No more Miracle Grow!

If this were AA, I would be admitting to having a problem. Thankfully, I dont have that problem!!! However, I use Miracle Grow on everything. What recommendations can I solicite for replacing that "addiction" with organic only?? I have had great success the other way but I want to do it healthier. Please dump your thoughts on me!!

Hello 247! I quit using Miracle Grow 3 years ago and started using compost which I make in my back yard. I have had great success without any chemical 'sposed-to-grow stuff. Infact, I have a two barrel compost bin which cost me big bucks and I have a "pile" on one side of our polebarn. It works better than the drums.
This past fall, I started dumping my veggies into the plots I will plant this year. Nature is taking care of my "stuff". All I need do is till it into the soil before I plant.
Hopefully this can help your "addiction" :)

Have you tried messenger? We have co-ops for it and sometimes people sell it in the classifieds

I never added anything really cept messenger till last yr when i got a case of Peters (snickers)from hortmark for
10.00 so of course i had to use it!!

I have added a grass fertilizer in early spring to the beds-a respected daylily grower told me to use it!!
Its highest in Nitrogen!

Oh and i should got to AA! margarita'z luv me!!!

rofling Dori!! ^_^

Are you saying that they quit making it? Oh Lord, where is the support group, I'm hyperventelating already! I love the stuff.

they still make it jyl

Oh don't scare me like that. My gardens need a miracle!

nooo, there great with your green thumbs...^_^ but a little help never hurts either! I picked up some messenger from a co-op, haven't used it before...so we'll see how it works!! I'm read to play in the dirt..

All,o
I feed lots of new, young plants but do not feed ones i do not want to outgrow their location or
size! I also started eating allot of fish and put all the skin in my compost pile. I was able to get a case of microrysae and put a tub on a fresh compost pile. I think my compost is fabulous.
I have used everything and i think they all work. It is ease of use and many can't use a compost pile..I am lucky I can have one where I live! But my neighbor would love for me to get rid of it. For him it is an eyesore.
Julie

All great ideas. Thank you!

This year I am trying a barrel of steer manure kept soaking in ton of water
and watering my roses and stuff with that.

I will also use Osmocoat and fish fertilizer, I use miracle grow in the house.
garden is just too big for little batches of miracle grow now. I need big
guns.

We also compost all winter long and have a few barrefuls for the spring
season. I dump it in for the veg beds, and some of the pernn beds too.
Sheri

Hey Wiggley!!
I know what you mean about Miracle grow.. It seems hard to get the water and the miracle grow
together in a 'delivery' system that can do lots of fertilizing. I only do about 1/2 my 3/4 acres.
It is all i can mange. I do try to use all the compost i can get. I have two 10x8' compost piles I work until usable. I had a bin left from last year so i am ready this spring.!!
I am going to get some chicken poop too!!
I got a truck load of rabbit poo last year. i went to a rabbit rescue and they told me to come get as much as i wanted. This year chickens.
AH to smell the smell of organic gardening!!
Happy Spring ALL!

How exactly does a person come by a barrell of steer manure and keep his spouse and neighbors happy?

ha ha thats a good one!

Would someone just come over and answer all of my questions in person please?!?!?!...lol...

If they did you'd just think of two more to replace each one that they answered! LOL Far too much out there to learn in a year or two. Perhaps in a couple of lifetimes... At the risk of complicating things further, have you looked on the concrete forum yet? So many wonderful things to make for your garden! : )

Mary Ellen

I have looked there! I didnt know you could do so many things w/ concrete and hypertufa! I have more time than money and no money :) They were making concrete globes out of excersise balls. My wife wouldnt think that is the best way to use that though. Any other places I should look for that I might be missing?

I've been unemployed for the past two years so I definitely have more time than money too. I liked the cement projects because a bag on cement mix is inexpensive and we have plenty of rocks around here to mix with it to make stepping stones or a birdbath or whatever we dream up. I really like the idea of using the rocks that come from our own land.
Do you or your wife can or freeze? Are you planning on growing your own vegetables? There is so much information here it can be a bit overwhelming at first. It took me awhile to pick a couple of areas to focus on. The first year that we moved out here (from the suburbs) I bought a six pack of every tomato type I could find. I had nearly 100 tomato plants! The neighbors got a chuckle out of the city girl tomato farmer, but they were kind enough to take some off of my hands. : ) One neighbor brought me some beautiful raspberries and my jam making began!
Now I'm concentrating on a look somewhere between a woodland & country garden. It's a learn as you go process, don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen which suburbs (area) did you move away from?

Hi detho. We moved from the Sterling Heights area (north of Detroit) ten years ago. My youngest (12 year old daughter) considers herself a country girl but I fear I will always remain a displaced city girl trying to learn the ways of country life. LOL I wish now that we had moved when I was a bit younger and had more energy. Did you move out from the suburbs too?

Mary Ellen

LOL LOL

Miaracle Grow is still fine for potted plants and what it was made for.
I mainly use compost made from my chicken and duck manure mixed with pine shavings (their bedding) I just throw it in a big pile and let it decompose. Its chock full of earth worms.
Usually in June I put Rosetone on my roses but thats about it cuz I've gotten incredibly lazy/busy at this stage of my life.
I have used hundreds of fertilizers, both chemicals (i.e. Miracle Grow, Osmocote etc) and organic and I can't say that any of them work better than the other. I think its basically too labor intensive to bother with burying banana peels, fish guts and making compost tea...not to mention stinky. Just heap on the compost a couple time a years and your plants will be happy. Buy it by the pick up truck load from landscapers and save money.

Cottage Rose,

I'm glad you hear you like using your chicken poo mixed with pine shavings for compost. I am getting chickens for the first time soon. The day old chicks arrive on April 19th. I have two good sized Rubbermaid compost bins I put right outside the barn that I plan to put my chicken coop cleanings into. How long do you wait before you put it on the garden? One year or in the fall of the same year?

I really like using Messenger. It's not exactly a fertilizer. It's more of a hormone but wow what a difference it makes in the plants. I've also used Osmocote because I'm lazy too. I put it down every 90 days. I like to put shredded leaves around everything in the fall. It's the best thing to feed the soil which in turn feeds the plants. :) We have to look to free renewable sources of ferilizers because the cost of them is going up terrible. I bought some Scotts turf builder at Walmart. I like to put it on the lawn just around the house. It was almost $60!! OMG, I was in sticker shock. I've read the farmers are complaining about the high rise in their fertilizers too so look for the price of food to reflect that.

Brenda

Brenda, all my fertilizer went up sky rocket high last year in the spring...I get it at the grain elevator in washington...I'm hoping they didn't increase it again this year...there bird seed is a great price though :)

Loon not sure...i just have a constant pile of it breaking down.
Just use it when its breaks down and turns into compost.
I don't think it takes a year though.

Does everyone on here put all your kitchen waste in your compost pile as well? I have done some reading on it and see varying ideas on what is good and what is bad. Anybody know if tea bags are ok? We go through lots of eggs and fruit so we get our share of the "stuff" in there...

I don't do kitchen scraps but most do I think. We live rural and I don't want to attract any more rats than there are already out there in the woods. I just use leaves and grass mostly and now I'll be able to add chicken poop and pine shavings after we get our chickens. I used to use egg shells smashed up around my hostas in the spring to get rid of slugs. They don't like crawling over those sharp shells. I'm sure our chickens will get leftover kitchen scraps like lettuce, celery tops etc. I know you can't add grease or meat scraps to your compost pile. Not sure about teabags. I used to put coffee grounds around my plants that like acid.

I've been doing the kitchen composting for 2 years now and I do put the tea bags in. I'm not sure if you are supposed to or not, but so far I haven't noticed any bad effects from it and we drink a lot of tea. I figured if coffee grounds are good, tea must be also, right? I've read that all is good as long as it's organic.
There is a beautiful stainless steel compost bucket that I'm wanting for Mother's day. It has a filter built into the lid. I'm tired of the empty ice cream bucket that I've been using. LOL I must say though, that it has served me well. Just the right size for little helpers to go and dump it. : )

Mary Ellen