 Growing Gardens
with Julia Hancock
There's Something Fishy Going Down
People have been using by-products of the meat industry for decades in the form of blood and bone, but fish fertilisers have only recently started to catch on with the home gardener. One enterprising company has turned an ecological disaster into a horticultural asset by rendering down carp into a useful liquid manure.
So why is decomposed fish so good for the garden? Like any other organic compound, fish releases minerals such as nitrogen and phosphorus at a gentle pace as it rots down and mixes with the soil. Nitrogen is an essential ingredient in the plant's protein-making process from which the vegetative parts are produced. Phosphorus is required if the plant is to produce flowers and seeds, and is a common deficiency in Australian soils.
Both elements must be present in balanced amounts with potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sulphur and trace elements such as boron, copper, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. However, too much nitrogen in the mix will result in over-lush foliage at the expense of flowers and fruit.
Fish meal can be added to compost heaps to encourage microbial activity and fish scraps from the dinner plate (skin and bones) can be buried deep in the garden for future generations of earth-dwellers to enjoy.
It's probably best not to rush to the local fish co-op and ask for a load of bloodied offcuts unless you want to offend your entire neighbourhood. The pre-prepared emulsions do smell slightly, but because they are diluted with water before use, they are quickly absorbed into the soil leaving it sweet and fertile.
While fish emulsion and meal do nothing to improve the structure of the soil (compost and gypsum are best for that) they certainly stimulate organic activity in the soil and promote healthy and disease-resistant growth in all plants to which they are applied.
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