Ocean Water, A Great Way to Bring Minerals Back to Your Garden

Hello everyone I hope you are having a pleasant Monday 🙂

Today I wanted to share with you guys why ocean water is one of my favorite full spectrum fertilizers in the garden.
Ocean water is full of minerals. In fact, there are about 80+ trace and major minerals that are readily available for plant consumption.
Did you know that ocean fish are generally healthier than their lake/river counterparts? They have less disease and enjoy overall longer, healthier lives.
Why is this do you think?
It would be arrogant of us to think that life above the water is any more important than life down below. Life flourishes down there. Plants and animals grow to immense proportions and eventually expire, decomposing in the same medium from which they were born.
At the same time, the Earth expels nutrients through underwater vents and volcanoes.
Nutrient rich magma spews and hardens as the ocean water erodes and releases the nutrients back into the water.

This is all a part of what is called the mineral cycle
It’s no wonder why the marine life thrives down there! Their very lives are spent absorbing life giving nutrients even as they sleep!
Life isn’t so easy for us land dwellers, especially these days.
Bad agribusiness practices have eroded our soils. What was once nutrient rich soil is now leached, compacted, and lifeless.
And what about the food that grows out of this soil? It may look fresh, it may look tasty, but a fruit will never produce the minerals that were depleted from the soils.
So what is the solution to this vicious cycle?
Re-mineralization.
Since we live so close to the beach, harvesting ocean water is very convenient for us so we make frequent trips to bring some back home.
A little bit of this stuff goes a really long way so I dilute the ocean water to a ratio of about 100 parts fresh: 1 part ocean water (guesstimate).
I’ve read varying numbers regarding both the dilution and the frequency of application.

100:1 every 4-6 months has worked wonders for me.

Pretty right?

I wasn’t lying, our cherry tomatoes are full flavored.
I once told you guys that I thought our cherry tomatoes tasted smokey, even bacon-y?
Last week, we brought some of our cherry tomatoes to work to share with our coworkers and we got the same response!
They said that they were full bodied and some even said that they tasted smoky!
But it really is no secret, I told my coworkers as I am telling you now.
Re-mineralization is essential for producing nutrient dense and flavorful foods.
Remineralizing with ocean water is just one of my favorite methods of doing so.
Have access to clean and non polluted ocean water? Then I strongly recommend you give it a try.
Your gardenbeds and your tastebuds will really thank you for it!
Got any questions? Hit me up! I’d be glad to help you find your answers 😉
And as always, be sure to subscribe and like our articles 😀
-Eugin

Starbucks In Our Garden: Coffee Two Ways

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

I hope you guys are having a restful holiday.
I have to admit, something kind of irked me this week.
I’m pretty active in gardening communities on social media outlets – primarily on Google + (look me up -Eugin Kim).
On one of the communities, somebody called me a ‘cube dweller’. Sticks and stones; I know, I know. But, man, that really sucked!
I love gardening, I love the fresh air, I love green leaves; but my new office doesn’t even have a window!!
Granted, the new building is much nicer and more spacious.
That is, except for my sun-less little office.

Some facilities even have a dedicated spent coffee ground drop off point so you don’t have to come in to ask all the time!

Amy and I work together but she works across the building.
Amy’s new space has a window and I am so jealous!
We work the grind, 7:30-4:40 every day.
It really is a fast paced industry that we work in and daily Starbucks trips are a mandate in our office.
4 shot Americano on ice with a splash of caramel please. Yup. I’m one of those people.

Today, Amy and I noticed a sign on our local Starbucks’ bulletin board. Starbucks actually encourages their customers to ask for their spent coffee grounds.
I was a bit wary of this at first because I didn’t want to trouble the baristas. Especially without a bucket.
But no, they were so nice about it!
They even double bagged and tied up all the coffee grounds they had on hand. They gave me about 30 pounds right on the spot!

Our container garden is bountiful, but it really is not that large. One 30 pound bag of spent coffee grounds will go a long way in this household.
Spent coffee grounds are a wonder-worker in gardens. Some of the biggest reasons are:

• Coffee grounds are about 10% Nitrogen (from what I have read) and function wonderfully as a side dressing
• With a large quantity, coffee grounds can be used as an organic mulch
• It can be used as a natural slug repellent ( I will report my findings on this!)
• If used as a mulch, the coffee grinds can help prevent weed or fungal invasions
• My personal favorite: vermi/compost brown material!

So, what did we do with our coffee grounds today?
We spread them over our nitrogen hungry herb pallet garden.
We mounded coffee grounds over our tomato container.
Azaleas are acid loving so we put plenty of grounds in there.
And we gave about 40% to our vermicompost bin and everybody is happy!

So next time you’re at Starbucks getting your java fix, try asking them for some coffee grounds! I’m sure they would be happy to help.
And as always, be sure to subscribe and like our posts!
Please be sure to say ‘hi’; I would love to get a chance to network with you gardeners!