Tips On Fertilizing Your Garden

How you fertilize your garden depends on which part of it you are fertilizing and how organic you want to make this process. Generally, organic fertilizers are slow-release, long-acting nutrition sources. They tend to be more labor-intensive to incorporate, but are healthier for the environment and, especially if you are growing food crops, for yourself as well. Chemical fertilizers are fast-acting, less expensive per application, but require more applications over the course of the season. It's also easy to overload nitrogen in your soil, which can contaminate the groundwater. In the garden, too much nitrogen promotes leaf growth at the expense of fruits and flowers, so be very careful with chemical fertilizers.

It's a good idea to have your garden soil tested every few years to address any nutritional deficiencies. If you amend your vegetable garden beds with compost and manure every year a week or two before planting, however, your plants will most likely be getting all the nutrition they need to thrive. These annual amendments will also help to keep your soil light and loose enough to enable easy penetration of water and rootlets. You might want to consider giving all the plants in your garden an monthly boost with a foliar spray of weak compost tea.

For established flower beds, a side dressing with compost in the spring and an organic mulch to hold in moisture and discourage weed seeds from germinating will feed your plants without having to disturb their roots as well as minimize competition for the space, light, water and nutrients they need. In time, the mulch will break down and decompose, adding its nutrients to the soil as well.