ZERO Cost Fertilizer: This Green Liquid Will Make Your Garden EXPLODE!

In your garden, you already have everything you need to make a powerful, natural liquid fertilizer. You don’t need to spend a lot of money or go looking for fancy materials. Just look around your garden and kitchen, and you’ll find the perfect ingredients to feed your plants and help them grow healthy and strong. The very first step is to find the base material for your fertilizer. This can be almost anything green and full of life. You can use weeds that you pull out from your garden, fallen leaves that are lying around, leftover kitchen waste like vegetable peels and fruit scraps, or even cover crops that you have planted. For this recipe, we’re using cover crop because it's growing all over our garden and we have more than we need. Cover crops are great because they are soft, nutrient-rich, and decompose easily, releasing all their goodness into the liquid.
Once you’ve collected your base material, it's time for step two. Get yourself a large bucket, ideally something with a lid, but it doesn’t have to be fancy. Chop up your cover crops or whatever green material you’re using into small pieces. This helps the breakdown process happen faster and more evenly. The smaller the pieces, the quicker the nutrients will release into the water. After chopping everything, put all of it into the bucket. If you can also pull out the roots of the plants, include them too. These roots carry powerful soil microbes that are super beneficial for plant health. Good microbes help protect your plants from diseases, make it easier for them to take up nutrients, and improve the overall soil environment. Including the roots means your fertilizer won’t just feed your plants, it’ll also help build a healthier soil system.
Now we’re ready for step three. To boost the microbial life and nutrient content of your fertilizer, add a few handfuls of compost into the bucket. If you don’t have compost, you can also use well-rotted manure or worm castings. These materials are full of beneficial microbes, nutrients, and organic matter that will break down with the green material and make your liquid fertilizer much more powerful. Compost also speeds up the fermentation process, which is important when you're trying to make a quick, homemade fertilizer. After you’ve added the compost, it's time to fill the bucket with water. The best kind of water to use is rainwater, but if you don’t have that, then just make sure you use non-chlorinated water. Chlorine can harm the beneficial microbes, and we don’t want that. So, fill the bucket all the way up with clean, safe water.
Once the bucket is full, take a stick or your hand and give everything a good mix. You want all the materials to be soaked and moving freely in the water. After mixing, loosely cover the bucket with a cloth or a lid. Don’t close it too tightly. This mixture needs to breathe, and gases will build up during fermentation. If you close it too tightly, pressure can build and slow down the process or even cause problems. Keeping it loosely covered protects the mixture from flies and other insects while still allowing air to come in and out. Now, this is where the magic happens. You need to wait at least 10 days for the mixture to ferment. The longer you wait, the better it gets. If you can wait 15 days, that’s even better. If you can wait a whole month, you’ll have a super potent, rich, and dark fertilizer full of nutrients and beneficial microbes. Just make sure to stir it every few days if you can. This helps with oxygen flow and keeps the decomposition process going smoothly.
After the fermentation period is over, your fertilizer is ready to use. But it’s very strong, so don’t pour it directly onto your plants. You need to dilute it. The right ratio is one part liquid fertilizer to ten parts clean water. For example, if you take one cup of your homemade liquid, you should mix it with ten cups of water before using it on your plants. This way, your plants get all the benefits without the risk of burning or stressing them. Pour this diluted mixture directly onto the soil around your plants or use it as a foliar spray on the leaves. It works both ways, and your plants will thank you for it.
You don’t have to use it all at once. After you filter the liquid out, you can store it in containers. Keep them in a cool, shaded place with the lid slightly open to let the gas escape. You can use this fertilizer whenever your plants need a boost, especially during flowering or fruiting stages. It will help them grow faster, stay green, and produce more vegetables and fruits.

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