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
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.
Some have mentionned pee, which is good but unfortunately provides only nitrogen.
Well, I have another good source of nitrogen to suggest: legumes. Grow legumes and they will naturally add nitrogen to your soil, without adding any sodium
Dollar for dollar and desire not to handle pee makes me like DEF as a nitrogen source if I had to be really cheap about it. A little bit goes a long way though.
I am comically allergic to nearly all legumes XDD But I don’t know anyone else who is, so I’d be good to give away my harvest to friends and neighbors. Legumes are often used to reset a field, right? Do you think I could rotate my pots/beds next year to refresh this year’s soil by planting legumes?
Yea traditionally legumes are part of the rotation yea legumes are an essential part of the traditonnal rotation of cultures.
Just remember that it contributes mostly nitrogen
I just thought of this: for potassium and phosphorus, you could add ash. Just be mindful of the effect on pH — it’s alkaline.
In any case, I think that without compost or chemical fertilizers, it will be hard.
Lombricompost would be equivalent to compost if it’s acceptable to your landlord, I think.
I have no idea of the benefits of bokashi.
You might want to rely on plants that require no fertlizing: dill, rosemary, parsnip, and oregano.
The following plants require little fertilizing: carrots, beans (+ they give nitrogen), arugula, cilantro, onions, turnip, shelling pea, flat-podded pea, chamomile
The grass clippings are a good idea and easy - find something porous to hold them in (cheese cloth? a hairnet would work) and a large bucket of water. soak for a week(?) like making tea and you’ll have a great nutrient plant water.
If you have any banana peels grind em throw some in the bucket, they have great phosphates and potassium. Probably keep the bucket covered in case mosquitoes. Dispose of the solid matter as appropriate, you don’t want algae or mold so make it use it clean it cycles.
I’ll give it a try!
Coffee grounds and eggshells will go a long way, but they aren’t a substitute for any other augmentation.
I wouldn’t even consider composting in an apartment - the logistics are just too painful in such a small space (and with long composting timelines).
So about the watering - the cheapest thing you could do is get a faucet aerator-to-hose adapter. It screws into the aerator on your sink and lets you screw on any regular garden hose fitting. The down side is that many faucets don’t like seeing back pressure when the faucet is on, so you could damage your faucet if you turn a valve off at the end of the hose. One option is just “don’t turn it off”, or look at a waterbed filling/draining kit. It’s got a sink adapter very similar to the metal one but it lets some water hiss through under pressure.
Another possible fertilizer source would be an all purpose chemical fertilizer from a dollar store. You don’t get much but you also don’t need much. Definitely not as natural as rolling your own compost, but a lot more practical in a small space.
Question - is this what you mean by aerater-to-hose or am I looking at the wrong things? If I can bring the hose cost down then I’ll have more for dollar store fertilizer
Close! This one looks like the right fit: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Danco-Chrome-Female-Standard-Adapter/3647052
That assumes your faucet has an aerator you can unscrew!
That piece is available at my local Lowes! Now a new problem. My landlord seems to have glued the aerator to the faucet? That or there’s a lot of grime, or it just isn’t an aerator, but there’s a seam and a lot of sticky gunk. I’m gonna try soaking it in some vinegar, wish me luck XD
Some municipalities will have programs where you can get free or low cost compost; I’d ask around there, as well as look for local gardening clubs and mutual aid groups to see if anyone has some to spare.
Also, both rabbit and Guinea pig droppings can be pretty good soil additions, if you know anyone who keeps either as companions/fosters or a rescue organization for either.
Also also, if you have any friends who keep fish, the water left over from when they change the water out in their tanks is also nutrient rich
I second asking around on local forums! Someone might have leftovers lying around, and containers too if you need some.
Do you know if rat droppings are similar (from pet rats)? I have a friend who fosters rats! I’ll ask around and see about the fish
From quick research, it seems like even domestic rat droppings can harbor some nasry viruses like hantavirus. You’d want it to be well-composted at sufficient temperatures before use to break down any pathogens, and that unfortunately just brings you back around to the composting problem.
Yeeeesh. I don’t want to fuck around with hantavirus. Oh well!
$30 is “you need to steal it” territory. Buy a shovel and a bag from a thrift store. Dig up soil near office buildings, ideally mega corps that are assholes.
You can get mulch from the same place. Some munipalities will also drop off free mulch from the tree cleanup they do around power lines. Check your local area to see if they have a program.
You can use this for fertilizer:
https://www.costco.com/p/-/miracle-gro-shake-n-feed-all-purpose-plant-food-8-lb/100411468
Its all purpose and will last years in a balcony garden. Its not tuned to each plants needs, but I can vouch for it working across hundreds of different plants without issue. Shake out the pellets every 3 months of the growing seasons and that’s that.
For water, do rain catchment if possible with any old container you have. A large cistern is best, but any container you can seal will do.
Composting is basically not realistic inside. Its rotting food/soil on purpose over sustained periods. Lots of bugs, can be very smelly. Don’t recommend.
I think you’re onto something. Soil is so damn expensive and I thought about digging it up from the woods but I don’t want to risk disturbing any natural ecosystems. But we all know mega corps ain’t natural C:
A friend of mine has a Costco membership, I’ll see if they can grab me a cheap thing of Miracle Gro. I’m not too concerning about tuning to each plant, I just want to keep them alive until winter XD thank you!!
(Someone else suggested putting a bucket out for rain… I think I can turn my growing milk jug collection into rain catchers by cutting the tops off and pour them out into a larger container for storage. Though I am a little worried about weight limits… not sure how you figure that out)
FWIW, state parks (ie. nature, not playground) often allow transplanting of native plants by locals and are more likely than any corpo fucknuts to not use budget-rate maintenance solutions that’d taint your soil/medium sample (and fuck up your balcony lovelies’ roots, etc.), so check your home turf for those rules/laws, and happy scrounging! 🤩
Spent mushroom grow media should help with adding nutrients to your dirt (With a nice mushroom bonus).
You can look into farming some oyster mushrooms and then after the second flush add that to your soil.
You might need to have a decent size mushroom operation if it is your main source for nutrients however.
Oh, I know some mushroom farms will just kind of give away their used growing media if you ask. Another resource to check for.
Don’t forget to check if they’re giving away spores, too 🤩🖖🏼
Maybe bokashi. If you dont make too much at a time you can do the soil part indoors without smell. And the fermentation is closed lid
Mixing in uncomposted material will actually reduce nutrient availability to your plants so I wouldn’t recommend it. I also strongly recommend against indoor composting.
Alternative get a large watering can and carry that, many times, but fewer times. A family member had a huge balcony garden and never ended up with a tap.
If your starting soil is decent, and you don’t over plant, your need for fertilizer is not that high.
I think a sneaky micro worm farm is the primo solution personally. Landlord be damned.
the most i use for container gardening is the same tomato feed for every plant, tbh. you might be able to find a bottle within your budget, and since it’ll need to be diluted a lot, it should last a while.
if you want to really go above & beyond, plant-scraps-tea & crushed eggshells etc will top up their nutrients. if you’re ever boiling veggies etc in unsalted water, consider letting it cool down & watering your plants with that too.
overall, i try not to go overboard with feeding various nutrients, unless it looks like the plant needs a pick-me-up. it’s a lot easier to give them more nutrients when they’re too low, than to try to flush out nutrients if they’re getting too much of something.
FWIW, “salting” one’s cooking water does fuck-all beyond vibes. The saline levels required to quicken the time it takes to reach boiling, for instance, would make the food prepared in it chemically burn your mouth —with salt. So, bonus! 🤫
No, but seriously. It’s physics. 😝
I always learned that the point of salting water is to infuse salt into whatever you’re boiling. It super does not make water boil faster though.
I completely understand, and yet that too is folklore. 👨🏼🍳🤌🏼 Ah well, can’t blame the nanas for mostly getting it right, in their own ways. 🙇🏼♂️
If you have local free groups (Freecycle, Buy Nothing, Everything is Free) this isn’t even that weird an item for an In Search Of post. Someone in town will have something they’ll be happy to share.
20:1 diluted urine is my first idea, but I’ve never tested it on house plants (because the salt accumulates and the water does not run off it may be riskier). But it works great for garden plants, tomatoes, cucumbers.
PS: I guss you can shower the plants until water runs if you suspect salt accumulation…
This is good but will only provide nitrogen.
Have you tried bokashi? If anyone asks, you just say the container is your trash bin
Anyway, it’s not composting, so, per the landlords’ rules, it’s fine.
Everyone likes to claim that eggshells are some kind of a amazing fertilizer, but they aren’t. They are calcium carbonate, which is not really water soluble (in other words, not available to plants). You can improve solubility by baking and then pulverizing them to a powder. They are basic, though, so it’s possible to rise the pH too much for some plants. I wouldn’t just do it willy-nilly.
It would be awesome if balcony gardeners could just scrounge all the fertilizer their plants need, but it’s not easy. If you are on a budget, you can just buy a canister of miracle grow that will last indefinitely for $12.
