How do you do it? One formula.
A large egg has 6 grams of protein. Egg protein is 15% nitrogen. Therefore each egg has about 1 gram of nitrogen.
Our soil test came back with the recommendation of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet. I think that's too low. I've seen fertilizer recommendations come in double or triple that. But this gives a range to work in.
There are about 450 grams per pound. So this gives you a rough idea of how many eggs we are talking about (lots!) One garden bed that is 20 feet long and 5 feet wide needs a minimum of 45 eggs. One hundred would be better. That's eight dozen eggs per 100 square feet, or about 1 egg per square foot. Convenient, no?
How I do it. First, if I am going to turn the soil or add compost, I do that ahead of time during a dry stretch. When I am ready to fertilize, I wait until the soil has had a chance to dry out a bit (not on a rainy day like today!) I make small, shallow furrows in the soil about 1" deep and 6" apart. I locate a blender and set up eggs and blender operation in the garden.
I put about 6 eggs in the blender and cover them with water. I blend them up thoroughly and add more water until I have a pourable liquid. Right after I turn the blender off, I move quickly to the garden bed and pour the blender contents along the furrow while the solids are still well suspended. The six egg mixture should be spread about 10-12 feet down a furrow, so be sparing.
After the egg mixture is all spread, I would wait for a few minutes so the water can drain out of the soil surface. then I would take a hoe and work egg mix into the furrows gently and then smooth the soil surface out. If the soil is dry, I water lightly then.
I think that the soil microbes will start to work on the nutrients right away. I would wait a few days before planting. That way, the microbes will do their thing and thecarbon:nitrogen ratio will have a chance to settle down a bit.
Our soil test came back with the recommendation of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet. I think that's too low. I've seen fertilizer recommendations come in double or triple that. But this gives a range to work in.
There are about 450 grams per pound. So this gives you a rough idea of how many eggs we are talking about (lots!) One garden bed that is 20 feet long and 5 feet wide needs a minimum of 45 eggs. One hundred would be better. That's eight dozen eggs per 100 square feet, or about 1 egg per square foot. Convenient, no?
How I do it. First, if I am going to turn the soil or add compost, I do that ahead of time during a dry stretch. When I am ready to fertilize, I wait until the soil has had a chance to dry out a bit (not on a rainy day like today!) I make small, shallow furrows in the soil about 1" deep and 6" apart. I locate a blender and set up eggs and blender operation in the garden.
side dressing garlic. First I make shallow furrows. |
I put about 6 eggs in the blender and cover them with water. I blend them up thoroughly and add more water until I have a pourable liquid. Right after I turn the blender off, I move quickly to the garden bed and pour the blender contents along the furrow while the solids are still well suspended. The six egg mixture should be spread about 10-12 feet down a furrow, so be sparing.
6 eggs in the blender |
After the egg mixture is all spread, I would wait for a few minutes so the water can drain out of the soil surface. then I would take a hoe and work egg mix into the furrows gently and then smooth the soil surface out. If the soil is dry, I water lightly then.
applying the egg mixture in the furrow |
I think that the soil microbes will start to work on the nutrients right away. I would wait a few days before planting. That way, the microbes will do their thing and thecarbon:nitrogen ratio will have a chance to settle down a bit.
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