In-Place Composting

Put your veggie scraps and some water in a blender (or food processor) and whiz them up into a "smoothie," then use a trowel to make a trench in the soil, and pour the veggie smoothie into it. Push the soil back over the trench. You'll be able to plant there in a week or so and your plants will love it. I haven't had an problems with critters finding the veggie slush and digging it up. Of course, you wouldn't use any dairy products or meat. If you can’t do this right away, just save the veggie scraps in a bag and put them in the freezer until you have time. I have a blender I bought many years ago at Wal-Mart, very cheap. It doesn't have many buttons to press, but it does its job. You probably could find one at a thrift store. They will plug it in for you to make sure it works. Of course, there's nothing wrong with using your good blender. You're not going to ruin it, but I'm using it in the garden, and setting it down while trenching, so I prefer a separate blender.



You can also poke a hole near an existing plant, pour the veggie slush into the hole, and cover it over again. Worms and micro-organisms in the soil will break the veggie bits down so they can be used by the plants. Make sure that you do bury the “smoothie” and not just put it on top of the soil, or you might attract pests. You could do this all winter and by spring you'd have some really rich soil to plant in.

For your roses especially, just use banana skins, which are a wonderful source of potassium. Again, put them in a blender with as much water as the container will hold and add them to the soil.