When growing a herb garden for your budgies can you put fertilizer (liquid etc.) onto your plants and it still be safe for your budgies to eat the plant? Also how do you keep pests away from the herbs without using pesticides?

I use seasol...a seaweed fertiliser.

I dont fertilize my herbs. Fill a milk bottle with some orange juice, washing up detergant, vegimite and tooth paste. Cut holes in the milk bottle and hang it up on a stick near your garden. Pests are attracted to this and when they go in they sink to the bottom and cannot get out because it is so sticky. the more pests you get in their means the more pests are attracted to it, because of the smell.

that's a great tip for keeping bugs away pearce!

 

I agree with kaz, that using a sea weed solution is great for firtilising the garden. Never use any chemical based ones or chicken poo etc when feeding the veggies to the birds

Edited January 4, 200916 yr by **Liv**

You can put marigolds between the herbs, they will keep away some pests. Also you can spray vegimite on the herbs with a spray bottle, the smell keeps away pests also.

 

Marigolds will keep away aphids

Peppermint plants will also keep away ants, cabbage moths and a few other pests.

garlic is good for repelling spider mites.

Edited January 4, 200916 yr by pearce

Basil will keep away bad soil nematodes that attack the tomato roots which is why it is great for companion planting :question: I put one of the pet safe snail baits on the ground due to a serious snail problem here and use seasol fertiliser but nothing else. If you have a problem with caterpillars there is a great product called Di-pill which is organic and is bacteria based, it affects the caterpillars but is safe for consumption for animals/humans practically straight away Also as they are herbs (and you therefore don't need insect pollinators as you are only consuming the leaves generally) you can cover them with some flywire, I like those little pop up lids you get for covering your food bowls at picnics perfect size to cover the average herb or a single broccoli/cauli :laughter:

Quote Kaz: I use seasol...a seaweed fertiliser.

 

Seasol is a tonic a fertilizer. I have used it for years when ever planting new plants or tansplanting plants. It contains no nitrogen or phosphorous. Therefore is not considered a complete fertiliser

 

Quote **Liv**: I agree with kaz, that using a sea weed solution is great for firtilising the garden. Never use any chemical based ones or chicken poo etc when feeding the veggies to the birds

 

I disagree with no using chemical based fertilisers as I have used them all my gardening life. Fertilisers are chemical or organic based. Ultimately they all break down into their respective molecules. Everything you buy in the shops for your birds has more then likely had a chemical on it while it was growing. Wash it before feeding to your birds. Chicken Poo is great stuff. Properly composted it is a fantastic organic fertiliser. High in nitrogen so perfect for leafy veggies such as spinch and silverbeet.

Quote melbournebudgies: If you have a problem with caterpillars there is a great product called Di-pill which is organic and is bacteria based, it affects the caterpillars but is safe for consumption for animals/humans practically straight away

 

Catapillers most likely the Cabbage White. Easy cure. Collect the catapillers and crush them, add water and strain add a little bit of detergent and spray on garden. Cabbage White deposit a pheromone whilst laying eggs to deter other Cabbage Whites from laying eggs on same plant.

 

Someone mentioned Marigolds. They exude a chemical from their roots which repel nemotodes as does sugar.

 

Actually RIP Seasol is simply one product made by Earthcare. I use two of their products, basic Seasol which is the tonic you speak of and also Seasol Power feed which is an organic based fertisiler.

 

I dig my own home made organic compost into my vegie garden and that gives a big boost, I add the droppings from the rabbit to it before composting however I am less keen on using uncomposted manure on garden beds which hold low growing plants like herbs, no worries for things that sit higher up from the ground though.

Quote Kaz: I use seasol...a seaweed fertiliser.

 

Seasol is a tonic a fertilizer. I have used it for years when ever planting new plants or tansplanting plants. It contains no nitrogen or phosphorous. Therefore is not considered a complete fertiliser

 

Quote **Liv**: I agree with kaz, that using a sea weed solution is great for firtilising the garden. Never use any chemical based ones or chicken poo etc when feeding the veggies to the birds

 

I disagree with no using chemical based fertilisers as I have used them all my gardening life. Fertilisers are chemical or organic based. Ultimately they all break down into their respective molecules. Everything you buy in the shops for your birds has more then likely had a chemical on it while it was growing. Wash it before feeding to your birds. Chicken Poo is great stuff. Properly composted it is a fantastic organic fertiliser. High in nitrogen so perfect for leafy veggies such as spinch and silverbeet.

Quote melbournebudgies: If you have a problem with caterpillars there is a great product called Di-pill which is organic and is bacteria based, it affects the caterpillars but is safe for consumption for animals/humans practically straight away

 

Catapillers most likely the Cabbage White. Easy cure. Collect the catapillers and crush them, add water and strain add a little bit of detergent and spray on garden. Cabbage White deposit a pheromone whilst laying eggs to deter other Cabbage Whites from laying eggs on same plant.

 

Someone mentioned Marigolds. They exude a chemical from their roots which repel nemotodes as does sugar.

 

 

I use no chemicals in my garden other than dolomite and gypsum rarely, and light-handedly and my garden is productive and healthy. I bring in horse and chicken manure and do much composting. I use seaweed based products. I have just been recommended to visit this site http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/index.html for organic fertilisers. I did pick up a trick last year, having read that instead of spreading your compost, you leave the heap to collapse, and then plant directly into it. This year the greens planted in those sites are magnificent and requiring very little water. I like permaculture principles but am not dogmatic about it. The litter which comes out of the aviaries goes into the compost so it's a cyclic thing as the birds eat the millet heads, endive etc which grow in the compost.This has never caused a problem despite doom-sayers telling me I will cycle disease to my birds (which I guess might happen if my birds were diseased). I'd be interested to know what happens with the shell grit etc which passes through the gut of the bird when it hits the compost and garden. Also have a concern with Ivermec-type products when the faeces of treated birds becomes compost - does it kill garden worms after having travelled through birds' guts? (and yes, I know this post has drifted way off-topic) J.

I also plan to grow this way in the future Jaz with each new compost heap becoming a vegie patch until I have atleast ten which I can cycle through as they are emptied of their produce, seems a really smart way to do it to me.

 

I think the message is that as long as you provide some sort of fertiliser whether that be in an organic for or inorganic form it is still best to give your vegies a rinse before feeding them to yourself or your birds and make use of natural deterents for pests as much as humanly possible.

I also plan to grow this way in the future Jaz with each new compost heap becoming a vegie patch until I have atleast ten which I can cycle through as they are emptied of their produce, seems a really smart way to do it to me.

 

I think the message is that as long as you provide some sort of fertiliser whether that be in an organic for or inorganic form it is still best to give your vegies a rinse before feeding them to yourself or your birds and make use of natural deterents for pests as much as humanly possible.

 

Yes, it's working for me. I have four black plastic bins which move around the vegetable patch and in this warm weather it doesn't take long for decomposition, helped along with half a bag of chook manure to top each bin off. If I get surplus matter without bin space to compost I just heap it and wait for space. I do rinse vegetables, even those I grow myself. My birds really go for greens and grains straight from the garden.