Organic Fertilizer for Your Garden
Building Nutrient Balanced Organic Soil
A little organic fertilizer can go a long way towards helping you build a well-balanced soil for your organic garden. If you’ve done a good job preparing your soil, you should have nothing to worry about. It is best not to fool around with Mother Nature.
Healthy soil has minerals, humus, living organisms, water and oxygen in varying percentages. It contains both micro and macro-organisms. The activity of these organisms creates a nutrient-rich living environment.
When all these elements combine, the result is healthy organic soil. Adding organic matter,
compost
and mulch, to your soil creates a fertile, balanced setting for your plants to thrive. If you have particularly unhealthy soil, adding organic fertilizer can help it along.
Balance Is the Key
The three main nutrients that plants require are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium—N, P, K. So every commercial fertilizer comes labeled with these three numbers.
Different types of plants require different nutrients to grow healthy and strong. If you are planting greens—lettuce, kale, chard—you’ll need nitrogen-rich soil. Tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers—crops that develop a fruit—require a lot of phosphorus and potassium. Beets, potatoes, carrots, or root crops, need phosphorus.
Fertile soil for healthy plants also requires calcium, magnesium, and sulfur as well as other micro-nutrients which are not usually found in commercial fertilizers.
That said…remember that a well-balanced soil will grow a healthy
organic vegetable garden
no matter what. If you don’t have a yard or access to organic matter, or if you are gardening in containers on your patio, fertilizing is your best bet.
Getting Started
The first thing you are going to want to do is test your soil. You can buy a kit or send off a sample of soil to a company that does soil sampling. The results will include the nutrient and pH levels of your soil—and advice on chemical fertilizers to use—which, of course, you will firmly ignore.
Depending on your results you can purchase the appropriate NPK organic fertilizer or use other organic materials such as kelp meal, rock phosphate, manure, compost, mulch. Use lime or sulfur to either raise or lower the pH, respectively.
There are many sources of free organic fertilizers. Eggshells are calcium-rich and can be mixed with water and used as a tonic for plants in bloom. Use aquarium water instead of fish emulsion. Also check around in your community for free sources of compost and manure.
Common Organic Fertilizers
I have consulted several organic gardening sources and each recommends different fertilizers. They all agree, however, that nature makes the best organic fertilizer.
Balanced soil enrichment and maintenance through tilling, composting and mulching, and taking care to create a good environment for beneficial organisms are thought to be the best recipe.
You can head down to your local nursery or garden center and get their recommendations. Be sure you talk with someone who is truly knowledgeable on the subject. Some salespeople don’t really know the products they are recommending.
Making Sense of the Label
Here are some valuable tips for choosing and understanding product labels—which we all know can sometimes be deceiving:
• Read labels carefully to make sure that it is not a synthetic fertilizer with an added natural ingredient tooting itself as organic.
• The NPK numbers should not be above 8. The immediately available nutrients should be a low number because a slow release is what is best for the plants.
• Don’t buy if any of the ingredients include ammonium, muriate, urea, nitrate, phosphoric or superphosphate.
• Follow label instructions and don’t exceed dosage.
You have enough to get you started, but as I’ve said before, when in doubt do the research. Get a good reference book and use it.
You can start a garden and your vegetables may grow, but don’t forget that “you reap what you sow.” If you have nutrient-poor soil, you will produce nutrient-poor crops.
Related Articles
Starting a Compost Pile at Home
Make your own compost pile at home to use for organic vegetable gardening with easy composting how-to intructions.
Organic Vegetable Gardening
Organic Vegetable Gardening is how our grandparents used to do it. It’s by no means a new concept—not a “new-fangled” fad.
Organic Garden Pest Control
Through organic garden pest control methods you can safely and effectively control your unwanted pest populations.
For Organic Lawn Care Go Native
My yard was—still is somewhat—an eyesore, but I frankly cannot fathom using such a precious resource—or pour gobs of chemicals on it—just so I can have a lush green outdoor carpet for all to admire.
Organic Weed Control
You can deal with unwanted weeds in your garden with organic weed control methods that are harmless and successful.
Organic Pesticide or Nothing At All
Organic pesticide should really be your last resort—certainly, never resort to the chemical ones.
Nine Principles of Florida-friendly Landscaping
Watering our lawns is impacting our water supply and the commercial fertilizers and pesticides we use are polluting our lakes, rivers, and bays.
Return to Top of Organic Fertilizer Page
Return to Home Page
|
