You ’re off the hook for fertilizinga vegetable gardenin later fall and winter when vegetables typically no longer need extra nourishment . But depend on the industrial plant you uprise , you do need to plant food from outflow through former summer or former declination . When you give veg the correct amount of plant food , you get healthier flora and increase harvest .
Soil Testing
levelheaded land , high in constitutive matter or aged manure , reduces the amount of plant food you need and grant you to tailor-make the plant food to meet your garden ’s needs . try the soil for its chemical and pH makeupbefore you set about a vegetable garden and every two to three year after that . Garden stores and nurseries sell test outfit for chemic analytic thinking or can direct you to laboratories that accept soil samples through the mail .
Beginsoil testingby define whether you havesandy , loamy or mud soil . Form a ball with moist soil in your clenched fist ; sandy soil does n’t hold its shape at all , mud soil holds fast and loamy soil falls apart only slightly .
Soil Adjustments
After identifying the soil grain and chemical blends in the grime , make these improvements :
Fertilizer Basics
Use a balanced , complete fertilizer as a fundament for vegetable garden soil . seem for a label that indicates equal amount — for example , 12 - 12 - 12 — of the main fixings in plant food : N , Lucifer and atomic number 19 , or N , P and K. Add about 2 pounds of dry fertilizer for each 100 straight feet in the garden , work in 1 British pound sterling of fertilizer6 inches into the dirt before plantingandspreading the 2nd pound about four weeks after you plant .
Types of Applications
Fertilizers derive in both granulose and liquid forms , and you have choices when sum them to a garden :
Know Your Plants
Different form of plants need varying amounts of fertilizer apply at different clip , but most gain from the basicbalanced formula initially and a mix high in phosphorusapplied every calendar month or six workweek during the growing time of year . sure sort of plant demand special treatment :
of a coarse-grained or water - soluble balanced fertilizer in the same amount as the basic software , spaced one calendar month aside throughout the get time of year .
Water My Vegetable Garden?
How often a vegetable garden needs H2O depend on the weather , land type , increment stage of the vegetables and other factors . Underwatering causes stringy , strongly flavored veggie , but overwatering increases the risk of industrial plant diseases and reduces vegetables ' flavor . When in very wet soil , plants ' roots drown , have the plants to go . you’re able to test soil ’s moisture level by bear on your fingers into the soil . Dry ground palpate dry to the touch . go for water to the garden when its soil control surface is dryafter sowing vegetables and until the seedlings are 4 to 5 inches tall . The grime for grow young veggie plants shouldstay consistently moist to a profoundness of 3 to 4 inch . During hot dry conditions , the garden may take watering every day . Connecta all right - spraying rose machine to a watering can or a soft - sprayer attachment to a garden hosefor watering vegetableseeds and seedlingsas well as other frail plants . Apply water to the soil until it begins to addle on the land surface . drip mold - irrigation arrangement and soaker hoses supply water at plant bases through emitter or perforated hose , which are connect to a piss supply .
Warning
More is not betterwhen it comes to fertilizer . Too much can damage or kill plants , either by damage the roots or the folio .
Tip
Organic plant food , those made with plant or animal materials , improve the texture of soil as they nourish plants , and they have less possible to damage tender plants or foul urine streak - off . Chemical fertilizers contain known amount of nutrient and release nutrients more quickly than organic plant food .
