Making Fertilizer

The boys and I made some plant food today. I was surprised at how much they liked the process of making it, "feeding" it to the garden, etc.

This is what I did:

• All week I saved my egg shells and K Cups. I threw the eggshells in a ziplock baggie and stored them in the crisper drawer in the fridge. I just hid the K Cups from my husband...cannot reveal where in case he reads this entry.
• I put the eggshells on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on 250. I just dried them out a bit, browning them in some spots. They were in there about 10-15 minutes.
• Then I threw them into a blender, along with my coffee grounds and grinded it all up.

 I would make a mulch if I could but I don't have the space.
And it sounds weird but I hate throwing out eggshells and coffee grounds - seems like such a waste. Author Ruth Yaron suggested in her book, Super Baby Food, to save the water you make hard boiled eggs in and water your plants with it (the shells are full of minerals). I think its a great idea but I don't make hard boiled eggs. I probably could just throw the eggshells in the garden whole but I knew the boys would like to sprinkle this over the plants.

As for coffee grounds I have read several things about it: the coffee-eggshell combo sprinkled at the base of a plant can repel pests, sprinkle grounds before watering for a slow-release nitrogen, etc. It's my first year using coffee grounds in the garden so I will keep you posted on the progress.