Waste not want not

[wyld thang]

So I found a jar of powdered milk that had gotten shoved way back in the closet and forgotten. Opened it up, it smells nasty--not "rotten", just musty. So I made some cocoa, seeing if the smell would go away(no). So then I was going to throw it on the compost(if my chickens hadn't gone geriatric and kicked the bucket I would have mixed it in some rice for them). But then, thinking of my dear departed chickens, then going onto to eggs and how I save my eggshells to crush and work into the tomato beds, I decided to save the yucky powdered milk and work that into the holes for my tomato plants and see how they like it. I figure the milk has tinier bits of calcium than the eggshells so the little roots can suck it up better.

I hate powdered milk anyway.

The calcium/eggshells have really helps my tomatos not get the blossom end rot.

SO< anybody else have a Red Green repurposing story?

[unregistered29228]

Not as interesting as yours, but I put our coffee grounds out on the blueberries.

[vegascowgirl]

I usually crush up the eggs and feed them back to the chickens. Much cheaper than buying bags of crushed oyster shell. Though I do buy a bag about once a year, using crushed egg shell makes the oyster last a year or more.

[wyld thang]

do you think raspberries would like coffee grounds too?

Spoiled dry milk is a good fertilizer. Nice source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium.

The last time I had some begin to turn colors on me I mixed it into my hen feed. It wasn't inedible, but had begun to yellow and was unattractive to consume.

.....Alan.

[3ravens]

Originally Posted by rose2005

I never thought to do that. Can I ask why you do?

I'm not Mom_of_four, but I know the answer! Coffee grounds are acidic, and blueberries do best in acidic ground.

[unregistered29228]

Yes, that's what the guy at the nursery told me...they like acidic soil. Thanks, 3ravens!

[Mike in Ohio]

Originally Posted by 3ravens

I'm not Mom_of_four, but I know the answer! Coffee grounds are acidic, and blueberries do best in acidic ground.

USed coffee grounds are not acidic. The acids in coffee are water soluble and leach out when you brew the coffee.

Citation: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/s...354019975.html

Mike

[pamda]

We feed coffee grounds,tea bags and carrot tops to the worm farm. I pound egg shells to a pulp and feed them to the chickens along with old milk and veggie peels and tops. I also use grounds(from starbucks and free) and soaked egg shells in the garden. wow,until I wrote all that I did not know I used so much of what is concididered trash. Cool!!!

[diane]

Interesting Mike. I have read in several different gardening magazines that the grounds would help the acidity of the soil around blueberries, one being Organic Gardening. In my own garden I have been doing it for many years and it appeared to have really helped. Another one of my habits bites the dust.

[stormaq]

Originally Posted by vegascowgirl

I usually crush up the eggs and feed them back to the chickens. Much cheaper than buying bags of crushed oyster shell. Though I do buy a bag about once a year, using crushed egg shell makes the oyster last a year or more.

Do you toast the egg shells before you give them to the chickens? I can remember my Mom telling me thats what I should do, but I don't remember why.

[wyld thang]

I didn't toast the eggshells for the chickens, just made sure they were dried out and crushed up good.

THat's interesting about the acid being gone from coffee grounds--I think this year I'll save them up and mix them with some of my foresty duffy soil to try it as potting mix. It seems like the coffee grounds would help fluff up the soil. I will also mix in some lichen and moss. I also peel off sheets of moss from trees and use it for mulch in my potted stuff and in the garden--through it works better in stuff like the pots that you water frequently--in the garden it dries up more and disintegrates.

Lichen has a lot of nitrogen.

Maybe I'll go rake up some algae from my pond and try that as fertilizer. I've been experimenting with using foraged stuff as composty/fertilizery stuff in the garden.

Oak leaves have too much tannin and will leach and stunt stuff underneath--which may be a good thing.

[Mike in Ohio]

Originally Posted by diane

Interesting Mike. I have read in several different gardening magazines that the grounds would help the acidity of the soil around blueberries, one being Organic Gardening. In my own garden I have been doing it for many years and it appeared to have really helped. Another one of my habits bites the dust.

Don't get me wrong, I love composting coffee but it isn't for the acidity. I get it in 5 gallon buckets from work cafeteria.

Mike

[vegascowgirl]

Originally Posted by stormaq

Do you toast the egg shells before you give them to the chickens? I can remember my Mom telling me thats what I should do, but I don't remember why.

No, I just crush them real well. I've heard of people toasting them as well, but not sure why either. I'm thinking it's mostly to kill any bacteria that might be on them.

[unregistered29228]

I keep a container on my kitchen counter of all the eggshells we use - 2-3 dozen a week. When I get a good pile, I cook them for two minutes in the microwave to dry them out and make them easier to crush. Then I use a mortar and pestle to grind them into small bits. I don't want my chickens connecting the dots between the shells and the eggs. I hardly ever have to supplement with oyster shell, since almost all my eggs have nice hard shells. Once in a while I have one broken in the nest with a soft shell.

My father toasts his in his toaster oven for the same reason. I guess it doesn't matter whether or not you cook them.

I don't toast mine (on purpose anyway), but I do throw shells into a pan that I keep in the oven when it's not in use so the leftover heat can dry them out. When the pan is full I dump them into a can then crush them up. We sell eggs so I still have to buy oyster shell, but not as much as I would if we didn't save our egg shells.

.....Alan.

[casusbelli]

speaking o' which-
You know those 'moth-eaten' seashells on the shore, the older ones full of tiny channels so much that they look like a sieve or like modern art? Well, I save these whenever I get to the beach, bring them home and soak the salt out of them. Then I like to use them in the bottom of pots to cover the hole. Perfect job for them - water out, soil kept in. I've also put them under bulbs I plant as a local calcium source - roots grow right into and thru them.
BTW, what's that Wyld about oak leaves leaching tannins and stunting? I have 2 garbage pails full of shredded oak leaves that I was going to mulch my tomatos with. Am I asking for failure???
s

[wyld thang]

casus--the tannin content probably varies with oak species, but I know our oaks (garry oak) have high tannin leaves which do a great job of killing anything underneath them--the leaves are very leathery and tough. So I use maple leaves instead, which are great!

But a "killing" mulch has its virtues too...

Now I've used pine needles which seem to have something in them that eventually thins out/discourages the little weed seedlings even with a thinner cover, but does not seem to harm plants or bulbs. It worked real nice with lettuce, the slugs didn't seem to enjoy crawling over the pine needles either and stay away from the lettuce.

I've read that wood chips "sterilize" the soil by sucking the nitrogen out while they decompose. So that stuff would be great for paths.

That seashell trick sounds great!

Hmmm, Casus, I know tannins will leach out if leaves/acorns/etc soak in water--it will be tea colored. Maybe you could soak some leaves and see how colored the water gets? If it looks like tea use the oak leaves as assasins. I also had to keep the oak leaves out of the chicken water for that reason.

[diane]

I use pine needles around my strawberries and blueberries and they really do keep the weeds out. I have been saving paper feed sacks and newspapers all winter and will use them as mulch and under the woodchips I talked the electric company tree trimmers into dumping for me in my rows paths. I save toilet paper roll thingys to start early sweet corn inside and then set it out. The cardboard gives them some protection in the event of a late frost.