Dig in a crop to fertilize your soil: Plants which nourish the soil are comfrey, clover, chicory, lupins, buckwheat, lettuce, mustard, turnips, radishes and alfalfa or lucerne. Grow any of these plants, then dig them into your soil to fertilize it and fix it with nitrogen. Lupins and clover are extremely good for bringing nitrogen to the soil. Lawn clippings, although they are good fibrous matter for the soil, especially useful for breaking down clay soils, actually draw nitrogen from the soil as they decompose. If you are using lawn clippings or seaweed, you can help the nitrogen content of the soil by putting diluted urine over this area of the garden. Urine is especially high in nitrogen, and this makes it a good supplement to use for nitrogen-hungry seaweed, and lawn clippings. All citrus trees thrive on a weekly dose of diluted urine. Dilute the urine about one part to eight of water.
Digging in seaweed picked up from the beach is also a good way to fertilize your soil. This is the best way to bring Iodine and other important minerals into your soil. Seaweed is not such a good supplier of nitrogen, so remember the tip for using diluted urine if you are digging in seaweed. Your plants will have a higher content of Iodine and all other minerals if you replenish the soil occasionally with seaweed nutrients. Just make sure not to let the seaweed touch the plants if you are laying it on the garden. You can make up a liquid seaweed by soaking a bunch of seaweed in a bucket for 2 or 3 weeks. Dilute the seaweed solution with about 8 times the amount of water, and spray around your plants. This seaweed solution helps to bring the worms, as well as bringing nutrients directly to the plants in the garden. Seaweed used this way is also a deterrent to troublesome insects. It is a safe way to help control the insects you do not want around, as it does not kill bees and butterflies, which derris dust and pyrethrum insecticides do.
Comfrey is also excellent: This miracle herb brings silica and other nutrients which benefit the growth of plants. If you are using Comfrey, then you would pick the leaves from another part of the garden to dig into your vegetable or flower garden plot. Comfrey roots are very tenacious, so you would not grow a crop of Comfrey all over your vegetable garden, but instead, you would use some of the leaves from the plant which grows in the spot which you have allocated for it. Alternatively, you can make a Comfrey liquid fertilizer by picking some Comfrey leaves, and soaking them in water for 2 or 3 weeks. Dilute this liquid to put around your plants, or to spray on the plants. This liquid fertilizer helps to bring the worms, and it is a good way to distribute the Comfrey silica and other nutrients throughout the garden. Silica is an important mineral, because it helps all living things, including plants, to process other minerals and vitamins.
How To Grow Organic Food: Any Green Crop can be grown as a natural green manure. Let your spare seeds of carrots, lettuce, silver beet, or turnips, clover and alfala, grow around your garden. When they are about half grown, you can dig them into the soil. The plant leaf material, once dug into the soil, will attract the worms. The worms eat the leaf material, and carry it about while they digest it. As they work through the soil, they aerate it, which is also beneficial for the growth of plants. Once the leaves have been digested, they are turned into a rich, organic fertilizer which benefits the soil.
By using compost, or these natural green manures and seaweed solutions, and avoiding the use of chemicals, your organic garden will flourish. Your vegetables will be more healthy with a higher vitamin and mineral content. Gardening with compost, seaweeds, and natural green manures makes your plants more resiliant to insects. Using natural organic fertilizers helps to discourage insects at the same time as they increase the nutritive value of the vegetables.