In order for your garden to be healthy and thrive, your plants will need a wide variety of nutrients available from the soil. While there are more than a dozen essential nutrients needed by plants, the three most important nutrients are potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen. As you shop the aisles of garden supply stores, you’ll quickly note that these three numbers are displayed prominently on fertilizer bags along with corresponding numbers. In some cases, these numbers will be displayed as N, P and K. The numbers indicate the percentage of these nutrients contained in the bags by weight. If you note a bag has 10-10-10 on it, this is to indicate that there equal amounts of each nutrient in that particular brand of fertilizer.
So, what kind of fertilizer is right for your garden and which of these nutrients does your soil need, if it needs any at all? The best way to find out is to conduct what is known as a soil test. You can find a wide variety of soil testing kits available both online as well as garden supply stores. These kits will allow you determine the pH level of your soil and make adjustments as necessary based on the results of your soil test.
The results of the test will provide information such as the exact levels of your soil in terms of nitrogen, potassium and potash; elements important to the success of any garden. Be sure not to overlook this important step. It’s relatively easy and usually inexpensive and it can make a huge difference in whether your garden thrives or merely struggles to survive. Usually, soil test kits will direct you to take soil samples from several different locations of your garden because the nutrient level at one location may be slightly different that the level at another location. Once the samples are taken, they are usually then mixed together to obtain a representative overall reading.
Most soils will need, or at least will benefit, from the addition of a variety of soil nutrition. The type of nutrition that you add into your soil will depend somewhat on the results of your soil test, but at a minimum, you should plan to mix some fertilizer into your soil before your plants ever go into the ground. One of the most common types of fertilizers used in gardening is, of course, manure; particularly for those individuals who wish to organic garden. It should be noted; however, that only well rotted manure should be used as an added supplement to your garden.
If, for some reason, you are unable or choose not to use manure on your garden, there are also a wide variety of good quality commercial fertilizers available for purchase. Be sure to select a brand that is a slow release, because this will provide a continual supply of nutritious food to your soil and plants. You may note that slow release fertilizers are a bit more expensive than other brands; however, it is much better in the end for your garden and as a terrific side benefit, they do not need to be applied as often.
