Down To Earth
By Gerlind Dubey (05/01/2009)

Go Bananas Over Coffee Grounds
Breakfast Anyone?

Before moving to the country I lived in an area where composting wasn’t practical. However this didn’t stop me from saving coffee grounds, egg shells and banana peels; a tried and true trio that lays claim to organic fortification for poor soil.

Coffee grounds… The nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium analysis (courtesy of Starbucks,) of coffee grounds is only 2/0.06/0.6 and the carbon/nitrogen ratio is 24. This is just slightly better than well-balanced compost and that’s why coffee grounds are a good amendment for soils. Plants like Azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas, roses, rhododendrons, and blueberries respond well when grounds are mixed in with their soil.

Eggshells also benefit the garden so doesn’t let them go to waste instead use them to . An eggshell is approximately 95% calcium carbonate, the active ingredient in garden/agricultural lime. As well as providing a source of calcium for plants, calcium carbonate will also increase the pH of acidic soil making it more conducive to growing certain vegetables such as cabbages or beans. Do you grow tomatoes? An addition of extra calcium to their soil/compost will help prevent blossom end rot. The trick is too let the shells dry out and then grind eggshell into powder the consistency of salt, the results are now ready to work into soil. If you want to prevent cabbage-white butterflies laying their eggs on any of your brassica-family vegetables (cabbage, cauliflowers etc), then you can also use eggshells as well. No crushing this time, just wash them out well and make two complete pieces out of every halved eggshell. Scatter these white-side up through your vegetables soil. Spotting the white shells, the arriving butterflies think another cabbage butterfly is there already, so they decide not to lay their eggs, preferring instead a less competitive patch. No egg laid means no hungry caterpillars to ravage your crop. Crushed sharp edged shells help deter pest such as slugs, snails and cutworm. Spread crushed sharp edged shells in a circle around susceptible plants. As pests begin their crawl towards your juicy plant, their underbellies will firstly be cut by the sharp shells, continuing further they will begin to dehydrate, allowing garden birds to pick them off.
When you hard boil eggs save the water you boil your eggs in will acquire some of their shells calcium and other helpful minerals. Once this water has cooled it can quite easily be used as a liquid feed for your houseplants.

Don’t throw over ripe bananas or banana peels away, give them to your roses. Organic gardeners know that roses love bananas almost as much as monkeys do. The bananas are a natural source of potassium that help roses to thrive. Even roses that might be puny and struggling benefit from a banana snack. The best thing is that you don’t have to throw the peels in the compost heap; you can feed them to your roses in several different ways; add a banana or two when planting a rose bush. Dig a hole that is larger than the root ball. Place a least one whole banana in the hole, then plant the rose as you normally would. Bury a chopped up old banana or peels next to rose bush. Dig down about 4 inches; the depth is not for the rose, as much as it is about trying to bury the fruit deep enough to discourage banana-loving critters--like dogs, chipmunks or squirrels--from digging up your rose bush. Or you can make a banana-peel liqueur. Cut up peels of a banana into a jar and cover the peels with warm water. Put the lid back on the jar and leave for 2 weeks. The peels will ferment. Strain and pour liquid into a spray jar Spray the rose bushes with this liquid. Or simply pour fermented liquid, peels and all around bush and work into the soil

Cattaraugus County
Free Giveaway Day…
RAIN or SHINE! Saturday May 16, 2009 …Spruce up your garden or flower beds with free Compost & Mulch and Woodchips. There will be a loader on site to fill your truck, trailer, or container with the material of your choice! Available at Five Points Transfer Station, Mansfield, 6909 Toad Hollow Road, Town of Mansfield.(Rte14) & Farwell Compost Site, 1430 Farwell Road, Town of Ischua …For further information, please contact: Cornell Cooperative Extension: Wendy Sanfilippo, 664-9502 ext. 221 or 938-2487Cattaraugus County DPW: Linda McAndrew, 938-2486 Home Composting is a great way to recycle!!!

GET DOWN AND DIRTY