Remember back in elementary school when you studied about Native Americans and how they taught the Pilgrims to plant and grow crops successfully in the new world? I am willing to bet that your teacher told you about how the Indians would put fish in their gardens to fertilize the soil. Guess what? I use fish from the pond on my property and it works great! I have big beautiful corn, super juicy tomatoes, and really spectacular peppers at harvest time! And best of all... Its free and %100 percent organic. I will tell you how my family and I use fish for fertilizer. First thing we do is grab our fishing gear, dig up some worms, and spray about five gallons of bug spray on each other. I live in South Carolina in the low country, so bug spray is mandatory or the mosquitoes are likely to kidnap you and hold you for ransom (yes they really are that big!). My pond is rarely fished in so it is quite full of fish all year long. While we are catching our dinner, we also keep the 'throwback fish' the ones that are to small and such. A cooler with water works really well for holding the fish. After a long day of fishing we head home to clean our catch. We keep the stuff we don't eat, things like the guts, heads and scales and put it into a container. We also take the throwback fish and add them to the waste bucket as well. (after humanly and quickly killing them). Now you have your fish fertilizer. Simple huh! Prep your garden and get ready to plant the seeds, make sure to make the seed holes about the size of the fish and about 6 to 8 inches deep. When you have a complete row of holes prepped, take your fish soup and walk down the row pouring about one medium fish size amount in each hole. Cover the holes up make sure you have at least 3 to 5 inches of soil on top of your fish so you can have enough room to plant your seeds. And that's it! Now you have a free or low cost organic fertilizer that will last about the length of the growing season. Good luck and happy gardening! IrishHeather
