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 will make short work of it.
- They are also a good deterrent for slugs and snails. Scatter a generous barrier around any young seedlings to keep the pesky molluscs away. Apparently this is the human equivalent of 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!
- Don’t worry if they look a bit mouldy, this is just part of the natural breaking down process and a sign that it’s working.
- If you’re not a coffee drinker, tea bags are good for the soil too – check out this post!
BANANA SKINS
- Adding banana skins is another excellent way to improve your garden soil. They can also be added directly to the ground as long as they are cut up into very small pieces. They’ll break down faster and offer all the micro-organisms in the soil lots more surface area to work their magic.
- This creates plenty of new 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.
Hi. I’m new and a little lost. Where do you store old banana peels? I started saving coffee grinds and will now save eggshells but where should banana come in and what to do with all 3? Thank you for any additional advice.
All 3 of these recycled ingredients are good for feeding plants and improving your garden soil. You can apply them separately or mixed together, it really doesn’t matter.
personally, I let the banana skins dry out in the sunshine simply because they become odourless and more pleasant to handle, but you could dry them out on a baking sheet at the bottom of your oven if that is easier, or just finely chop them straight away and use them fresh. I collect the crushed egg shells, coffee grounds and banana skins up together in a large screw top storage jar, and when it’s getting too full I use it as a fertilising mulch around the base of my runner beans, tomato plants and courgettes – and it makes them all very happy!
Is iT also good for house plant
No, I wouldn’t use it on my house plants as it might smell a bit. But I do give my house plants a drink of the cold tea left in the tea pot! (without any milk!)
Sara,
Is there a reason you rinse the egg shells? I have been using egg shells in my garden the last few years but I just put them in an open container to dry then crush them in a zip lock bag. I add to the soil in the spring while I’m tilling.
Thanks!
Hi Jan, I was always told that it’s best to rinse out the eggs so they don’t get smelly and don’t attract the rats! So it’s something I have always done. But if the shells are properly dried and crushed, I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem anyway – it’s just a precaution.
The best way is an oven proof container to store egg shells in and when your oven is next on pop them in with whatever else you’re cooking. It kills off any bacteria and salmonella etc.
Hi, I’m just about to start growing plants from seeds. Can I use any of these when I start or should I wait until they sprout to start adding any of these?
Thanks
Hi, When you’re sowing seeds, it’s always best to use a good seed and potting compost, to give your seeds the best chance at successful germination. Then you can use these soil amendments to hel feed the plants later on when they really start growing.
Garden soil can be much improved egg shell and coffee mix.
can decaf coffee grounds be used?
Decaf coffee can still be used, but for the organic purist the swiss water method is best. This uses carbon or charcoal filters rather than the more commonly used chemical solvents. Although these do mostly evaporate during the roasting process, they might still leave tiny traces behind. It depends how organic you want to go – but decaf grounds would still rot down and integrate into the soil in the same way bringing a lot of good nutrients too.
Os it ok to sprinkle around flower plants in garden?
Yes definitely Rita! Your flowers will love it!
This is a very nice website and I like this because I am doing a science project about banana peels,eggshell,and tea bag
Thank you
I use coffee grounds to make soil. Along with egg shells bananas and other kitchen waste. Yes coffee grounds mold. If find that they do that is the grounds aren’t dry before adding to soil. I remember senior women who put egg shells in a gallon milk jug and added water. This was the water they used for the house plants. None of those plants were intended to be eaten.
I have egg shells roasted with fish carcass over a open flame. But that is just me
My Mother used to take everything from her kitchen compost jar and grind it up in the blender with a little water to make it liquid but thick. She would then take the thick liquid out to her garden and pour it around her plants and dig it in so it was tilled under. She had beautiful plants and plenty of Veggies that were gorgeous!
What a great way to improve the soil and feed the plants! I bet her garden was beautiful!
I like this idea! I’m going to try it this spring, thanks for sharing!:)
Hi there,
I have started to do the same in my garden but have realised that I am getting a lot of fruit flies. May I request you to ask your mom what to do?
Hi Meghana, Yes, fruit flies can be a problem if the weather is warm (not a problem for us here at the moment though!) It helps if the banana skins are dried out first before and make sure that they are dug in, and covered by the soil.
Ihad geraniums looking weay with yelowish leaves. I tried what I did in the philippines before I came to the US.
I put 1 banana peel in each pot of my plants where no one can see and have them rot there then add every time I have available.
It worked really good and the blooms of my geraniums are big and sturdy.
That is a great idea, I will be trying this method, thank you for posting
I keep an old pan in the oven & throw rinsed egg shells & coffee grounds in it. After shutting off the oven, I put the pan back in to dry out the egg shells & grounds. Once it’s cool (or I get around to it) I toss them into a zip top bag in the freezer all winter. In the spring I grind them in the blender. I put a handful into the planting hole with a plastic teaspoon of Epson salt and had the best producing crop of tomatoes & peppers ever, last summer!
That’s an excellent idea, much better than my habit of drying out the eggshells balanced on the vent at the back of my oven!!
I dry many things using Pottery, (wax air freshing bowl) sitting on a (Coffee) Cup warmer which dries contents, Then I pack them in Used Mixed nut containers until used. Once dried completely they do not mold.
That’s a great idea! Much better when it’s completely dried out.
I tried adding eggshells and coffee grinds to my indoor plants and that turned out to be a HUGE mistake ><…..They ended up turning my soil moldy 🙁 I want to try it again since my plants would love the coffee, but I'm scared it will do the same thing 🙁
Oh dear! What happened? Did it start to smell? I think I’d just stick to the coffee grinds inside!
Mine turn mouldy as well, any Suggestions
Hi Nasim, Mould is just part of the nature breaking down process, this is a good sign that the soil is active and that the natural bacteria is doing it’s work. If it looks unpleasant, just dig it into the top layer of soil with a trowel.
Dont be discouraged by this . Till the soil to mix them up. Mold helps decimpose organic material.
Did you dry the egg shells first?
Yes Dawn, I find they crush up much more easily if they are properly dried out first.
Only organic banana peels should be used; non-organic bananas are very heavily sprayed with insecticides that are extremely toxic to bees, butterflies, etc.
This is a very good point Alison. Of course it is always best to use organic fruit and veg wherever possible.
@alison Local banana maybe not used insecticide
My exp local banana in Indonesia not used insect sprayer because in Indonesia find bunch weight not find clean skin.
If I buy Organic bananas I eat the Banana peels also . That’s where most of the nutrients are
LOL, somebody is with me in this tiny world 🙂
Thanks for the reminder!
hello , what is the meanning of COFFEE GROUNDS..?
Hi, Coffee grounds are the used ground coffee beans that you normally throw away once you have brewed the coffee.
Hi
House plants love coffee and eggshell water
Just put your left over coffee or coffee ground in gallon jug, add egg shells and let sit for a few day. If i have just a little coffee left in my cup (no cream). I will just pour it on my plants. I use this on all house plants but especially on Boston Ferns. They love it and stay a nice rich green and grow so well. Also adding tea bags to the water jug is great if you are a tea drinker
I use a gallon pickle jar with a lid as liquid does have a smell but not once pourd on plants
Hi Sue, yes I’m sure your house plants love their coffee and egg shell health boost! And it’s a great way to recycle kitchen waste – so it’s a win win!
Hey this is JC I WAS WONDERING IF can the egg shell ,banana,fresh coffee ground mixture to soil be a natural way to start our poppy garden most of them will be annuals hopefully some perennials not positive just yet it’s fall on Long Island right now and next week I’m getting my cedar to build a raised garden bed due to my soil in that area is pretty much soaked after the rains in early spring as well as being a little “not much ” above sea level hence the raised flower bed? So this is the very first time we’re attempting too grow poppies,Peony poppies,etc…
We just want to be sure we set up especially the soils the best and right way! THIS IS SOMETHING MY FAMILY HAS FALLEN IN LOVE With THESE INCREDIBLY BEUTIFUL AND COLORFUL WILDFLOWERS!!!
Please anyone if your familiar with these blossoms can you throw some information this way?
Warm Regards,JC and Family
Hi JC, I totally agree, wildflowers are wonderful, but they don’t need a particularly rich soil, as they would naturally grow in meadows and fields. Just till the earth so it is free of stones and weeds and sow the seeds in the freshly turned soil. They do of course like plenty of sunshine and rain but don’t need much feeding. You can alway use the coffee grounds/eggshells and banana skins to improve the texture and organic matter in your soil over the years – when you have some just dig the mixture into small holes in-between your plants.
Sara, I share your family’s love of Poppy’s, I started with a plant which was given to me. Thank goodness it done well. Since then I’ve easily decided it with a spade. Chopped it in four and they seem to be popping up nicely now. My soil is poor, but they don’t seem to mind, good luck
Old grandma trick. Grind dry egg shells to a powder and take a bit. It’s a great source of calcium.
I understand it is well absorbed by the body the same way calcium carbonate tablets are not absorbed. It’s the same form of calcium.
Hi can Earl grey tea be used as well ?
Hi Margaret, Earl Grey tea is flavoured with extract of bergamot and as this is only a tiny amount and a natural substance it won’t do any harm. But it is important to be aware that tea & coffee are acidic, so alkaline loving plants won’t be too keen while acid loving plants like Roses, Camelias or Blueberries will thrive.
hi dear
we can mix all these three and than apply direct to soil ? or put to plant roots
You can do either; use it to top-dress the soil as a mulch, or mixed into the soil by digging into a small hole in between the plants in your border.
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!
I nuke them for 2 minutes to sanitize and crisp at same time. Washing would be next best thing to keep nasty bacteria from taking over your kitchen when storing and crushing shells.
That’s a good idea! Microwaves are such useful things!
I drop used egg shells into a large glass container Without rinsing them, never have had an odor problem. They dry out sitting by the stove on the counter. As the pIle builds up I crush them in my hand and/or reduce them to powder in my mortar, then seal in zip lock baggies for next growing season. I use it for all suggestions mentioned. Slugs dry out when their belly is cut by the shells. They don’t have to be powder form to work and still provides plants nutrients. I love gardening. Better veggies you can’t beat them for their flavors. Background; I helped my parents and Nana garden from age 7-17. Every chance I got I grew my own garden. Today at 64 in a new house I am now planning my 2017 spring garden
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 have to laugh about you calling the chickens ingrates…too funny. I rinse my egg shells and set them on the back of the sink to dry over night. I then toss them into a glass jar under my kitchen sink and when the jar gets full, crush them in the jar. I also keep a bag in my freezer for my “stinky” garbage and when it’s full add it to my big freezer after I knock it down to size. When spring rolls around I generally have plenty of stuff for my spring garden.
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!
I chop up my banana peels and crush my eggshells and toss them on the lawn. When we mow they get munched up.
That’s a great idea Mary Ann! I bet your lawn is healthy!
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 ended up with three of those..great for chopping herbs,eggshells, etc! For larger quantities of eggshells simply crush, place on paper towels,nuke for a minute or two,fold the paper towel and crush with a rolling pin. These get fed back to my hens,birds and soil?
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.
Will any of these help keep Japanese Beetles away from my raspberry plants. They destroy the leaves!
Hi Susie, I’ve never have problems with Japanese Beetles here on the south coast of the UK, perhaps they don’t like our climate, but here’s an interesting article with lots of clever ideas to get rid of them. http://theherbgardener.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-getting-rid.html
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
Get one from a Salvation Army, Goodwill or other thrift store, yard salle, Ollie’s, etc. Will be cheap to buy.
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!
You can get used grounds from Starbucks.
They save them for composters and they are free!