Is it Safe? (putting food scraps directly in the garden)

OROZCONLECHE · Post by **OROZCONLECHE** » Fri May 18, 2012 8:45 pm

Is It safe to Add food scraps directly to the top of my soil where the plants are at? I have no compost bin or anything like that anymore, I do eat alot of bananas and was wondering if i can just throw the peel of em directly at the base of my plants?

cynthia_h · Post by **cynthia_h** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:03 pm

Food scraps per se, without being composted, can attract "critters," like rats, raccoons, skunks, etc. There are lots of these critters in the city, and if you want to know how many, just try leaving the food scraps out in the open....

It's really preferable to institute some sort of compost set-up so that the food scraps, paper, and other ingredients are separated from animal scavenging until ready for application to the plants.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

OROZCONLECHE · Post by **OROZCONLECHE** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:33 pm

Well I only add about 1 banana peel a week so its not much but will that cause too much nitrogen or something that will mess up the plant?

cynthia_h · Post by **cynthia_h** » Fri May 18, 2012 10:01 pm

I doubt that it will mess up the plant. My primary concern, if it's really only one banana per week (is that all the produce you eat per week?

), is that food scraps can attract critters. But maybe not one lonely banana peel....

Cynthia

Susan W · Post by **Susan W** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:50 am

You could go down the row, few inches at a time, put in banana peel etc, cover, then next dump go further down. Depending on how you are planting, if in rows perhaps work scraps inbetween? Covering with dirt good to help break it down and keep a few of the critters and feathered things away.

garudamon11 · Post by **garudamon11** » Sat May 19, 2012 10:05 am

Why don't you try bokashi? its excellent for urban gardeners

OROZCONLECHE · Post by **OROZCONLECHE** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:10 am

I guess I can cover the peels in dirt and bokashi? not sure what that is, I check online and its just bins well maybe i can make a small bin

rainbowgardener · Post by **rainbowgardener** » Sun May 20, 2012 10:25 am

bokashi is fermenting your compostable wastes, without air, with addition of special starter microbes.

You can just bury your scraps in the garden. There's no particular problem with that other than the critter issue. I have cats, raccoons, possums, woodchucks, squirrel, not to mention mice, shrews, voles etc, in my urban garden. The squirrels aren't too interested in kitchen scraps, but most of all the rest of them would be glad to dig my scraps back up for me and spread them around the yard.

To me there's also a kind of gross factor. You would want to mark where you buried them, so you don't accidentally dig them back up yourself while planting, weeding etc. Half composted stuff isn't pretty. And you need to keep finding new places to bury stuff, so the earlier ones can be left alone to break down.

For me with a smallish garden and a lot of kitchen wastes, it wouldn't be very workable. If your ratio is reversed, maybe so, but it still seems easier just to make a pile and throw stuff on your pile.

toxcrusadr · Post by **toxcrusadr** » Mon May 21, 2012 4:27 pm

I second the advice to dig a small trench a few inches deep (you can dig a couple feet at a time and set the soil aside). When you make an addition just cover it up. They call it trench composting and it's supposed to be quite good for plants.

OROZCONLECHE · Post by **OROZCONLECHE** » Tue May 22, 2012 6:55 am

I can do that, I actually made a trench behind my tomato plants for it to hold water, I can just throw small scraps right there =]