compost is a great natural fertilizer. It can take a bit of effort to get it cooking. Any thing that was once green in color can be composted....card board, garden refuse...un eaten cooked veggies. ... no oils, or butter in the garden. You need to stir it up occasionally....ie turn it over...helps to break it down. If animals are a problem, there are compost tumblers. Plastic resin construction many styles.
Comfrey is both a great chop-and-drop fertilizer to spread around your new or established plants and a base for tea filled with the wide variety of nutrients its long taproot brings up to the green and flower parts. The sterile variety will not spread, except by root-division, and in z5B, I can get at least three cuttings each season. Check out its healing and nutrient properties, too.
Also animal manure is great, but it must be composted to "mature". Do not use fresh droppings on plants. Also, don't use manure from any meat-eating animals (nor humans, even vegetarians). The best way to get a lot for free is to ask at any stable for the horse/pony manure. They'd be happy to let you have as much as you want. A bucket is easier to fill than a bag. Pile it in your yard/compost pile, and depending on your area and weather it should be ready to use in a week or two (it might steam at first, but when ready, there shouldn't be a lot of odor). Keep your dogs and cats away from it at first.
If you are talking about fertilizing plants in soil, get some red wiggler worms. They are everywhere in the top six inches of soil, but unless you compost, you won't have much chance of finding them in cold and frozen soil.
If you compost, then you have lots of good fertilizer.
About the worms, though: red wigglers are the little ones you usual see, about 3-5 inches long, and they look pink to red. The more they're eating, the redder they look. They are compost worms, and worm poop is black gold! Put a few in each plant pot you've cultivated in and they'll go to work. They burrow in immediately. They eat their weight in dirt each day. And every two to three days they lay an egg or 2 which can hatch 2 to 25 baby worms who grow up quickly. They never eat live plants. They eat dead stuff. Other little helpers you might consider are pill bugs/roly-polys.
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compost is a great natural fertilizer. It can take a bit of effort to get it cooking. Any thing that was once green in color can be composted....card board, garden refuse...un eaten cooked veggies. ... no oils, or butter in the garden. You need to stir it up occasionally....ie turn it over...helps to break it down. If animals are a problem, there are compost tumblers. Plastic resin construction many styles.
Comfrey is both a great chop-and-drop fertilizer to spread around your new or established plants and a base for tea filled with the wide variety of nutrients its long taproot brings up to the green and flower parts. The sterile variety will not spread, except by root-division, and in z5B, I can get at least three cuttings each season. Check out its healing and nutrient properties, too.
Also animal manure is great, but it must be composted to "mature". Do not use fresh droppings on plants. Also, don't use manure from any meat-eating animals (nor humans, even vegetarians). The best way to get a lot for free is to ask at any stable for the horse/pony manure. They'd be happy to let you have as much as you want. A bucket is easier to fill than a bag. Pile it in your yard/compost pile, and depending on your area and weather it should be ready to use in a week or two (it might steam at first, but when ready, there shouldn't be a lot of odor). Keep your dogs and cats away from it at first.
An easy addition to your soil- leftover eggshells and coffee grinds. They're full of good nutrients for the soil
If you are talking about fertilizing plants in soil, get some red wiggler worms. They are everywhere in the top six inches of soil, but unless you compost, you won't have much chance of finding them in cold and frozen soil.
If you compost, then you have lots of good fertilizer.
About the worms, though: red wigglers are the little ones you usual see, about 3-5 inches long, and they look pink to red. The more they're eating, the redder they look. They are compost worms, and worm poop is black gold! Put a few in each plant pot you've cultivated in and they'll go to work. They burrow in immediately. They eat their weight in dirt each day. And every two to three days they lay an egg or 2 which can hatch 2 to 25 baby worms who grow up quickly. They never eat live plants. They eat dead stuff. Other little helpers you might consider are pill bugs/roly-polys.
You can also buy red wigglers online if you want.