How to Make Plant Food From Kitchen Ingredients

Composting is the process of converting organic wastes, such as kitchen ingredients, into plant food. Because it happens naturally, all you have to do is not throw your kitchen scraps away, but save them in a compost pile for future use. After a few weeks of sitting in your yard, your natural kitchen ingredients will be a nutrient-rich material you can add to the soil to feed your plants.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bucket or wooden container (optional)
• Shovel or rake

1. Pick a spot. You can start your compost pile anywhere on the ground, or you can use a container. Some folks prefer to recycle old pallets or other pieces of wood to build a compost box. Others use a bucket with a lid or some other commercial container. You can even use a strong garbage bag. Just be sure your spot or container is large enough to handle the volume you intend to throw at it.

2. Pile your trash. Ideal kitchen ingredients to compost for use as plant food include fruit and vegetable scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds and eggshells. Avoid using meat, fat, milk or bones in your compost heap because all of these are likely to attract pests or animals.

3. Add lawn waste. The other key component of a compost pile is leaves, lawn clippings, saw dust, mulch and other yard waste. If it's organic, it can be added to your compost pile. Ideally, you will add a layer of lawn waste for each layer of kitchen waste and turn the pile weekly with a shovel or rake. Turning the pile allows oxygen to reach all parts of the pile and speeds up the breakdown process.

4. Spread or mix with soil. Once your compost has sat for a few weeks, it's ready to use, even if all the ingredients haven't completely broken down yet. Simply apply to the top of your lawn or to the soil around the base of your plants or trees. Water the area and work the compost into the soil. Compost can also be added to soil at the time of planting seeds or sprouts, but should not be used indoors.

Tips & Warnings

• Other ways to feed plants with simple household ingredients are primarily based around watering with beverages. Highly concentrated green tea, warm beer and cold coffee have all been suggested as an occasional substitute for plain water.
• While it is possible to compost without a container, the odor and potential pests cause most people to use a sealable container of some kind. Check the laws of your local area to see if there are restrictions on composting and whether a container is required.

References

• Introduction to Composting
• Composting
• How To Compost

Resources

• Homemade Plant Food