Fertilizing the Garden

Fertilizing should be done during the active growing season, which means spring and summer for everyone, and early fall for those with active growth in fall.  Winter fertilizing is not necessary in any garden except when fertilizing winter-growing vegetables.

Although compost is the ideal nutrient source for growing plants, sometimes our soil just does not contain the nutrients our plants need.  That’s where fertilizer comes in.

There are eleventy million fertilizers out there so you can easily get overwhelmed by the options.  I’ve tried a lot, so I will share what I’ve learned and you can add it to your own research on the subject.

(See my Composting page to learn how to make compost)

Organic, natural fertilizers are becoming easier and easier to find, thankfully for your garden and for planet Earth.  Microlife is one I love.

If you have access to a farm, ask them about their manure — they are usually happy to offload it as long as you haul it off yourself.  If you collect fresh manure, you’ll need to let it sit and age/compost for at least a month or two before using it (and keep it moist in the process).

For many of us, the best way to obtain these items is at a feed store or local nursery.

*Note – Yes, natural fertilizers can stink.  They are, after all, made from dead things and poop.  The smell doesn’t last very long, though.  It starts decomposing into the soil pretty quickly.  And the benefits are WELL worth it!  After all of my years of gardening, I’ve actually come to appreciate the smell; it smells like earth, garden, and life.

*Another note – Keep your natural fertilizers well contained because rats, cats, dogs, and other critters find the smell and taste irresistible.  I keep mine in large plastic tubs with lids, high up off the ground in my garage.

Natural Combination Fertilizers

My favorite fertilizer is natural compost, topping my beds every year, but my second favorite is combination fertilizers with ingredients like bone meal, alfalfa meal, or seaweed.  They are produced to be an end product with a measurable N-P-K listing so that you know exactly what you’re giving your plants (I explain N-P-K further down this page).

They usually come in pellet or powder form, but some come as an emulsion (liquid).  Emulsion types are mixed with water and poured on while powders and pellets are sprinkled into planting holes and around the base of plants.

The best thing about natural combo fertilizers is that you get a balanced feed so you don’t have to mix and match elements yourself (blood meal for nitrogen, bone meal for phosphorus, epsom for magnesium, etc.), and it’s in a low dose with long-acting benefits.

Powdered natural fertilizers can also be used to make fertilizer “tea,” which works amazingly well.  See my Make Compost Tea page for more info on how to do this.

This is just a small sampling of the organic fertilizers I use and love.  Not pictured but just as loved are Microlife and Jobe’s organic.

Alfalfa pellets are available at feed stores as food for rabbits, but they’re also a great source of organic nitrogen for your plants, and they’re very affordable.

What is N-P-K ?

NPK stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, and it is represented on fertilizer packaging as a ratio with numbers for each element. Without getting too complicated,

•Nitrogen is for the green parts of the plant – the leaves and stems.  Without enough nitrogen, the plant lacks chlorophyll, which it needs to produce food via sunlight.

•Phosphorus is what the plant needs for flowering and fruiting and to some degree for the roots.  Food bearing plants need to get enough phosphorus or they will fail to produce.

•Potassium is for root growth and it helps the plant move nutrients throughout.  It also helps with disease resistance.

This description is simplistic, as all three are needed for overall plant health.

For most soils, a balanced fertilizer is best, meaning all 3 elements are roughly at the same strength.  For example, my favorite organic fertilizer has a NPK ratio of 4-4-4.  Most chemical fertilizers have much higher numbers, like 24-10-16.

If you focus on soil health, all you need is a mild fertilizer.  There’s no need to pull out the big guns — most of the time it’s a waste.

Manufactured Fertilizers

These are fertilizing chemicals that are manufactured, usually from byproducts from other manufacturing processes.  They are cheap and potent.

I’m not against lab created fertilizers, but they are my last choice.  Mainly because they are overkill, and the excess nutrients they provide really aren’t a benefit.  They are very potent, which can easily lead to over-fertilizing your plants and causing damage.  It’s like the difference between eating a healthy diet and mega-dosing on multivitamins.  A healthy diet is much better all around!

The one situation where I use this type of fertilizer is planting a new plant or tree in soil that has little to no nutrients (like pure sand or sticky clay with no real organic matter).  If the native planting soil is healthy, I will use one of the good natural fertilizer blends above in the planting hole.

One type of manufactured fertilizer that I use and like is Jobes Tree Fertilizer Spikes.  Because they are pounded into the soil, there is little to no runoff, and my trees really benefit from them.

The Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico