Vegetables
and
Annual Flowers |
Class
1: Gardening Basics |
One of the most common questions posed by gardeners is "How and when should I feed my plants?" Technically speaking, you arent exactly feeding plants -- they manufacture their own food through photosynthesis. But you are providing the mineral nutrients they need to do this. There are two ways of approaching the task of fertilizing. Organic gardeners have a saying, "Feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants." Thus they focus on amending the soil with naturally occurring materials like compost, leaf mold, and rock powders. These materials dont nourish the plants directly; rather, they are broken down by soil microorganisms that, in turn, release nutrients in forms available to plants. As we said earlier, healthy soil, teeming with life, is the foundation for optimum plant growth. Non-organic, or synthetic, fertilizers work a little differently -- they feed the plants directly. Most of the commercial, water soluble fertilizers you see are in this category. They provide a direct source of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) to the plants in a form they can use immediately, bypassing soil microbes. When
to Fertilize Vegetables often respond well to judicious applications of fertilizer. You have a number of options here. You may want to apply a dilute solution of fertilizer once a week; this is especially helpful to plants growing in sandy soils, since these soils dont hold nutrients well. Or you can focus your fertilizing efforts when plants need it most by applying fertilizer at the recommended full strength a few times during the season. Timed applications for a long-season crop like tomatoes might consist of fertilizing two or three weeks after transplanting, fertilizing again when plants begin to bloom, then again when fruits begin to develop, and finally two weeks after the first harvest. Copyright 2002,
National Gardening Association. All Rights Reserved.
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