Okay, so I’ve been trying to up my gardening game, and I keep hearing about alfalfa meal as a fertilizer. I decided to give it a shot, and I’m going to walk you through what I did.
Getting Started
First, I needed to actually get my hands on some alfalfa meal. I went to my local garden center – you know, the one down on Elm Street, they always have weird stuff. Sure enough, they had big bags of it. It looked kinda like… I don’t know… ground-up hay? It smelled pretty earthy, too.
Figuring Out How Much to Use
Now, I’m no expert, so I did what anyone would do: I messed around on my phone for some answers. Everything I saw said to be careful not to overdo it. Too much of a good thing, right? It seemed like a handful or two per plant was the general idea, depending on the size of the plant, obviously. I decided to start small – better safe than sorry!
Applying the Alfalfa Meal
I grabbed a small trowel and my bag of alfalfa meal. For my smaller tomato plants, I sprinkled about a handful around the base of each plant. For the bigger, more established ones, I used maybe two handfuls. The key, I figured, was to keep it away from the actual stem. I didn’t want to burn the poor things.
- Sprinkled alfalfa meal around the base of each plant.
- Used one handful for smaller plants.
- Used two handfuls for larger plants.
- Kept the meal away from the stems.
Mixing it In
This part felt important. I used my trowel to gently work the alfalfa meal into the top inch or two of soil. I didn’t want it just sitting on top. I wanted it to get in there and do its thing! It was pretty easy to do, the soil was nice and loose. I gave each one area a good scratch.
Watering it Down
After I mixed in the meal, I gave everything a good watering. I figured this would help the alfalfa meal break down and start releasing all those good nutrients into the soil. Make sure your soil is well-drained, you do not want standing water.
Waiting and Watching
Now comes the hard part: patience! It’s only been a few weeks, so I can’t say for sure if it’s a miracle worker, but my plants do seem to be pretty happy. They’re growing nicely, and the leaves look good and green. I’ll keep an eye on things and maybe add a little more alfalfa meal in another month or so.
So, that’s my alfalfa meal experiment so far. It wasn’t rocket science, and I’m definitely still learning, but it seems to be going well. If you’re thinking about trying it, I’d say go for it! Just remember to start slow and see how your plants respond.
