Nitrogen! (in gardening)

[TLHKAJ]

Okay, so I decided to start a thread about nitrogen and other factors for healthy gardening after discussing on another thread how that I noticed my plants that my dog pees on start reviving and turning green.

I would like to discuss this and other strategies to bring health to garden soil and grow healthy plants (veggies, herbs, flowers, trees, bushes, etc).

I am on a carnivore diet, and it is helping a lot of health issues. But I have a theory that it is the poor soil conditions that lead to sick malnutritioned plants, making them more vulnerable to pests ...and thus, higher oxalate production in the plants. Oxalates are the chemicals that plants produce to ward off being eaten by insects. But plants grown in healthy soils have much less pest pressure. Insects don't like to eat healthy plants. They go after the sicker plants. So ...I believe that if we had better soil biology, plants wouldn't produce as much oxalates, making them healthier for people to eat.

Oxalates are at the root of conditions like gout, arthritis, cysts, kidney stones, skin conditions, etc, and can kill a person if they eat too much at once. My digestive system began to shut down after years on keto, eating 2 huge salads a day and very little protein and fat. I had to let go of 99% of plant foods to heal my gut. But I plant gardens for my chickens. (lol) And I hope that one day, I will have healthy enough soils that I can eat the plants I grow because they won't have the need to produce as many oxalates.

Thoughts, anyone?

Tagging @MA2444

 

[TLHKAJ]

I'd like to discuss anything related to gardening and soil and health ...and even chickens, and other "farm" animals and how they relate to gardening. I love the subject of regenerative agriculture ...using animals to improve soils.

 

[DuckieLady]

Okay, so I decided to start a thread about nitrogen and other factors for healthy gardening after discussing on another thread how that I noticed my plants that my dog pees on start reviving and turning green.

I would like to discuss this and other strategies to bring health to garden soil and grow healthy plants (veggies, herbs, flowers, trees, bushes, etc).

I am on a carnivore diet, and it is helping a lot of health issues. But I have a theory that it is the poor soil conditions that lead to sick malnutritioned plants, making them more vulnerable to pests ...and thus, higher oxalate production in the plants. Oxalates are the chemicals that plants produce to ward off being eaten by insects. But plants grown in healthy soils have much less pest pressure. Insects don't like to eat healthy plants. They go after the sicker plants. So ...I believe that if we had better soil biology, plants wouldn't produce as much oxalates, making them healthier for people to eat.

Oxalates are at the root of conditions like gout, arthritis, cysts, kidney stones, skin conditions, etc, and can kill a person if they eat too much at once. My digestive system began to shut down after years on keto, eating 2 huge salads a day and very little protein and fat. I had to let go of 99% of plant foods to heal my gut. But I plant gardens for my chickens. (lol) And I hope that one day, I will have healthy enough soils that I can eat the plants I grow because they won't have the need to produce as many oxalates.

Thoughts, anyone?

Tagging @MA2444

If you can get a vermicompost going that would be ideal for worm tea, but I have a regular tumbler compost. That hasn't been tested yet.

I can't remember if it was from a Harvard nutrition book or the open courses I took in nutrition, but one of them said we need to balance oxalates by adding a little cheese to a salad.

Also important to rotate greens weekly for women, or it will throw off our PH balance. That will cause burning when using the restroom.

 

[TLHKAJ]

If you can get a vermicompost going that would be ideal for worm tea, but I have a regular tumbler compost. That hasn't been tested yet.

I can't remember if it was from a Harvard nutrition book or the open courses I took in nutrition, but one of them said we need to balance oxalates by adding a little cheese to a salad.

Also important to rotate greens weekly for women, or it will throw off our PH balance. That will cause burning when using the restroom.

Oh, I did cheese! lol
My typical meal was fried eggs with cheese and ham on keto bread and a whopping salad with everything under the sun and keto dressing. Typically, I had spinach, kale, bok choy, romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and tomatoes ...oh, and black olives, sometimes, onions and often garlic ...and half an apple on the side... all organic, non-gmo.

But after 7 years of eating like that, my food started going right through me ....whole chunks of food undigested in the commode within 20 minutes of eating and terribly painful. Nope! Plants are not for me. lol

I have to admit, though... I have kept a few seasonings (garlic, paprika, and Redmond salt) ...and dark chocolate (without sugar, only stevia, monk fruit, etc). On occasion, I have a Zevia carbonated root beer, but not very often, as I can't do carbonation well ...one 10 oz can takes a couple days to drink. I only sip it for taste between meals. And if I grow something, I may take a couple bites just bc I grew it and I know what went into growing it.

I planted sweet potatoes for my chickens to have greens to eat ...and then they scratched around in the garden and exposed several sweet potatoes! lol

Here are a couple of them. I'm going to chop them up and feed them to the chickens! lol
I'll leave most of them in the ground to come back up next year. :)

 

[DuckieLady]

Oh, I did cheese! lol
My typical meal was fried eggs with cheese and ham on keto bread and a whopping salad with everything under the sun and keto dressing. Typically, I had spinach, kale, bok choy, romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and tomatoes ...oh, and black olives, sometimes, onions and often garlic ...and half an apple on the side... all organic, non-gmo.

But after 7 years of eating like that, my food started going right through me ....whole chunks of food undigested in the commode within 20 minutes of eating and terribly painful. Nope! Plants are not for me. lol

I have to admit, though... I have kept a few seasonings (garlic, paprika, and Redmond salt) ...and dark chocolate (without sugar, only stevia, monk fruit, etc). On occasion, I have a Zevia carbonated root beer, but not very often, as I can't do carbonation well ...one 10 oz can takes a couple days to drink. I only sip it for taste between meals. And if I grow something, I may take a couple bites just bc I grew it and I know what went into growing it.

I planted sweet potatoes for my chickens to have greens to eat ...and then they scratched around in the garden and exposed several sweet potatoes! lol

Here are a couple of them. I'm going to chop them up and feed them to the chickens! lol
I'll leave most of them in the ground to come back up next year. :)

I used to LOVE like brown rice and olive oil, layer of salmon, then cranberries and salad on the top. And parmesan. Was kind of my go to.

That's really interesting I wonder if it had something to do with excess fiber or maybe an allergy...? Nightshades like tomatoes will sometimes get my joint pain going. But since I switched to the barefoot shoes, my knee and back pain are gone. Regretting spending my teen years in heels. That was a bad idea.

Before we moved in we were growing a lot of stuff in the office. Eggplant, kale, tomatoes, Napa cabbage, etc. Now everything has died and I need to see about getting a shelf out of the basement so we can try again.

Over the summer, we have a small area for a garden. I might need to hit you up for ideas.

No animals but unfortunately, I have a bad reaction to eggs anyway. They give me heart palpitations.

I don't think seasonings are too bad, but I am concerned about the lead contamination issues coming up in the news. I may want to break out my food dehydrator this year and make my own.

 

[3 Resurrections]

Okay, so I decided to start a thread about nitrogen and other factors for healthy gardening after discussing on another thread how that I noticed my plants that my dog pees on start reviving and turning green.

There is a reason why natural rainfall can "green up" a lawn or our gardens so much better than our watering them with a hose. Natural rainfall has nitrogen in it.

Long ago, the Psalmist spoke about this in Psalms 135:7. "He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries."

In this verse, lightning in the heavens is made for the rain. There is a benefit that occurs for the rain when lightning passes through the air. Expressed in laymen's terms, the lightning passing through the atmosphere creates super-heated air. This then produces nitric acid that blends with the rain. Natural fertilizer from above.

 

[TLHKAJ]

Over the summer, we have a small area for a garden. I might need to hit you up for ideas.

Have you considered looking into planting a perennial food forest/garden? Plant things in layers that will come back year after year, and also plants that will reseed themselves. Layering ....as in trees (nuts, and fruit), bushes under that, then herbs and vegetables and flowers. That's just a skimming of the concept.

There are some things considered survival food crops like Jerusalem Artichokes, sweet potatoes, comfrey, etc ....even cattails. Look into food bearing trees and bushes that will grow in shade that can be planted in the understory of nut trees. Then, you can naturalize a chicken flock in that area and they'll forage what falls to the ground (as well as weeds, grasses, worms, insects, mice, frogs, lol). I suspect that many people's allergies to chicken, eggs, and pork is because chickens and pigs are fed so many grains rather than what their natural diets are. I have histamine reactions to most chicken and pork ...not as much with pasture raised organic eggs. I also don't do well on milk products like cheese and straight up milk if I have a significant amount .... except for butter, which is great. I thrive on ruminant meats ...especially grass fed/finished beef.

 

[DuckieLady]

Have you considered looking into planting a perennial food forest/garden? Plant things in layers that will come back year after year, and also plants that will reseed themselves. Layering ....as in trees (nuts, and fruit), bushes under that, then herbs and vegetables and flowers. That's just a skimming of the concept.

There are some things considered survival food crops like Jerusalem Artichokes, sweet potatoes, comfrey, etc ....even cattails. Look into food bearing trees and bushes that will grow in shade that can be planted in the understory of nut trees. Then, you can naturalize a chicken flock in that area and they'll forage what falls to the ground (as well as weeds, grasses, worms, insects, mice, frogs, lol). I suspect that many people's allergies to chicken, eggs, and pork is because chickens and pigs are fed so many grains rather than what their natural diets are. I have histamine reactions to most chicken and pork ...not as much with pasture raised organic eggs. I also don't do well on milk products like cheese and straight up milk if I have a significant amount .... except for butter, which is great. I thrive on ruminant meats ...especially grass fed/finished beef.

I wish we could! I don't think that we're allowed to in this area but I might look into it. I think Mr. Duck knows some people who work for the city so maybe he can find out. I never thought about artichokes but oooo.. We should do that. Haha

We don't have a lot of property and we're kind of in a town area, but we have enough for a small garden.

I can't have tree nuts, soy, eggs, and milk upsets my stomach. I know every time I tried to make a bone broth, I got super sick for days. When I did the anti-histamine diet, it was the best I ever felt.

I'm just not patient enough to do it all the time lol

 

[TLHKAJ]

That's really interesting I wonder if it had something to do with excess fiber or maybe an allergy...?

Oxalates. My digestive system shut down... my liver was overloaded and stopped producing bile. I had to do grass fed bone broth with bitter herbs, beetroot, etc to stimulate my liver to produce bile ....and Betaine HCL. After about 6 weeks or so, I started adding in grass fed chuck roast blended into the bone broth with a stick blender. I also added Redmond's salt, Amish butter, raw milk cheese, and grass fed collagen powder. I thrived on that for about 2 months while my gut and digestive system healed. Then I was able to eat solids (meats) and I was fine.

After I quit eating plants, though, my body began dumping oxalates to get rid of them and I ended up with 2 breast cysts at one time. I used to get cysts about once or twice a year. I was almost killed in the ER in 2007 when I had to have an emergency cyst removal (pain med overdose). So I treated the rest myself. Anyway ...I got 2 cysts about a month or so after going carnivore, but they healed in about 1/3 the time. Then I started getting rashes and it was crazy for awhile. BUT ...my inflammation (costochondritis, Tietze Syndrome, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome) was reducing significantly ...other skin conditions were improving, muscle strength increased, balance improved ... so I knew I was on the right track. My goal is to use this as long as I can, as long as it takes to get in a good place healthwise ...and grow good heirloom goods to feed my animals, and me (and my loved ones) if need be.

 

[TLHKAJ]

I wish we could! I don't think that we're allowed to in this area but I might look into it. I think Mr. Duck knows some people who work for the city so maybe he can find out. I never thought about artichokes but oooo.. We should do that. Haha

We don't have a lot of property and we're kind of in a town area, but we have enough for a small garden.

I can't have tree nuts, soy, eggs, and milk upsets my stomach. I know every time I tried to make a bone broth, I got super sick for days. When I did the anti-histamine diet, it was the best I ever felt.

I'm just not patient enough to do it all the time lol

Jerusalem Artichokes look like sunflowers, and have an edible root. They'll multiply and you can leave them in the ground until you need to eat them. They have a similar use and taste to potatoes with less carbs and more nutrients.

I'll look for videos of people who have transformed small backyards into food forests. :)

 

[MA2444]

I'm not a big time gardener but we had a garden when I was a kid. It wasn't my operation I was just the youngest of 4 kids who got to dig and hoe and plant, lol. We had a huge garden and we would skip school down by the creek and sneak up to the garden for lunch, lol! But I paid attention!

And when I was raising kids we had a garden also but it still wasn't my operation.. it was the wife's. And maybe she did know more about gardening than me, she lived on a farm longer than I did! But I paid attention.

And later when I got my red card in Colorado I was able to have an operation, lol. But I didn't start out knowing how to grow weed. So I got my best grower friend to teach me what he knew so I could get set up right and after he was done teaching me what he knew, I continued to read about growing it and it wasn't long before I started cranking out nicer harvests than he ever seen before, lol! It made him mad at me I think. Lol. He was kind of the king of the growers in our circle until after I started growing, then he was asking me questions! They passed red cards in Ohio now but they wont let us grow.

I dont think you have to buy a bunch of soil preparation items. I grow tomatoes fairly regularly, but I use big grow pots for them. Scripture tells us how to prepare the land for growing. You let the land rest every 7th year and then it's good again. So I don't bother with that stuff for the soil. This is my 7th year in this house in Ohio now and I havent did anything except mow the grass the last 7 years. So I have a dandy collection of seeds and could go for it big time next spring in the back yard. But the only problem with that is, the last time I tried to use that shovel, the on switch was broke! I still haven't found a replacement, lol.

 

[TLHKAJ]

@DuckieLady

 

[TLHKAJ]

I like to listen to this guy Paul talk about "back to Eden" gardening.

 

[TLHKAJ]

Chickens and gardening :)

 

[MA2444]

I know one thing. Miracle Grow is good stuff. Everything I've ever used it on sprang up like mad so it has prolly has nitrogen in it. You should try tome of that stuff on your geardenias or whatever it was.

Ok I just Googled Miracle grow and it has three ingredients in it. Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium. so plants love those other things just as much as they do Nitrogen. It works good on everything.

Just don't go overboard with the Miracle Grow, lol. Ask me how I know?! Lol.

 

[Verily]

Okay, so I decided to start a thread about nitrogen and other factors for healthy gardening after discussing on another thread how that I noticed my plants that my dog pees on start reviving and turning green.

I would like to discuss this and other strategies to bring health to garden soil and grow healthy plants (veggies, herbs, flowers, trees, bushes, etc).

I am on a carnivore diet, and it is helping a lot of health issues. But I have a theory that it is the poor soil conditions that lead to sick malnutritioned plants, making them more vulnerable to pests ...and thus, higher oxalate production in the plants. Oxalates are the chemicals that plants produce to ward off being eaten by insects. But plants grown in healthy soils have much less pest pressure. Insects don't like to eat healthy plants. They go after the sicker plants. So ...I believe that if we had better soil biology, plants wouldn't produce as much oxalates, making them healthier for people to eat.

Oxalates are at the root of conditions like gout, arthritis, cysts, kidney stones, skin conditions, etc, and can kill a person if they eat too much at once. My digestive system began to shut down after years on keto, eating 2 huge salads a day and very little protein and fat. I had to let go of 99% of plant foods to heal my gut. But I plant gardens for my chickens. (lol) And I hope that one day, I will have healthy enough soils that I can eat the plants I grow because they won't have the need to produce as many oxalates.

Thoughts, anyone?

Tagging @MA2444

I had heard you must dilute the urine to use it, I certainly have never tried that in our garden. The grass our dog has peed on does not turn greener but dies. I have asked my husband to pee around the perimeter of our garden just to deter various critters, I think that works, and thats about all that I would desire to use it for.

We use worm castings, mushroom compost, cow manure, and green sand, and the list could go on because we use just about everything on the organic list of fertilizers just because we sought to build the soil we had brought in. Testing out some crop covers between what is planted between the beds, but we really dont know much of what we are doing with that.

We just began to pick up gardening once again a few years back ourselves. We use to use our chicken manure (when we had them) and even tried compost teas many years back when we had our first garden but have not taken that up again. We just do a compost pile, nothing too complicated, feed it with a variety of organic fertilizers and we get a nice little production. of the things we would typically buy at the grocery store.

 

[TLHKAJ]

I had heard you must dilute the urine to use it, I certainly have never tried that in our garden. The grass our dog has peed on does not turn greener but dies.

This is so interesting to me how that some people have this experience. I'm convinced it must be something in the diet. I need to take photos! lol

 

[Verily]

This is so interesting to me how that some people have this experience. I'm convinced it must be something in the diet. I need to take photos! lol

I havent tried it but I did watch a video on it with this gardener here and shows the stages of it working through his expeimentation in this video. He suggests to dilute it

And my new best freind Brave AI says,

Using Urine as Garden Fertilizer​

Based on the search results, here’s a summary of the consensus:
Dilution is recommended: Pure urine is too concentrated and can harm plants if applied undiluted. The general recommendation is to dilute urine with water at a ratio of 1 part urine to 8-20 parts water (1:8 to 1:20). This dilution helps to:

1. Reduce the risk of burning plant roots and foliage
2. Prevent excessive nitrogen availability, which can lead to imbalanced plant growth
3. Make the fertilizer more palatable for beneficial microorganisms in the soil

Some exceptions: For certain plants, like lawns, a small amount of undiluted urine (up to 1-2 liters per square meter and year) may be acceptable. However, this should be done with caution and only for specific situations.

Factors to consider:

1. Plant type: Some plants, like young seedlings, ferns, azaleas, orchids, and bromeliads, are sensitive to urine and may not tolerate it well. For these plants, dilution is essential.
2. Soil type: Urine can be beneficial for soil with good drainage and earthy-smelling crumbly texture. However, if the soil is already high in nitrogen or has poor drainage, dilution may be necessary.
3. Diet: The salt content in urine can vary depending on an individual’s diet. If someone consumes a high-sodium diet, their urine may contain more salt, which can be problematic for some plants.

Storage and handling: If you plan to store urine for later use, it’s recommended to do so in a well-ventilated area, away from direct sunlight and heat. The urea in urine will eventually break down, but the exact timeframe is unclear.
Additional tips:

1. Apply urine as a liquid fertilizer, rather than pouring it directly onto plants.
2. Avoid applying urine during intense sunshine, strong winds, or heavy rainfall.
3. Monitor plant response and adjust dilution ratios or application frequency as needed.

 

[MA2444]

Now if we could just get the dog to go into a gallon jug we'd be set, lol.

 

[Verily]

Now if we could just get the dog to go into a gallon jug we'd be set, lol.

And dont forget to mark it "do not drink".

If you have a truck driver husband sometimes they do that "thang" in a bottle and get rid of it later, you can just tell him to save "that" (and not bring it into the house) haha