In no case do not fertilize the currants with potato peelings, otherwise it will turn out like mine
My mother taught me to fertilize currants with potato peelings. She always collected the shells after peeling potatoes in the winter and dried them. And in the spring she buried it together with humus under the bushes. Or in winter, she threw peelings under the currants right in the snow. They must be buried, mixing with the soil, so that the cleaning is well rotted. Therefore, our berries have always been gorgeous, sweet and large.
My sister and I have always done the same, without even thinking that there might be some pitfalls in this fertilization method.
How I fertilized currants with peelings
To describe this method more fully, it is as follows:
In winter, I put potato peelings in a box and dried them on a radiator, then took them out to the balcony so that midges would not start. When we went to the garden, for example, to the bathhouse on the weekend, I poured them under the currants while the snow was not too high. About 3-4 times. Then drifts appeared, of course, I did not go to the currants. Cleanups during this period were simply thrown away. In the spring, when it was time to pour over the currants after the bulk of the snow melted, I still accumulated cleaning and again brought in additional portions. Approximately, in total, half a bucket per bush.
In the spring, fertilizer was already in place, and together with the snow, useful substances entered the soil. In addition, the shells are dark, they warmed up in the sun and the snow melted better under the bushes. This contributed to earlier flowering and the laying of fruit buds.
Moreover, for the last two years, when we live in our house, I have constantly fertilized the currants with peelings. Already with the onset of cold weather, she began to cover the bushes with a mixture of cleanings and compost.
An unexpected complication
But yesterday my sister called me and, in complete panic, began to tell me that she had a problem with the currants. She arrived at the dacha, came to the bushes and found that there were a lot of footprints around them. After examining them, she realized that the traces were left by mice. And when I shoveled the snow, I saw that the young one-year-old shoots were gnawed, the bark was removed from them.
It turned out that she attracted mice with potato peelings, which calmly walk in warm weather. And those, of course, got to the sweet young stems.
This happened for the first time in many years that we use a similar fertilization method. Of course, I stop this practice immediately so that the same does not happen. In the meantime, she went down and trampled the snow around the bushes in order to compact and prevent rodents from quietly moving in it.
The sister says that not only traces of mice, but also of cats. This means that the cats, which irresponsible summer residents abandon in the gardens, guard the bushes where the mice go. And there are quite a lot of these animals, because they not only remain in the cold, but also manage to reproduce, breeding offspring that are no longer familiar to people.
No wonder my sister goes on weekends to feed these poor cats in the country. They helped her, probably, to save some of the currants.