These 2 Everyday Ingredients Make A Powerful Soil Fertilizer For Your Garden

Plants need certain nutrients to grow, which is why we use fertilizer to supplement the soil in our gardens. Often, however, you don't have to spend much — or even anything — to nourish the environment. After all, farmers have been fertilizing plants for thousands of years, using things they already had on hand, like manure. We can do the same today, sustainably making use out of odds and ends that would otherwise go to waste. For example, using leftover honey as a fertilizer is easy and effective just like tossing overripe bananas into your garden. But, we've got another impactful DIY fertilizer that's eco-friendly, chemical-free, and uses just two ingredients: tea and oats.

If this sounds like the makings of a tasty breakfast, you're not alone — plants will happily gobble this "meal" right up, too. Oats boast some of the biggest nutritional essentials for plants: phosphorous, nitrogen, and potassium as well as zinc, calcium, magnesium, and copper. Oats even have fiber that encourages healthy bacteria in soil that plants can benefit from. Tea leaves, too, contain phosphorous, nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Combine the two and you've got a free, powerful fertilizer packed with nutrients that's safe for the environment and your pets. The oats are even believed to keep pests away!

Both oats and tea leaves (black, green, or herbal) can be sprinkled dry onto soil as a sort of mulch or even tossed into soil pockets before planting produce or flowers. You can also liquefy the ingredients. Simply make an actual tea to pour onto soil. Otherwise, steep oats in water and strain, before pouring the mixture around your plants. 

To double up on the rich fertilizing qualities of tea and oats, combine the two ingredients together. According to a viral TikTok tip, all you need to do is add a tablespoon of dry oats and the leaves from a tea bag into a jar and pour in two cups of boiling water. Once the mixture has cooled, strain out the solids and drizzle the liquid over your soil. You can also add it to a spray bottle to spritz all over your garden. 

It's a good idea to treats plants with the fertilizer every few weeks. Remember, though, that tea and oats work better for some plants than others. For example, those that prefer nitrogen-rich soil like tomatoes, lettuce, or even geraniums are great candidates for the DIY fertilizer. More fragile flowering plants like carnations and daisies, however, won't thrive. So, be sure to do a bit of research or ask a pro at your local nursery. In any case, leftover tea remains useful for gardening, as you can actually grow seeds in used tea bags.