How to Make Fertilizer for Your Lawn

Homemade fertilizer is less expensive than buying commercial products. More importantly, fertilizer you make for your lawn can also be eco-friendly. It's often safer for you to handle as well. It's not difficult to make fertilizer for your yard since most of the ingredients are common products you probably have.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Coffee grounds
• Bucket
• Tarp or plastic
• Canvas or plastic garbage bag
• Cow, chicken, horse, duck or goat manure
• 5-gallon bucket
• Old broom handle
• Mulching lawn mower
• Fertilizer sprayer
• Beer
• Household ammonia
• Epsom salts
• Garden hose with sprayer

1. Spread dried, used coffee grounds on your lawn to add beneficial nitrogen and potassium to it. Simply collect the coffee grounds you've used in a container such as a small bucket. Lay a small tarp or a piece of plastic out in your garage or other area that's protected from the elements. Spread the coffee grounds out to dry. Then, place them in a canvas or plastic garbage bag. When you've collected a full bag, spread them evenly on your lawn.

2. Spray a homemade manure fertilizer on your lawn to add nutrients and green it up. Use cow, chicken, horse, duck or goat manure that's been aged for 6 months. Place a gallon of the manure into a 5-gallon bucket and then set the bucket in the sunshine. Fill the bucket until it's almost full. but allow room for stirring. Use an old broom handle to stir the manure tea occasionally. After 2 weeks, carefully pour off the liquid --- leave the sediment in the bucket and then put it in a sprayer and fertilize your lawn.

3. Cut your grass regularly with a mulching mower. The clippings will be chopped into small pieces that will hardly be noticeable. More importantly, they will decompose and provide your lawn with a natural, inexpensive fertilizer.

4. Mix together 2 cups water, a 12-ounce can of regular beer, 1 cup household ammonia and 1 cup of Epsom Salts. Fill your garden hose sprayer with the fertilizer and feed your lawn with this inexpensive mixture.

Tips & Warnings

• A healthy, fertilized lawn will be thick and green. When you apply fertilizer to your lawn, make sure you apply it evenly.
• You might want to test a small area of your lawn with a liquid fertilizer you make to ensure it's not too strong. Dilute with water if necessary. Just like with commercial fertilizers, don't fertilize your lawn if rain is in the forecast for the next couple days. Be careful not to inhale the fumes of household ammonia. It can take your breath away.

[blaizeh]

on 7/31/2009 Great information. lots of useful tips. check out similar type of articles that i've written.