4 Products I Use To Fertilize My Garden And Grow Vegetables

Organic Is Best

I know not everyone buys into the idea of "organics". Some people believe its just some big hoax to get us to spend even more money on food that is already quite expensive. Personally I believe it just makes more sense. I like for things to be as natural as possible when I do my gardening because in reality we are just trying to do what nature does best, but in a more controlled environment to grow food for our consumption.

There is much debate about what is the best way to fertilize your garden. Hell, there are even people that use no fertilizers at all. Gardeners that practice permaculture set up their gardening in a way that is self sustaining and self sufficient. In the long wrong I would like to have a permaculture food forest but its just not in the cards for me right now. I just don't have the space currently so I work with what I have and hopefully at my next home I have enough space outdoors to start building a great permaculture garden. But for now I just do the normal little "vegetable patch" style of gardening. I get weeds and have to pull them and all that fun stuff but in the end its so worth the effort when I get to reap what I sow.

Worm Castings

Worm Castings are favorite thing for gardening. Although it really doesn't have that much nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium in it, worm castings have microbes and other natural elements to it that help the plants thrive. Worm castings are essentially natures fertilizer. Out in nature worms eat up all the dead and decomposing organic matter and poop it out. This worm poop becomes readily available nutrients for plants and you will notice a difference your first time gardening with this. Worm castings are quite expensive so I just to put a scoop of it in the hole when I transplant my seedlings instead of covering my whole garden with it. In my area this wonderful worm poop costs over 1$ per pound. Who would have thought that worm poop could be so valuable? Another great option is to buy your own worms and make the worm castings yourself. There are many guides available online to build yourself a small worm farm where you can feed your compostables to your worms for an unlimited supply of worm castings. Or some people prefer to just add the worms to their bed and allow them to go to work. The choice is yours.

Blood Meal

Blood meal is a wonderful source of Nitrogen for your plants. As indicated by the NPK numbers on the bag, blood meal is rated a 12 for nitrogen. Nitrogen is very important for your plants particularly for the development of leaves and foliage. Leafy green vegetables will thrive with blood meal. It's organic, affordable, and a little bit goes a long way.

Bone Meal

Bone meal is a wonderful slow releasing phosphorus fertilizer for your garden. I know, I know, its kind of weird to think that blood and bones is what is going to make the plants thrive but if you think about it, it makes quite a bit of sense. Bone meal provides all the phosphorus that most plants need to thrive while also providing trace amounts of nitrogen and potassium. The early-season addition of phosphorus to your soil will promote strong root development, enhance early season growth, and give you superior blossoms and fruit at harvest time. Just like the other fertilizers I use, I tend to place this right in the hole and around the plant instead of spreading a lot of it throughout my whole garden bed. When I till for the first time of the seasons I will use a small amount of all of my fertilizers on the whole bed but my main focus is right around the plant and roots itself.

A Well Rounded Organic Fertilizer

Last but not least, I will use a well rounded organic fertilizer to provide a good amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the entire garden. There are many options of brands and ingredients that you can choose from but I personally believe that Dr. Earth and Burpee both do a good job with their organic fertilizers. That is what I have used for the past couple years and it has worked out well for me. In this particular fertilizer they have kelp meal, feather meal, seaweed and alfalfa meal as ingredients in the fertilizer. All of these components will break down and become wonderful food for your plants. I will tend to fertilize a little heavy in the beginning of the season to give my plants a good base of nutrients and I will then fertilize about every 4-6 weeks depending on what plants I am growing and what stage of growth they are in. For example, you don't want to be promoting foliage growth late in the season when your plants are fruiting. Plants really only have a limited amount of energy that they can put into growing taller, or producing fruit so you want to make sure that you add the correct nutrients and the right time in the season to get your desired results. Even if you mess it up a little bit, you will still grow vegetables! You just might now have optimal growth.

Thank you for reading and follow me to tag along for my gardening journey this summer! The snow has finally melted and the weather is warming up!