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If you hate wasting kitchen scraps, you can use them in the garden instead of throwing them in the trash. Fruits and vegetables can be placed in the compost bin along with leaves, straw, and clippings to break down into black gold for your plants. This includes the avocado peels you're left with after making a batch of guacamole or shrimp tacos for dinner. Though they are tougher and more fibrous than banana peels, you can still use avocado peels with a bit of preparation.
Read on to find out about the benefits of using avocado peels in the garden.
Nutritional Benefits Of Avocado Peel
Avocados are packed with antioxidants and nutrients that are healthy for humans, but are the peels good for plants? According to studies, avocado peels contain the minerals potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc. All of these nutrients contribute to the healthy growth of plants, but they need more potassium than the other minerals on this list. This is why most fertilizers include potassium, which supports sturdy growth and helps plants resist disease.
As always, you should get your soil tested and follow any instructions for fertilizing your plants. Many soils already contain sufficient nutrients, but sandy soils and very acidic soils are more likely to lack calcium and magnesium. Alkaline soils often don't contain enough iron, which can lead to plants developing chlorosis, or yellowing of the leaves. However, if your soil is alkaline—meaning the pH is above 7.0—you don't want to add more calcium to the soil, especially if you are growing acid-loving plants.
Composting Avocado Peel
Dumping avocado peels in your garden won't benefit your plants anytime soon. The peels have to decompose for the nutrients to become available to plant roots. Putting food waste in the garden can also attract pests. Use your avocado peels in the compost bin instead.
Avocado peels are very fibrous and take a long time to break down in compost. The peels also break down slowly in vermicompost bins. To speed up the process, chop the peel into small pieces with a knife or a blender. You can add some water to help with the blending, then pour the slurry over your compost pile.
If you don't chop up the peels, you'll probably need to compost them more than once. When you are ready to use your compost, use a screen to filter out any peels that haven't decomposed. Then throw them into the next batch of compost to continue breaking down.
Read the original article on Southern Living
