start, but you can also add them dried and chopped up at any time to the top soil around the plants too. They will increase the organic matter which encourages the earthworms, and add calcium, magnesium, sulphur, phosphates, potassium and sodium, all of which will help the plants to grow well and develop their fruit and flowers.
Is it possible to put that mixture to the the rose cuts to stimulate the buds
Thank you
Yes Atef, Roses love this mixture, especially the banana skins!
I keep a container next to my regular compost in the freezer for coffee grounds, egg shells and banana peels. No fruit flies around the kitchen and you can process for the garden in one batch.
That’s good tip! Thanks Allison 🙂
Hi Sara,
do you have to clean the egg shells?. Can i just let them dry then crush them?
Thanks Janet
Hi janet, I always rinse them out first before drying them out, otherwise they might smell unpleasant after a while.
I have never rinsed my eggshells & have had no problems. I have a small flip-tip garbage can that has removable container (Family Dollar). I toss all vegetable peels, egg shells, & grounds in & pitch into flowerbed. No issues.
That’s great Karen! It’s good to know you don’t need to wash them – I was afraid it might attract rats! But your system sounds very trouble free!
What about orange peel or other citrus peel?
Oranges take forever to break down. I save mine in the freezer and use them when cleaning my cast iron pots or the sink.
I microwave my eggshells, speeds up the drying. And, when I crush them, I make a batch that’s crushed really fine and add that to my bird feeder. They can use the calcium for their eggs, and little bitty bodies. They get about a 1/2 cup a month. The rest goes into my plants. Also, you can give your empty cartons to the folks who sell eggs at the local farmer’s market. They appreciate it as their chickens lay eggs but refuse to make the cartons! Ingrates:)
Hi Betsy! I love your recycling tips! And I bet the little wild birds in your garden do too!
I was just about to ask if I could freeze them. Thanks
Do banana peels dry out in freezer?
I read that I could mix all three: banana peels, coffee grounds and eggs shells in my blender. Add a little water then put on my plants!
What a wonderful tip, many thanks!
Highly recommend this. Thanks for sharing this to the world! Proud to have green thumb here! 🙂
It’s funny you should say that about coffee grounds because I always chuck mine in my olive tree pot- he seems happy!
I also heard that roses love them so, since my new garden has dozens of rose bushes, I decided to chuck them on them today!
The egg shell idea is genius! I am up for doing ANYTHING to thwart the snails and slugs!
I have a Keurig coffee maker and throw away lots of pods of coffee a day. I’m trying to grow Hydrangeas. Would the grounds help them?
Hi, Hydrangeas do like coffee grounds as they increase the acidity of the soil, when it reaches ph.5.5, the flowers will turn blue. But it would also increase the soil richness and drainage. Is it possible to cut the pods open to release the grounds?
I cut the mesh part of the pods off and the dried coffee grounds just fall out. Easy Squeesy
Excellent! It would be such a shame to throw it away!
You could fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and soak your pods to make a brew, then pour the coffee water near your plants
Excellent suggestion Jane! Check out my Compost Soup post for more details! http://wholefoodhome.com/compost-soup/
Yes. Absolutely. I put the Keurig grounds in my hydrangea garden every day. They are so healthy and a beautiful blue.
Your hydrangeas sound beautiful Jennifer!
The eggshells could not improve the soil’s Ca that much, but it is good to throw them there whenever you can, true. Banana peels on the other hand, are a very nutritious addition the soil. I literally used to use small pieces on my indoor house plants as well, because they would give magnificent results… A good read, I approve.
Regards, Irvine
Do the banana peels have to be dried out before adding them to the soil?
Hi, I’ve found that they do break down more quickly if they are dried out first but I do sometimes put them in straight away, just make sure they are cut up into small bits, and they’ll soon disappear.
I freeze my banana peels and other vegetable peels before burying them in my garden. That way they can break down faster.
Yes Pat, that’s a very good tip! I have heard this before, but forget to do it!!
Yes, these are very effective alternative for your compost heap. I learned this from my sweet granny green thumb. Thanks for sharing!
Can you put the coffee grounds and the eggshells on grass to help it grow or to keep it healthy?
Hi Maria,
If it the egg shells are ground up fine, you could scatter it on your lawn, but depending on your rainfall, I think it might sit on the surface, rather than sink in, and you would want to bury it in small holes. So I suggest you make your own liquid lawn feed as describe in this post :- http://wholefoodhome.com/compost-soup/ Coffee beans are rich in nitrogen, and egg shells are basically calcium, so that should keep your lawn happy! 🙂
I put mine in a blender comes out nearly like dust I store it in large jars until needed
It’s so great to use eggshells in this way, returning them to the soil to provide nutrients for your plants – so worthwhile!
Yes. You breakup the eggshells.
Its also great for birds!!! Seriously, birds need calcium from external sources for the health of their own eggs.
Hi..I was thinking of using these tips for my flower garden but I was wondering about the use of the coffee grounds. You mentioned that they are great for acid loving plants, so do I have to be careful about what I plant in the garden if I use the coffee grounds. Actually, is it the same for a vegetable garden? I was going to try my first attempt at a small veggie garden this year, do do I need to use care at what I grow if I use coffee grounds? Thank you for any tips you could give me!
I have used coffee grounds on everything in my garden. I’ve read that the grounds become less acidic (more neutral) after being used to make coffee. Have not done a pH test, but have had great results on roses, lilies, tomatoes, zucchini, kale, collards, petunias.
Hello, how do u handle the banana peels.. I get the small pieces part, but do u save banana peels and add to garden when there enough for the whole thing or just do it as we eat the bananas? I just feel like saving egg shells and coffee grounds isn’t quite the same as banana peels… Thanks
Hi, Yes, we just add the banana skins as and when we have them. It doesn’t matter too much if you have more of one ingredient than the other, they all break down quickly and improve the soil and your plants will be very happy!
Thank you!!! How often is too often? Is it possible to overdose them or is it just going to keep helping no matter how often
Hi Jessica, When I add these ingredients directly to the soil I normally dig a small hole every few days in between the plants and flowers, and add a handful or two to each. I start off at one end of the garden and try to work my way systematically across until I reach the other side. By the time I come round to where I started again, there is no sign of any of the additions, everything has broken down. All you find is crumbly soil and happy worms 🙂
i love this idea. i would be inclined to sun dry. do banana skins repel aphids?
Some of the coffee ground mulch I placed around the base of my plants is turning moldy. Is this a normal phenomenon or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!
Hi Michelle,
It’s perfectly natural for the coffee grounds to go mouldy, it’s just part of the composting process and means that it is breaking down into your soil. It’s certainly won’t harm your plants, but if you don’t like the look of it then just dig it into the surrounding topsoil and refresh with new grounds next time you’ve got some.
Has anyone tried to use a food processor or chopper to grind up the food waste and add it directly to the garden? Even if you had to add lost of water, I would think if you could make it into a pulp like substance that would be very easy to add to the soil. I tried with an old blender, but it wasn’t powerful enough to grind it down. I don’t have a food processor, but wondered if it would be worth investing in on.
This would be fantastic for making the compost material break down super quickly Linda, especially if you have an old spare food-processor that you can designate for the job rather than your good one!
A food processor is the only way i crushe egg shells. It turns them into a finely crushed product easily spread by hand over the garden and do the safe with coffe grounds. I dont dry the coffe grounds out at all, just sprinkle straight on.
The banana skins i throw on the garden whole. They compost down quickly and are soon blended in with the soil.
Ive been doing this for years on new and establised gardens and vegie gardens with great results.
Yes Lulu – the old ideas are always the best!
An old electric coffee grinder works really good to crush the egg shells too. I picked up a really good one at a yard sale for $0.50 cents about 5 years ago and it is still working great!
That’s great Diane! What a bargain!
I’m sure you can find a used one…check close.5 or offer up, I see them all the time. My roses love the banana skins! I put the egg shells around my tomato plants at last count I have 13 new tomato’s!
Wow! You’ll be making lots of tomato sauce 🙂
do the skins repel aphids?
I use my ninja to blend food scraps for my worm bin which then turn into vermacompost and it works great.
do the ingredients to be dried first?
Hi Diana, It doesn’t matter if you don’t dry them, they will still work, but the smell might attract rats if you leave them lying on top of the soil. I believe that aphids hate the potassium in bananas, so they do act as a deterrent, but you have to top them up regularly.
for these older items check out the garage sales or second hand stores, Goodwill or Salvation Army is a good place to start, I use an old blender which if done in batches works well. Good Luck
Coffee grinders work great to process egg shells.
A coffee grinder is pretty small, wouldn’t it take a long time to process the egg shell?
What if you want to use bananas, egg shells and add it to coffee grinds? How would you process that?
Yes, I did exactly that when I first started composting. My husband objected to the kitchen waste, so I stored them In an old blend by the sink. Then I would ad some water to it and made compost soup. Then I would dig a small hole in the garden’s poor soil, then cover it. That year I grew artichokes from seed in that spot! I got two big artichokes that year!! It is a fabulous way to do it, if you have a blender just for that.
I have been burying my kitchen scraps in the garden for years with great results. I don’t bother with a food processor. I just dig a hole, add the scraps, including shrimp shells, chop them up with the shovel and cover with soil. It works great!!
CC
Hello,
Can you mix all three together and spread it in your dirt or do you need to add each ingredient one at a time with some time in between? And how often can you add these ingredients to your soil? Thanks!
Hi karen,
Yes I usually collect up the three ingredients together in a pot or large jar, cutting up the banana skins and crunching up the egg shells, and when the jar is full I just dig a small hole between the plants wherever there is a space. When the hole is full I cover it over with soil and let the earth do the work! Then just move on to another spot. It’s a good idea to start at one side of the garden and work your way across, so you know where you’ve been, or you could always leave a marker. It all breaks down really quickly in the summer months.
I like this and I have had great results with shrimp shells.
That’s a good tip Dana, Thanks! I am always so delighted when you can put something to good use, other than just throw it away 🙂
I will try prawn shells, so they can go straight in the compost bin..
I collect all kitchen scraps except meat, bones, and dairy products in a kitchen compost bucket and once a week when it is full, I go to my garden where I will plant veggies later and dig an 8 inch (or deeper) hole. I dump the scraps in, chop up with the shovel and fill with the dirt. I stamp it down hard and if critters are around, I sprinkle dried blood meal (from the garden store ) on top. This keeps critters away and adds a lot of nitrogen to the soil. I do this all around the are where I will later plant veggies. They absolutely love it, as do the earthworms.
Wow Christy! I bet your garden soil is fabulous! Thanks for sharing your tips!
I tend to give my kitchen waste a rough chop before storing it in gallon sized freezer bags until the bag is full, then thaw it for a bit before adding to the compost pile. The freezing ruptures the cell walls & causes it to break down faster in the compost.
That’s an excellent idea! I’ve always noticed that the contents of the compost bucket often mushes down much quicker after a frosty night outside by the back door!
I’m concerned about attracting rodents; first it was rats, then we graduated to raccoons in the crawlspace of the 100 y.o. house I bought 6 mos ago. I can only assume my garden will need to be amended – somehow didn’t get a chance to plant while unpacking – but I don’t want to lay treats out for the n’hood critters. So guess I’d skip the wet-ish bananas but other suggestions as replacements would be grand.
How exciting to have a new house! I bet you’ll be busy in the garden this spring! If you’re worried about attracting unwelcome visitors, just make sure you bury any amendments under the top layer of topsoil. I learnt this tip from my Father-in-law, who was a fantastic gardener – he improved all his soil in this way and his garden was magnificent.
Try dehydrating the banana peels and then crushing them up.
Hi, In the summer I leave them to dry in a sunny spot for a day or two, they dry out really quickly and the plants love them!
Hi Laurie,
I used to worry about the same thing but I used human hair from a very busy full range salon so get a lot of chemically treated hair it’s an excellent barrier for the critters but you will want to set it out about 5-10 feet from the plants and once you get going eventually you can get by with just the perimeter of your yard
It’s neat to see this old idea catching on. My Grandma taught me this when i was a kid because i thought the idea of a compost bin was repulsive. We called it “Direct Compost” Check out how it was introduced to me back in the 70’s. A tip left over from the foundation of this country.
>>http://www.gardenupgreen.com/2014/02/direct-compost.html
I loved your post Carole what a wealth of knowledge you inherited from your Grandmother – I’m sure she would be delighted to know you are passing it on!
I read that egg shells need to be boiled first, is that true?
Hi Rosemarie, I always wash egg shells thoroughly and then allow them to dry out in a warm place. After a day or two they crush up so easily and then they are ready to use in the garden.
After I wash and dry them, I put then in my Vita-Mix and grind them to a fine powder then scatter them over my beds.
I just read ur love story about your grandmother. Brought tears to my eyes,because I had a grandmother who taught me so many things about gardening also. I always considered myself so lucky, just like you do.
We learn such wonderful things from our Grandparents, things that stay with us for always 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing that. I never had grandparents to learn from. Planet earth holds many secrets that are lost to all these new technology generations. (myself include) I’m NEW to gardening. I don’t know a thing about it!! I just know that I want to grow organic foods because it’d be cheaper… {as long as the chem trails don’t spray above my house, I should be ok? not sure.)……and I love learning what helps to not be wasteful. But I also don’t want an organic garden accompanied with rats! Thanks for the link…will go check it out 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your Granmas photos and tips. I, too, had a Grandmother who loved her gardens, both veggie and flowers and even though we all spent the summers with her, we never thought about learning those things from her. Looking back I have no doubt she did the same things. How I wish she were here now to teach me. She was also in Texas.
This was a great story and I think I will give it a try.
Thank you.
I just throw the eggshells between the rows. After a day or two my granddaughter will come over and it is her job to step on them. They crush into tiny pieces and will eventually get worked into the ground. She loves her “job” and she is more careful walking in the garden because she is always looking down for more egg shells.
That sounds like fun! What a great little helper! 🙂
What a great idea, and I bet your granddaughter loves her job!
This is a wonderful “job” for the younger grandkids! I have 8 grands ranging from 13 down to 4 months old, and I am always looking for things that they can do to feel included in Gramma’s garden. I am sure that the oldest two 13 & 8 will be wanting to run the tiller this year so I have to find other things for the younger 6 to do to help! Thank you for posting this!
I take all three and keep them in a coffee can till full. My family all knows that it is my garden brew. After a few weeks I pour it out onto my garden soil and trowl it in the soil. My tomato plants love this brew. Just be prepared for a very ripe fragrance whening pouring it out.
Some great advice. I alternate between adding these things to my compost bin and just adding them straight to the garden.
Hi Sara – nice short article with 3 great food waste items you can use directly in your soil. Just to add specifically – the banana peels can be buried specifically under rose bushes – they LOVE banana peels. Also it’s not a repurpose for the garden but epsom salt for magnesium works wonders on tomatoes as well!
We’re doing this concept on a grander scale by taking food scraps out of the system (instead of allowing them to go to landfills). We then create a potent plant food capsule called EarthPods that has all these amazing ingredients (and million of beneficial plant root microbes as well). Check out our products if you have the chance and let us know what you think! 🙂
Thanks! I will check your EarthPods they sound very interesting 🙂
Great – let me know what you think. We also recently added a new item as well. Customers kept asking us about an easy way to make compost tea with our plant food so we have compost tea packets now too! 🙂 drop them in your watering can for 24 hours and feed organic nutrients as you water.
Thanks! I love the sound of your compost teabags! what a great idea!
I’ve been trying to do this but I always forget to collect banana skins and egg shells.. I was reminded by your post I saw it on my pinterest account.. Thanks.
I put my banana skins, coffee grounds and egg shells in the blender and blend them up with some water, then add that to a larger 2 gallon pitcher with water and water my plants with them. Roses love it!!
What an excellent idea! I make my liquid feed from seaweed as we live by the beach, there’s no need to buy it is there!
Great idea ~ I was wondering how to use the banana skins because either my Springer Spaniel will sniff it out and digg it up or it could encourage mice so blending it and using it as a natural fertilizer sounds like it could work. Going to give it a go.
If you’re worried about pets, just dry them out first (either in a gentle oven, or just in the sun) Some people grind up the egg shells and banana skins in a processor, but it’s perfectly ok to do it by hand, it breaks down into the soil really quickly anyway and you don’t make your processor dirty!
p.s I had a lovely springer spaniel not so long ago – I know what they can be like 🙂
I blended it all up and then dug a hole and covered it. I thought that would be better because my dog will eat ANYTHING! Boy was I wrong…. The next morning my dog threw up compost and dirt on the carpet!! So now I’ve started mixing it with water and that seems to work. He is still curious about the smell but I think he sees that there is no pieces to eat.
Oh dear! I had a dog like that too! And it does make it difficult to add things to the soil in this way, but I also use this method – http://wholefoodhome.com/compost-soup/ which makes a liquid feed for your plants instead. Make sure you keep a tight lid on it though, or he’ll drink it!!
i was thinking of keeping a food processor in the tool shed just for this purpose. i have seen these at second hand stores for little to nothing !
also, what do think about doing this for all kitchen stuff to speed up the breakdown for the com poster?
That’s an excellent idea if you can get hold of a cheap one. If you cut up all the kitchen waste into little pieces it will definitely speed up the composting process. 🙂
I’ve had my very own food compost blender for years. At the end of each day I add a spoon of Epsom salt to the day’s bounty, add water, blend, toss around my flowers then rinse it out. Never use it for anything else.
That sounds like a very good idea!
Thanks for the tips. I usually ground the egg shells and mix it with the coffee grounds for my flower bed. I will try the banana peels too!
http://www.thetravelingdyosa.com
So glad to read this!! I am very new to gardening however– do I just sprinkle this right on top of the ground around the plants? Or do I dig, and to soil, and cover up?? How often do you add?? Can anyone give me a step by step? Thank you!! 🙂
You can use the egg shells and coffee grounds scattered on top of the soil around your plants as this is also a deterrent to slugs and snails. But the banana skins are best cut up into little pieces and dug in just under the surface, although you can dry them out first in the sun or in a low oven and then grind them up to make a powder which you can then mix in with the other ingredients. These really help your soil richness and texture so it’s well worth doing!
We have used all three of these! They work great…and ants HATE coffee grounds! 🙂 Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty – we hope to see you again next week. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Thank you so much for the ant tip!! Solved my problem with item I have in my kitchen. Amazing😎
Thank you so much for sharing your gardening ideas. I love to recycle products that get thrown away! Thank you, Elizabeth
Yes I agree, it’s so satisfying to use up everything! Thanks for hosting!
Some great ideas – ideal for window boxes/container planting too – especially when you do not have a huge garden space. Thank you for joining in with the #FrugalFamilyLinky – hope to see you joining in again soon!
Thank you for sharing these tips! I’ve been dragging my feet getting started, just because it’s one more thing to think about. You’ve remineded me it isn’t all that difficult to compost our kitchen waste. I’m getting started right away!
This method is really so easy and it all breaks down really quickly. i’ve been doing it for a few years now, and the soil in my veg beds is a really rich and dark and crumbly!
My great-grandmother swore by all three of those! I remember being little and seeing banana peels and egg shells around her roses and never understood why. Now that I’m a gardener myself, I completely understand. We are currently working on composting this year to see how it goes! Good luck with the new growing season! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty!
Thanks for hosting and stopping by, my grandparents were the same! Now we know how wise they were 🙂
Thank you for all this good advice! I collect coffee from the individual cup that we use in the Keurig machine! Amazing how much I collect in a short time! I keep egg shells also and before shredding them I put them in my watering can and water my plants! Love all the great advice!
Thank you for sharing!