Fertilizing Your Garden

Many people think that all you need to do for a beautiful garden is to plant those seeds and water them regularly. Unfortunately, there is more to growing beautiful flowers and vegetables than just sun and water. Plants need nutrients from the soil and not all soil is created equal. Some soil is heavy with high clay content. Some soil has had most of the nutrients already used up by plants and trees. Some gardens have only a small amount of top soil which promotes healthy plant growth and the root system soon grows past the good soil. The answer to these problems is fertilizer.

The two nutrients that plants need to grow that are generally in short supply in the soil are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen aids in leaf and stem growth, while phosphorus promotes root growth, flower and fruit formations and helps speed along maturity. Fertilizer is needed especially during or just before a time of rapid growth.

However, one of the mistakes beginner gardeners make is going overboard on the fertilizer when they first put their new plants into the ground, thinking that they will help the plant to grow faster. Actually, what you want to do is lightly fertilize the new plants and give them a chance to get established.

Fertilizing plants in the late fall is also not a good idea. Plants cannot absorb enough of the fertilizer to help them get through the winter before the ground gets too cold. In addition, you do not want to encourage a lot of new growth just before the first frost of the season. A light fertilizing in the spring when planting your garden and regular amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus throughout the summer will help your plants reach their full potential.