"Is that what a vampire eats?" That's
what my husband asked when I informed him that I felt like I needed
these 2 products.
The
main purpose of this entry is firstly to be able to add this to my
running tally of expenses. And secondly to give you a quick
explanation of what these are. I don't really have an adventure to
share about these except that I added them to my soil.
The bone meal I found at Walmart for $7 and the blood meal I purchased on amazon for $10 using gift cards I got from Swagbucks.
The reason I have the Swagbucks section under my tally in the column to the right is more for me than you. “Sooo, why don't you just keep track of this privately?” you ask... A couple reasons: one to promote the site and to maybe get a referral and also to show people another way to be frugal. Gardening isn't really something I can afford to invest in right now, but whatever money I make from Swagbucks, I am allowed to play with and this is how I choose to play with it.
The bone meal I found at Walmart for $7 and the blood meal I purchased on amazon for $10 using gift cards I got from Swagbucks.
The reason I have the Swagbucks section under my tally in the column to the right is more for me than you. “Sooo, why don't you just keep track of this privately?” you ask... A couple reasons: one to promote the site and to maybe get a referral and also to show people another way to be frugal. Gardening isn't really something I can afford to invest in right now, but whatever money I make from Swagbucks, I am allowed to play with and this is how I choose to play with it.
Now
on to the informational aspect of this entry... What the heck are
blood meal and bone meal? Well... as
you might have suspected, the answer is not going to leave you
feeling warm and fuzzy.
Blood meal is a dry, non-reactive powder made from blood, mostly from cattle slaughterhouses and it adds nitrogen to your soil. So, why do your plants need nitrogen? Nitrogen is a fertilizer. It's the fuel that makes plants grow it's foliage. If you have leaves on your plants that have turned yellow, chances are your soil is lacking sufficient nitrogen.
Bone meal is a mixture of ground animal bones and other slaughterhouse
waste and it adds phosphorous to your soil. So, why does you
soil need phosphorous? It also is a fertilizer that helps your
roots and flowers grow. And since the vegetables grow from the
flowers of a plant this helps your veggies grow. If your plant is
big and has lots of foliage, but just isn't producing any fruit then
it is lacking in phosphorus. This can also
help your plants survive winter if you have perennials such as
strawberries or asparagus, like I do.
These two products can be found in the Soil Amendments department of the Veggieland Store. Or, if you want to test your soil's nitrogen and phosphorous levels you can find an NPK test kit in the Tools & Equipment department. What is the K test for? Potassium, which is another important nutrient that your plants need to grow, but that's for another time. Perhaps I will delve into that when I buy one of these test kits. I have however purchased a pHtest kit for $6.50, which I also got using Swagbucks and can also be found in the Tools & Equipment department. So I added that to my tally as well.
These two products can be found in the Soil Amendments department of the Veggieland Store. Or, if you want to test your soil's nitrogen and phosphorous levels you can find an NPK test kit in the Tools & Equipment department. What is the K test for? Potassium, which is another important nutrient that your plants need to grow, but that's for another time. Perhaps I will delve into that when I buy one of these test kits. I have however purchased a pHtest kit for $6.50, which I also got using Swagbucks and can also be found in the Tools & Equipment department. So I added that to my tally as well.
