Hi all! I’m poor. I’m attempting to get my balcony garden started without spending more than 30 dollars. (I’m probably nuts, I know.) It looks like a good chunk of that will be going to a water hose and sink attachment so I don’t have to haul a milk jug of water back and forth a hundred times, so I’m hurting a bit on funds for fertilizer. To make matters worse, the landlord says I’m not allowed to compost anywhere in the apartment or on the property. (I would just hide it under my kitchen sink, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her etc, but there’s other reasons why I can’t unfortunately.)

Is there any option for fertilizing my plants with like… five dollars left? If I mix coffee grounds and eggshells into the soil will it do anything other than bother the local slugs? I’ve seen that stuff about letting plant scraps sit in a bucket to make “tea” but what I read said it can’t replace fertilizer - is there a way to make it so that it can?

I have a bag of epsom salts, a strong appetite for veggies, and the willingness to steal the neighbor’s lawn clippings if I must.

I’m also willing to accept that I may have to forgo the water hose C:

EDIT: Thank you all for suggestions! Here’s what I’m going to try in no particular order:

  • Grass clippings and banana peels in water to make tea
  • Getting a med-free friend to pee in a jar and letting that sit for two months
  • Reach out to local Buy Nothing group and gardening groups to see if someone has leftover fertilizer or compost
  • Steal dirt from local megacorp office to save money on dirt and spend that on fertilizer instead
  • Ask around to see if anyone keeps fish so I can use the aquarium water
  • Reach out to local mushroom farm to see if they’d give me their growing medium
  • Skip the faucet hose and spend the money on some decent cheap fertilizer from Costco
  • pomegranatefern@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    5 days ago

    I just stumbled across this video on DIY compost-free fertilizer today and immediately thought of this post, so I’m sharing it here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s1q7NonSlEU

    Quick summary if you would rather not watch: bloom yeast in warm water with sugar, add in what you have of powdered eggshells, wood ash, and Epsom salt. Ratio from the comments that I can’t double-check against the video is:

    Metric:

    • Mix 1 Tbsp of dry yeast into 950 ml of warm water with 2 Tbsp of sugar. Let bloom for 10 minutes, then place into fridge overnight.
    • Mix yeast mixture into 19 litres of room temperature water.
    • Add 1 Tbsp of wood ash, if you have it
    • Add 1 Tbsp of ground eggshells, if you have that.
    • Add 1/2 tsp Epsom salt, if you have that.
    • Add about 236 milliliters at the base of plant you’re fertilizing every two weeks.

    'Merican:

    • Mix 1 Tbsp of dry yeast into 1 quart of warm water with 2 Tbsp of sugar. Let bloom for 10 minutes, then place into fridge overnight.
    • Mix yeast mixture into 5 gals of room temperature water.
    • Add 1 Tbsp of wood ash, if you have it
    • Add 1 Tbsp of ground eggshells, if you have that.
    • Add 1/2 tsp Epsom salt, if you have that.
    • Add about 1 cup at the base of plant you’re fertilizing every two weeks.

    Anecdotal evidence supports this. I cannot find any studies or articles about this because when I try to Duck around and find out, I cannot tell which of the top results are AI slop and it’s all over the place. We are in Hell. So my advice is to try it, maybe omitting different ingredients for comparison, and test it out. I’m currently trying to find a good vegan alternative to add calcium in place of eggshells that’s cheap, available and which I would actually have on hand regularly as someone who does not use eggs.