Fertilizers Help your Garden Thrive
It is not always possible to make a garden thrive without the use of fertilizers to add nutrients to the soil. You may think that the soil itself is all that a plant needs to grow. What is not obvious is that the plant is actually taking in the food it needs from the soil. The roots serve to bring in the food and water the plant needs from the ground it is planted in. This all works well for the plant as long as there are nutrients in the ground soil to keep it healthy and provide it with what it needs. This is where fertilizers become important in gardening. It can make the difference to a plant thriving or just managing to stay alive.
Fertilizers can come in many forms. There are many natural ways to boost the soil quality around your plants with things like manure and products of compost. In most cases a gardener can replenish his soil with natural additions to the soil that has been sustaining plants for a long time. This type of fertilizer can be tilled into the ground immediately around each plant or worked into a garden plot before it is planted in the spring. A truck load of manure worked into your garden in the spring will keep the soil strong for several years.
Organic Fertilizing : Importance of Healthy Garden Soil
With healthy, natural soil, learn how your plants and the environment can thrive in this gardening video about how to use organic fertilizers on plants.
Another option for fertilizers is chemical combinations provided commercially from chemical companies. These are easily spread around your garden or lawn and will produce much the same result as natural soil boosters. People that plan to eat their crops are less comfortable with adding chemicals to their garden plants and may prefer to stick with Mother Natures ways.
General Guidelines for Applying Fertilizers
Before applying fertilizer do an annual soil test to find out the nutritional content of your soil. Use the results as a guide to determine the fertilizing needs of your plants. The soil type and the climate also dictate the type of fertilizers to use. A light sandy soil needs more potassium than heavier soils. In areas with heavy rainfall, nitrogen washes out of the soil quickly and must be replaced.
Roughly measure the area to be fertilized. Calculate the required amount of fertilizer and measure it in a cup or spoon kept for this purpose. When using dry manures or granular fertilizers, about 2 weeks before sowing seeds, spread a complete fertilizer evenly over the soil and hoe or rake (don’t dig) it into the surface. Do not scatter fertilizer along a seed row, as it can injure germinating seedlings. Sprinkle topdressings (thoes applied to the ground surface) around the base of the plants and lightly hoe them in. Do not allow inorganic fertilizers, except foliar feeds, to touch any plant’s foliage or flowers. In dry weather, water immediately after fertilizing.
Fertilizing to Create more Blossoms on Your Flowers, Flowering Shrubs, and Trees
The secret to making your flowering trees, shrubs, annuals, and perennials bloom more is in the numbers. All fertilizers have analysis numbers on the package. These numbers represent the percentage of each chemical the product contains. For example, 12-12-12 is a typical garden garden fertilizer that would contain 12% nitrogen, 12%phosphorous, and 12% potassium.
The quick explanation is; nitrogen produces vegetative, or top growth, phosphorous produces flower buds, fruit, and root development, while potassium builds strong healthy plants. Most lawn grasses are vigorous growers and therefore require significantly more nitrogen than the other plants in your yard. A lawn fertilizer would have an analysis of 26-3-3, indicating a fertilizer high in nitrogen.
You would not want to use a fertilizer containing such a high percentage of nitrogen on landscape plants because it would be very easy to burn them. You must also keep in mind that many lawn fertilizers contain broad leaf weed killers, and most ornamental plants have broad leaves. The fertilizer doesn’t know the difference, and it will damage or kill ornamental trees and shrubs.
During the summer months the growth rate of most plants slows down, and when plants are not actively growing, they need very little nitrogen. Although not vigorously putting on new growth, many plants such as Dogwood Trees, Rhododendrons, and Azaleas are quietly working to produce flower buds for next year. Annual and perennial flowers are also busy making new flower buds.
To encourage flower bud production you can apply a fertilizer that contains a small percentage of nitrogen, a higher percentage of phosphorous, and a little potassium. I recently purchased a liquid fertilizer with an analysis of 5-30- 5, ideal for flower production. Because the product is sold as a bloom producer, the manufacture also added a little chelated iron, manganese, and zinc, all good for your plants as well. Most garden centers and discount stores carry similar products.
I chose a liquid fertilizer because liquid fertilizers are absorbed both through the roots and systemically through the foliage, so they work quicker. I used a sprayer that attaches to the end of the garden hose to apply the fertilizer, but do not use the same hose end sprayer that you use for lawn fertilizers. There could be residual weed killer still in the sprayer.
About those hose end sprayers. I purchased one that is supposed to automatically mix the proper ratio for you. I used it to apply a general insecticide, and it worked, but it sure seemed like I went through a lot more insecticide than I needed. When I used it for the fertilizer the screen on the little pick up hose inside the jar kept getting clogged with the tiny solids in the fertilizer. I recommend using a solution of one part liquid fertilizer to one part water in the sprayer jar, and applying at a heavier rate. Watch the liquid in the sprayer jar, and if it isn’t going down remove the lid and clean the little screen by spraying it with water from the garden hose.
Read the application instructions on the container to determine how much fertilizer to apply, and how often. A fertilizer high in phosphorous will increase flower production. You will see a difference.
Remember the golden rule of applying fertilizers. “Not enough, is always better than too much.â€
Always read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for applying fertilizers. Wash your hands after use. Store fertilizers in a dry place, out of reach of children or animals.
How to Fertilize Your Vegetable Garden
If you’re working on creating the healthiest, most fertile vegetable garden possible, you might want to consider adding composted cow manure to your soil.
If you have questions for Mike McGroarty visit his website, http://www.freeplants.com and post them on the message board where you can learn lots of gardening tips and communicate with other gardeners. While at his website you can learn how to start your own profitable backyard nursery.
January 6, 2011
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