Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

A piddling post

Golden Showers Garden PartyFor those of you who have already signed up to participate in the Golden Showers Garden Party, have you been able to, um, hold it until Saturday or have you gotten too excited and piddled in the garden already?

I, for one, was too excited to wait and already spread some liquid love. I must admit, once you get started it's addicting. Here's some more nifty information that may kick you in the rear and convince you to give it a whirl:

If you are using commercial nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, you are helping drive food prices up. Since oil prices are hitting all-time highs, the cost to transport food and make nitrogen-based fertilizers has also risen. Couple that with the fact that sources of phosphate fertilizers are running out.

So, by adding your own demand to that of farmers, instead of using your own liquid gold, you are not helping the food crisis. Think that's a bit of a stretch? Well, perhaps, but it certainly doesn't help. How soon will it be before the deposits of phosphates are exhausted? Well, when that happens, if you are already a card carrying club member you'll be ready with your own homegrown fertilizer.

As Chile so eloquently called it: "Miracle-Flo - it's better than the corporate fertilizers and the packaging is all natural."

For those of you who have not yet signed up, it's not too late! Just add your name to the comments and I'll link you up in the sidebar. And, for those of you about to type in "Yuck!" into the comments, you might want to spend a few minutes looking into how your food is fertilized. It's not all petroleum based... I suspect there's a hearty amount of tasty dry aged, grass-finished manure mixed in there as well.

46 comments:

Robj98168 said...

being a guy, I am well versed in peeing on plants. I have been a pisser since 1960. Just remember Out in the land of ice and snow, don't eat yell
ow snow cause there's yellow snow where the huskies go!

sung to The immigrant song

Anonymous said...

Sorry Crunch -
I'm gonna pass on this one....well I'll still let the boys pee on the trees in the yard but I think I'll skip on my veggies....I worked too darn hard on that little garden to mess with it now.....
for watering it I am using a mixture of compost tea if that counts? Rain barrel with 3 buckets of composted horsey droppings...applied every other watering....Use the other rain barrel on the other waterings.

lacemase said...

oh, oh, me, me, me! I am already doing it anyway! It's suppose to help keep 'larger' critters out of your garden too!

Anna said...

I wish I could but I just have a teeny tiny balcony for garden space and my neighbors already think I'm crazy. Funny, they don't know the half of it.....

DC said...

Before this thing goes any further, can you assure your readers that you aren't just using the Golden Showers challenge to help market your new products. Honestly, Crunchy, do you think we wouldn't find out?

Mama Mama Quite Contrary said...

What a wonderful idea! My two-year-old is potty training and peeing every few minutes! I've been loathe to keep flushing the toilet each time she goes, so this is a great alternative. I'll just dump her deposits into our garden and no water wasted.

Riana Lagarde said...

i did piddle a little already. i couldnt wait, tomatoes are already on the vine and you are supposed to do a weekly fert once they have fruit.

yes, i do have a big bottle of pee on the counter, MIL came to visit and ask if i was making sun-tea!

i peed in a cup every month for my pregnancy appointments so i figured i can do it now with a wide mouthed jar that says "chicken broth" on the lid. not a drip spilled. and no chicken soup, just in case.

Greenpa said...

DC- really good one! :-)

For those participating in La Crunch's Golden Shower Party, do consider preparing for it by participating in the World Wide event the night before: Whole Planet Picnic!.

Just think of all the extra volume you can generate with the extensive beverage and watermelon consumption.

Hit Pay Dirt said...

Peed in a jar the other day and dumped it on my oleander. Now it's getting ready to bloom. Am I golden or what?

Nancy said...

My husband has been doing this all this year. We first found out about it from a neighbor a few years ago, and of course we thought she was totally nuts. But her garden veggies grew so well, we knew she must be on to something.

My husband does dilute the pee quite a bit... it seems like a lot of people in the comments are using it straight?? Anyway, our plants are growing well this year! We have already made one convert--his parents, who after visiting us started doing it in their garden!

Chile said...

Standard recommended dilution is 10 parts water to 1 part urine.

My lantana are doing far better this season than they have in over 3 years. In the past, they've received TLC, compost tea, and fish tank water. They still looked scraggly.

Since getting my port-a-loo bucket, they are lush and green with no insects chomping up all the leaves. The pumpkin plants are doing pretty well, too.

So, Crunchy, how can we turn the solution green to really rip off the corporate alternative? Oh, here we go.

Crunchy Chicken said...

Chile - I'm going to have to recommend some sort of food for the green coloring over artificial colorings. Although I've never had that experience with asparagus.

Crunchy Chicken said...

DC - How did you know?

Jenn said...

I have a question about dilution - 1 part urine to 10 parts water seemed really high to me, and yesterday I found this on the Grey Water Guerrilla website (a fascinating resource!)

Dilute it--one part urine to three to six parts water--and pour it into the soil around your plants.

This has given me a great opportunity to practice my aim (who knows - maybe I'll be able to do it standing up without dribbling).

Boyfriend has been lazy and hasn't been collecting.

I'm drinking like 1/2 gallon of water in the afternoon and timing it so I can make a big deposit when I get home.

Chile said...

Here you go, Jenn. I could never get the hang of it personally.

Arif Mamdani said...

we're definitely in.

ruchi said...

Crunch, I gave this some thought and I decided I'm just not cut out for a life of pee terrorism. Besides, I ascribe to the "if it's yellow let it mellow," philosophy so directing my pee elsewhere wouldn't actually have any affect on the number of times I flush. Maybe when I have a garden.

jag03 said...

Hi there, I'm new here anyway I don't usually do the pee in the garden thingy I don't have any eeewww comment about it, coz it's definitely true "natural" is so much better than artificial fertilizers so that's why I had my brother spread the golden liquid...

More power...

Anonymous said...

Hello Crunchy, I got here via the Blogs of Note mention and I have to say I love your blog, not necessarily this post. While I am all for composting and fertilizing, I just can't see myself pissing to do it. But for you and all those who are fertilizing the au natural way, I say WAY TO GO! Perhaps I`ll get there someday.

homebrewlibrarian said...

I certainly couldn't wait until June 21 and have been piddling (a QUART of liquid every morning!). Besides on June 21 I'm going to be fishing and not home.

With only one application, my corn plants are looking sturdier and all the newly planted prinsepia shrubs I thought were going to die from being abused all have new green growth on them. I swear my currant plants have grown a couple inches as well. By the time I get everything planted, I'll need to use all the liquid gold I can produce!

Kerri in AK

Anonymous said...

I tried to attach myself to the list the other day but could not figure out how. Thanks for answering that mystery.

Jenette said...

I couldn't wait! Now I have too much pee. 200oz undiluted and I have already spread the love this week. I guess I could cover the lawn?

Sister Mary Martha said...

yeah but....when I have to go out there and weed....

Jenn said...

chile - that's a great link! I used to adore the restrooms.org website. They had all kinds of pictures of the different kinds of bathrooms used around the world and great tutorials on peeing while standing for women. I've actually tried it but it all depends on your plumbing, I think. I do much better with squat & shimmy.

Delora said...

Sign me up. I've been throwing the pee-soaked paper towels out in the garden after cleaning up after our incontinent dog (thereby easing some of my guilt over using paper towels in the first place), but can start adding human contributions as well. I think my 7yo would be down with it, but I mentioned it to DH and he gave a resounded 'Hell NO!' Isn't it easier for the guys though? Why no golden showers love from DH?

Kristi said...

Okay. I'm in. I'll see if I can talk the boys into it, if not I'll do it myself. I'll sprinkle the tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, leeks and onions. I think that it might have too much nitrogen for other root crops.

Anyone know the NPK of urine?

Anonymous said...

My boys are confused. Last year I told them not to pee in our garden, b/c I thought that it was improper. This year I'm requesting it? My 10YO might hate that I gave up baggies, but he's lovin' coming out of the paddling pool and whizzing right there! Hey, can I take a squirt on our lawn (until I rip it out)?? Thanks, Crunch....

Anonymous said...

Most of my veges are in containers. Is that OK? Also, any plants that it should not be put on?? All this talk makes me have to pee....

Anonymous said...

ok, i confess that i tried it. my baby tomatoes are doing fine. the chocolate mint and black peppermint died though :( wtf?? i diluted more than suggested (1/12) 'cause i was nervous about it... they were doing wonderfully until the 'shower' :(

Maeve said...

hehehe. I mentioned something about it this morning, and whether to bring a bucket into the house or to have the guys sneak out in the dark to pee in the garden, and my spouse said "I had hoped you were going to forget about that". LOL

But yes, the piddling has commenced as of this afternoon. :)

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

oh, what the hell - count me in! :) it will be a little tricky since we'll be at ava's b'day party in the morning (at a local farm), but we'll collect pee in the afternoon and do our sprinkling that evening. :) whee!!!

Ms. H said...

Greetings Poulet Croque...Considering I just found out the leech field of my septic tank is up hill from where my garden sits...I joined the party a long time ago, only I don't need to squat on my tomatoes nor create a diluted with starter shower mix. Pretty cool....and come to think of it my watermelons and tomatoes last year were amazing...all the rave of my family...tee hee.

Kelsie said...

I'm not having a party, per se, and I can't get my boyfriend on board (he swears his pee smells too bad)...but I swear from hear on out that after dark, I will walk out to my garden and pee in my veggies each and every night.

I can't really collect my pee during the day, unfortunately...our house is being renovated, so there's a never-ending supply of strange men traipsing thru the halls, and I just wouldn't feel right carrying a jar of piss on my way to the garden. :)

But yes! Nocturnal, Moonlit Peeing for me. :)

Connie said...

I might add that I've gotten so excited that I've planted 66 tomatoes and 46 peppers and equally large amounts of corn and beans and squash and misc. I might have to have a few of you over for some beer drinking.

The Outlaw Baker said...

My family has been using "organic" fertilizers in our gardens for years. I personally prefer piggy poop. just one question: how do you monitor the ph level of your soil?

Beamer said...

The things you learn on the Internet.

Beamer

Crunchy Chicken said...

Anonymous - containers are fine - I've been "fertilizing" my potato bins.

Kimberely - what it tarnation are you eating that you've managed to kill off mint plants? What's next... blackberry brambles?

Verde - I suggest you invite over homebrewlibrarian - she of the ten gallon bladder!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! I started the golden shower practice when I was pregnant. It seemed such a waste of time to run to the house every time I had to pee so I would squat in the grass and then go back to gardening.

Who knew I could have been nurturing my vegetable plants instead of my grass!

I haven't done that in years and now is a great time to revive the practice.

This will have me smiling all day today! thanks!

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

i signed up yesterday and, along with my daughter's help, just did my first sprinkling this morning. i couldn't wait to give it a try. :) i have a feeling we'll be doing this often. see what you started?
btw, right after we did it, ava went to announce to grandma - we put our pee on the garden. grandma actually thought it was cool.

Spot-On said...

First time posting for me :)

I golden showered today! A day early for me as I noticed my plants leaves going yellow (no pun intended) which means they need nitrogen. Thought of your challenge and figured why the hell not! So I collected some gold, watered it down and showered my citrus with it. Now I just need more to do my tomato's :)

Anonymous said...

hahahaha, i don't know what i did!! i'm a mostly vegetarian, raw food eater. so i dunno what happened... the weather here's been CRAZY though. i'm wondering if maybe it's 'cause for a few days there was no sun, and then BAM, it's back. maybe it got burnt by the sun? i don't know... the leaves and stems are all dried up. but i water it regularly...

Anonymous said...

I was sold at the first post- it sounded like a good idea- but didn't have a garden to use (we had to cover it over as it was in the shade and didn't produce much last year. Since last year was our first year in this house we didn't realize it until all the tree's leaves had grown in. Duh.)
Rethinking, though, I decided to go ahead and have my toddler pee in a jar (he loves that!) and I poured it, diluted, over my strawberry plants in a pot that have only produced one strawberry. We'll see if this helps. Then, I might move on to the newly transplanted perennials!
-Sally

Anonymous said...

Yes, my husband pees in the compost pile directly but I guess I can collect my donation, too.

Anonymous said...

i don't have a garden, but i'm committed to peeing outside at lest once a day. on an edible forest plant preferably. if not i figure at least it's in the nutrient loop of the forest.

Janice in GA said...

I totally couldn't wait. I've been pouring pee on my plants for over a week! :)

I have a plastic lime sherbet container that I pee into. I just carry that out, pour it into my watering bucket, add water and go.

Easy peasy!

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't dream of using fertilizers on my plants anyways! I am going to pass on the pissing, mostly because I can only imagine what my young children would do with a bucket of urine (eek!). But I confess I'm curious about using it as fertilizer.