This is an exciting time for gardeners who use organic fertilizers as there are more available to use along with more information on how they work. Their advantages include slow release, complete nutrition, waste reduction, humus content, soil improvement, and water holding potential.

Need to Know Practical Information On: Growing from Seeds & Growing Potatoes

And all that means: staying power for flowers, better taste, balanced growth, no leaf scorch, healthy plants... ... I'll explain more below.

But the big organic fertilizer story has to be about Biofeeds New Link. These are arguably not fertilizers at all because they recruit microorganisms to feed the plant the way nature does it.

Commonly available organic fertilizers contain: natural materials from rock minerals to seaweed, from traditional fish, blood and bone meals, to composted chicken manure, composted wood and humus content.

Below I explain how the major nutrients N:P:K (i.e. nitrogen: phosphorus: potassium)... are used by plants. But first I give you these page links to sections you may be looking for below:

• Base fertilizer to prepare your growing area with essential nutrients
• Top dressing fertilizer to keep your plants going as the season progresses,
• Special fertilizers for: tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, veg, roses, dahlias, flower beds and more...
• And for lawns read about seasonal spring and autumn fertilizer
• Organic folia feeds for some important stages in growth

THE BIG 3 PLANT NUTRIENTS N:P:K:
Nitrogen (N) is always needed in relatively large amounts to make all plant proteins. Leafy crops such as cabbage, kale, lettuce, chard, rhubarb, and potatoes obviously need more. Fruit and seed crops such as marrow, pumpkin, cucumber, melons, sweet corn, also need plenty of N to make sufficient leaf area to produce high yields.

Large N quantities cause lush sappy growth. It is used on regularly cut spring lawns. Contained in:- animal manure, fish, blood & bone meal, hoof & horn meal. Get manure in Bags

Phosphorus (P) is important for growth. All plants need it from day 1 to grow good roots to support the plant later. The notion that it is specially needed to grow roots exagerates its role. The response to phosphate fertilizer may result from previous P deficiency or unavailability in soil. (see microbial/mycorrhizal treatments)

The miracle of P nutrition is that unlike N it increases leaf area without reducing transport of sugars to the root. For this reason it is useful alongside K for root crops: e.g. carrots, beet, radish. Contained in:- rock phosphate, bone meal; it is a very immobile nutrient in the soil (see folia feeds below).

Potassium (K) is involved in plant processes and in cell-sap. It helps the plant absorb and hold onto water. It increases protein synthesis from N. This explains why it is particularly good to enhance fruit development and its use by potato growers - indeed all root crops respond to it. Plants may respond to high K by producing more flowers and fruit rather than leaves.

K causes plants to grow coarse tough vegetation more resistant to disease and winter hardened. This explains its use in autumn lawn feeds. Contained in:- comfrey leaves, seaweed meal, ash.

TIP: Apply organic fertilizers and ammendments a few weeks before sowing or planting...

BASE FERTILIZER
To make decent growth ALL major nutrients are required in sufficient quantity plus ESSENTIAL micronutrients. Worked out soils or new ground need special attention. Regularly cropped land needs organic fertilizer replenishment.

Rock Dust

I  -  Rock Dust is the natural base and organic fertilizer to apply every 5 years or so. It weathers and darkens releasing nutrients to re-mineralises the soil. Heavy stuff but you may only need 2 trowel-fulls per sq. metre.

Applying the dust with equal parts organic matter isn't essential. But if you spread a layer then put fresh lawn cuttings on top, organic acids will speed rock decomposition and useful microorganisms will grow quickly to further improve soil.
Try mixing just a little fine Rock Dust with raw material going into the compost bin.

With hungry vegetables it is useful to know whether or not your soil contains sufficient nutrients. Farmers for example cannot afford to apply fertilizer unnecessarily. But if nutrients are short the crop will be poor value.

American gardeners benefit from: Perfect Balance which includes analysis of your soil followed by a customised organic fertilizer mix. Order two months before planned fertilizer application.

HINT: If weeds are slow to grow then soil nutritients may be lacking.

You will apply base fertilizer before planting or growing. Several base fertilizer applications over a 4 year crop rotation may be necessary. An annual treatment with manure is always beneficial especially on sandy soils. The long-lasting source of nutrient re-supply from bulk manures is unbeatable to improve fertility long-term.

UK gardeners look out for:
Farmyard Manure now available in bags and relatively clean, easy to store and handle so any gardener can make the most of it. Also:

dry Pelleted Poultry Manure usually sold in tubs.
And for a powerful easy to move and use product that goes a long long way - look for: 6X Natural Concentrated Fertilizer
If you live near a farm then animal manure straight from horse, cow, pig or poultry can be used after a year of composting. Find more on how manure fits into my crop rotation here.



WHEN PLANTS NEED A SPECIAL FERTILIZER BASE - when they grow in the same ground for a long time. e.g. rhubarb, fruit trees, hedges, lawns. Good deep soil preparation is important, including plenty of nutrient and water holding organic matter.

For plants requiring large quantities of nitrogen e.g. rhubarb, brassicas too etc... prepare ground with hoof and horn or fish meal (if you can get them), in addition to manure.

Before sowing lawns, planting fruit or flower beds consider using seaweed as well. Humus builders are a new class of fertilizer to look out for especially when preparing light sandy soils (seaweed meal produces humus).

TOP DRESSING

100% Natural Organic Fertilizer - well balanced nutrients to keep crops & flowers growing in America.

Apply a top dressing fertilizer during the growing season to maintain sufficient plant nutrition for a good crop to the season's end. - Get supplies >>

Fish, Blood & Bone - U.K. is easy to spread around growing plants and works in easily. It has an even balance of N:P:K. Use to top-up growing brassicas - broccolli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, sprouts, - also cucumber, marrows, sweet corn etc... and in flower borders, containers, and on summer lawns.

Timing is important, don't leave organic top dressing too late.

FOLIA FEEDS
Another way to give nutrient top-ups, especially useful when the root system is underdeveloped - soil is too cold for microbes to release nutrients from organic matter - or, with some desperation, as a stop-gap when the ground is being worked out.

Use after planting out flowers and veg. Feeding at an early stage makes a huge difference later. An ideal solution is compost tea, made by soaking a sack of manure in water. Alternatively fish emulsion, or fish meal dissolved in water may be useful if you can get it. These contain nitrogen with a dose of phosphate. It is important to ensure P is not lacking and to establish a strong root system early. Check Gardener's Supply for Multi-Bloom Fish Based Fertilizer.

Folia feed i.e. by misting or fine spray watering over leaves - is well-used for pots and containers. Apply to containerised fruit or grow-bags: tomatoes, apples; and to garden soft fruit: raspberries etc... As soon as flower buds appear on fruit use feeds with relatively larger quantities of potassium. e.g. comfrey liquid and liquid seaweed extract.

But always remember to get the soil in 'good heart' first.

SEASONAL ORGANIC LAWN FERTILIZERS
American gardeners can get great looking lawns with seasonal fertilizers. Regularly cut spring and summer lawns need plenty of nitrogen to keep them lush and green. don't forget minor nutrients e.g. magnesium, boron, selenium, copper...
Choose SPRING AND SUMMER Lawns Alive for American Lawns

Go to Rolawn for FIRST CLASS Lawn Care Products U.K. & Europe

Autumn lawns need to be hardened for winter. Don't feed nitrogen rich fertilizer. Lush growth in early autumn may lead to infection gaining a hold. (For the same reason you should always collect autumn grass cuttings.) Choose a specially formulated Autumn Lawns Alive fertilizer .

ROLAWN - U.K. also has Base Fertilizer for lawn establishment.

SPECIALLY DEVELOPED ORGANIC FERTILIZERS FOR FLOWERS, FRUIT, VEG, ROSES ... ...
Nowadays many organic fertilizers have been specially developed to suite specific plants (from tomatoes and potatoes to roses and dahlias) or particular garden and seasonal needs. They include:- on this link Vegetables Alive, Root Crops Alive, Tomatoes Alive, Perennial Flowers Alive, Annuals Alive, Strawberries Alive...,

U.K. gardeners are often secretive about their fertilizers - prize plants tended in the dead of night. But you can turn the ordinary into prize winners with the help of these organic fertilizers designed for special purposes - they include fertilizer for:- Potatoes, Tomatoes, Root Vegetables and Onions, Lawns, etc...
Go to a range of specialised natural fertilizers - U.K.

BIO-FEEDS
The rapid increase in use of microorganisms to fertilize plants is because many soils have been badly damaged by excess cultivation and inorganic fertilizer chemicals. These microorganisms include mycorrhyzal fungi that tap into a wider soil volume bringing extra nutrients and water to plant roots.

You can check-out the Root Grow, a BioFeed available to U.K. gardeners on this link.

Garden Soil Inoculant - to help peas and beans
is available in America on this link IV

^ Review top of page - more on plant nutrients below.

ORGANIC GARDENING IS A HOLISTIC APPROACH
Remember, with a pure organic approach you don’t have to worry much about the proportions of nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), that plants use. ALL these are required for good growth from day one. It is good to know if any are in short supply in the soil. Major nutrient deficiencies still commonly arise from over-cropping and cultivation when nutrients are not being replenished. Minor nutrients and trace elements are also important. For any soil type the best organc fertilizers are manure or garden compost. Get manure in easy to manage bags or pellets.

Clay content holds far more nutrients than sand content. But soil conditions such as ph can make nutrients unavailable. This link provides American gardeners with soil analysis & customised organic fertiliser to suite your particular garden conditions.

Organic fertilizers are useful everywhere - on annual flowers, permanent beds, veg, greenhouse, fruit e.g. tomatoes, and around fruit and ornamental trees.

Traditional Organic Fertilizer

These organic fertilizers are by-products of the food and agricultural industries. They have been well-used by generations of gardeners. They are decomposed by soil micro-organisims to release nutrients gradually in time with plant growth.

J. ARTHUR BOWERS

a well known brand.

• Fish, Blood and Bone - traditional ingredients mixed to give a good nutritionally balanced fertilizer - Use whenever a general fertilizer is called for ... find out more

Get general fertilizer - Fish, Blood & Bone - U.K.


Cotton Seed Meal - a high nitrogen organic fertilizer. Useful for calcarious soils as it gives an acidic reaction. Otherwise you may need to apply it mixed with lime.
Check for Cottonseed Meal availability (America)

Bone Meal - a valuable slow release organic fertilizer especially high in phosphorus and calcium, plus lower amounts of nitrogen - Give an annual dressing around shrubs, perennials and on lawns in autumn... learn more...

Get Bone Meal - America

Get Bone Meal U.K.

Hoof and Horn - a high nitrogen fertilizer. Releases nutrients over a longer period and safer for plants than Blood Meal. Apply as a top dressing on hungry leafy plants and soils that need top dressing... More on Hoof & Horn

Fish Emulsion - gives excellent results when used as a foliar feed on perennials, vegetables etc... High in nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as trace elements...
Check Gardener's Supply for Multi-Bloom Fish Based Fertilizer.
Fish Meal - high in nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as trace elements. Lasts for an 8 month growing season...
More on Fish Meal and Fish Emulsion

Greensand - mineral organic fertilizer mined from old sea bed deposits and is rich in potassium for flowers and fruit and for winter hardiness. Also contains phosphorus, magnesium, iron, silica, lime and trace elements.
Get Greensand - America

^ Top of page

Seaweed - Contains growth stimulants, good for seed compost and seed beds, and rooting plants.

Calcified Seaweed - mined from old deposits made from coral. A useful organic fertilizer / soil amendment for working into soil mixes and in worm farms.

Dried Blood - details on this page

BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN - more information and links

BOOKS ON ORGANIC FERTILIZER AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT

How to make soil and save earth - Allan Shepherd

GARDENER'S INTERNET: GARDENS ALIVE - for special purpose organic fertilizers FERNDALE LODGE - easy to use handle organic manures & fertilizers ON OTHER WEBSITES: Back Yard Gardener No Dig Gardening - Alan Titchmarsh explains this gardening technique The Basics - some interesting articles here plus notes on compost, mulch, fertilzers, insects, zone hardiness for beginners to organic gardening	MORE ON THIS WEBSITE: On Fish, Blood, Bone - for all around general fertilizer On Bone Meal - for potting, perennials, fruit & shrub fertilizer On Hoof & Horn - for top dressing hungry greens On Fish Fertilizer - for a good start, active roots & healthy growth On Blood Meal - for more nitrogen On Comfrey - to liquid feed containers, flowers & fruit Garden Compost - makes your soil much better Use Worm Casts - for good germination & natural growth enriched by worm casts Organic Garden Mulch - protects soil, conserves warmth & moisture Recycle Valuable Nutrients - don't loose the goodness ^ Top of page
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