Like the human body, plants will limp along despite poor nutrition, but they will thrive and grow best with optimal nutrition, which is why we fertilize—to add nutrients. Fertilizers typically include the soil-supplied nutrients that plants use in largest quantity. Ideally, all these nutrients would be in the ground, but perfect soil is rare. If you improve your garden plot over time, you may eventually achieve an ideal soil, but in the meantime, you can supplement your plants with nutrients from a bag or a bottle.

The Three Main Nutrients That Aren’t in the Bag
Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are the three largest components of plants, but these are not available from fertilizer. These come from the air and from decomposing organic matter. That’s one reason why it is important to have good, rich soil with enough pore space to hold water and air (for hydrogen and oxygen) and enough organic matter to break down and supply the carbon.

The guaranteed analysis on the bag is where you can get a close look at what is in the bag, how much is in the bag, and what sources it is derived from.

The Three Main Nutrients That Are in the Bag
A fertilizer has three numbers printed on the package that state the percentage (by weight) of the three main plant nutrients—nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). For example, you might see a bag labeled 4-7-6. The first number (4), refers to nitrogen, the second number (7), refers to phosphorous, and the third number (6), refers to potassium. Common fertilizer formulas you may see sold for vegetables are 4-6-6, 10-10-10, or 14-14-14. Until recently, these three numbers were required by law to always be prominently placed on the front of the package; however, the law changed, allowing manufacturers to move these numbers to back or side panels of the package, so you may have to look a little harder for them. Often they are listed in a section called “Guaranteed Analysis,” which is required by law to list each and every nutrient in the package and the percentage of each. This is where you can dig deeper to see all the nutrients in the bag, allowing you to compare products and prices.

Look for the three-number formula on every bag of fertilizer. Just remember NPK, which stands for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). The formula represents the ratio of these three ingredients always in that order.

What Nutrients Do

• Nitrogen (N) fuels new growth. All vegetables and herbs need some nitrogen. Some, like corn, need more, while others, like sweet peas, need very little.
• Phosphorous (P) promotes root development, which helps strengthen plants. It also increases blooms. This is a very important nutrient, especially as plants start out.
• Potassium (K) is essential to many plant functions and their overall health. It also helps plants withstand stressful weather and defend against diseases.
• Calcium (Ca) improves general plant vigor and promotes growth of young roots and shoots.
• Magnesium (Mg) helps regulate the uptake of other plant foods and aids in seed-making. It is also important to the dark green color of plants.
• Sulfur (S) helps foliage maintain a dark green color while encouraging vigorous plant growth.

Minor, or trace, elements are nutrients used by plants in very small amounts but that are still essential to plant health. Iron (Fe) is the one you will commonly see added to fertilizer because it is often lacking in poor soils; it aids in the conversion of sunlight to energy and helps plant foliage maintain a dark green color. Manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum are sometimes present in fertilizer, too. Chlorine and cobalt are also needed for plant growth but are rarely added to fertilizer.

How do you know if a fertilizer is organic? Most of the time, the package will say organic, and you can be sure if you see the OMRI logo, which stands for Organic Materials Review Institute, a body that certifies products as organic. This is voluntary and involves extra paperwork and expense for the manufacturer, so not all organic products will have this certification.

One of the benefits of adding compost made from a variety of garden and kitchen scraps to your garden is that it is likely to supply many of these trace elements.

HOW TO USE THIS INFORMATION
In a nutshell, it is wise to know what your plants need and what you are buying when you purchase fertilizer. If your soil is too low in one of the essential nutrients not included in the fertilizer that you buy, you will still have problems. You can get your soil tested through a service offered by your regional Cooperative Extension service to analyze the nutritional content of your soil. This is not always necessary, but it is a good thing to do for a “baseline” reading of your garden.

The needs of most vegetables are usually met by a complete fertilizer containing a good balance of the three major plant nutrients and often a few other nutrients. Fertilizers with higher N-P-K numbers, such as 14-14-14, indicate a more concentrated product, which means that you need to use less of them than you would use of a fertilizer with a lower number such as 8-8-8. Organic fertilizers usually have low numbers, such as 4-7-6, but they often contain plenty of other nutrients, and they support the health of soil microbes and other components of the soil food web.

When using organic fertilizers, always mix them into the soil thoroughly and then water the prepared site before you set out your plants; this is essential because organic fertilizers depend on soil microbes to break them down into a form that can be taken up by plants. In contrast, most synthetic and liquid fertilizers are quickly available to plants. Most blended organic fertilizers that you buy in packages at garden centers will not burn plant roots when applied correctly, but high-nitrogen sources such as alfalfa, cottonseed meal, feather meal, chicken manure, and other “hot” agricultural by-products can injure plants if they come into direct contact with their roots.

Finally, don’t forget to add compost to your soil each time you plant. Over time, the fertility of your soil will improve, and you will need less fertilizer to grow a healthy, productive garden.

Source: Bonnie Plants

As we continue to deal with drought conditions, it’s important to know how to keep your yard and plants looking good without wasting water. Here are 8 options to consider:

1. Soaker hoses put water where you want it. Lay out a soaker hose alongside rows or through beds to deliver water gradually without waste. Soaker hoses can be damaged by sun, though, so cover them with a layer of mulch. Also keep in mind that soaker hoses are more efficient than overhead sprinkling, but not quite as efficient as drip irrigation. In the winter, take up your hose and protect it from freezing weather, again to avoid damaging the material. It sounds odd, but the soaker could spring a leak; then too much water might ooze out in one place and keep it from moving through the entire length of the hose.

2. Try drip irrigation. This is a little more trouble because you have to run a tube to every plant, but it works great in small gardens and pots. The tubes and emitters deliver water where you place them (at the base of each plant) and nowhere else. This is the most efficient method of watering.

Use a distributor to section off parts of the garden so that you can water them independently of each other. The distributor allows you to control the flow to whichever hose you choose.

3. Water in sections. Some parts of the garden may get thirstier than others, depending on the soil, amount of sun, and how the crop grows. For example, deeply planted tomatoes (two-thirds underground per Bonnie instructions) may have access to deep soil moisture while the pole beans are hurting. In this case, it helps to water the garden in sections, connecting more than one soaker hose to a distributor that provides adjustable outlets off one faucet. This lets you turn on one section and turn off another. Most soaker hoses and drip systems are sold in varying lengths.

4. Water deeply. Let water get way down into the soil. Frequent, shallow watering is tempting, but it’s not good, as it encourages roots to stay near the surface and makes plants more susceptible to drought. It is better to water plenty (which means deeply) once or twice a week than to water a little every day. By deep watering we mean applying at least an inch of water at a time. You can measure this by placing a container where it can catch the water. When it is filled to an inch, you’ve applied enough. Standing in place while you water with the hose, although tempting, is not usually a way to water deeply. Time or patience usually run out and water runs off. Use soaker hoses, drip, or sprinklers.

5. Mulch around plants. A 2- to 3-inch layer of straw or other mulch around your plants helps keep the soil moist longer by providing a barrier between the soil and the drying effects of sun and hot air. The mulch also helps keep weed seeds from sprouting. You can mulch with straw, pine straw, homemade compost, or even sheets of newspaper (4 sheets thick).

6. Use a timer. A timer on your spigot will turn off the flow of water without your having to depend on your memory or schedule. You can buy these at garden centers and home improvement stores at prices starting about $20. They’re worth every penny, as they make it easy to have a garden and a job, too!

7. Add compost to improve the soil. Heavy clay can hold lots of water, but it really does get as hard as a brick when it dries. So compost makes it easier on plants in heavy soil. It also helps sandy soil, which absolutely does not hold water. Sand is actually tiny grains of rock that are impervious to water, so adding compost, which sponges up moisture, increases the ability of a sandy soil to hold water from the hose or the heavens. If you don’t have a compost pile going, it is never too late to start one. You can also buy bagged mushroom compost (a byproduct of mushroom farms) that makes a good soil additive.

8. Collect water in rain barrels. Rain barrels are an increasingly popular way to collect rainwater to use later in the garden. You can buy official rain barrels with spouts or you can fashion your own from many types of barrels or large containers. Use these to collect water from gutter downspouts or other areas where water runs and is easily collected, then save the water for a not-so rainy day. Just be sure that whatever container you use can’t be reached by small children, and place screening over the opening to keep mosquitoes and litter out.

Stop by our garden center for all your gardening needs!

Source: Bonnie Plants