Everyone must eat to live. With out a steady source of starch, protein and other nutrients we would all very quickly pass away. Flowers have another arrangement. They use carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the air as well as the water in the soil so as to produce their very own starch and sugars. All they need from the soil would be a quantity of simple chemicals which they then use to create all the amino acids, proteins, vitamins and enzymes etc.
All soils contain a stock of these vital chemicals known as plant nutrients, they come from the mineral part of your dirt (sand, clay, etc) as well as from the humus it contains (fallen leaves, dead roots, etc). When the ground is cultivated and garden plants grow in it, the balance is upset. Essential elements in the soil are diminished quicker than they can be replaced by natural means.
Probably the most serious loss includes three key elements - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They are known as the key plant nutrients, and are crucial in large quantities if the plants are to grow satisfactorily. This also means that these major plant nutrients must be replaced on a regular basis. A percentage will be provided if organic dressings such as compost or manure are applied, but we must rely on fertilizers as being the main source of supply. A fertilizer is the material which supplies appreciable quantities of more than one of the key plant nutrients without adding significantly to the humus content of our dirt.
A confusing number of fertilizers can be found in garden centres these days - organic and inorganic, straight and compound, liquid and solid. The decision is all yours. Do bear in mind, however, there is no 'good' and 'bad' fertilizers, they all have a job to do and the right choice is dependent on the plant, dirt type, area involved, time of year and so on. The golden rule is always to feed plants on a consistent basis, but no more than what the packet recommends. In case you are in any doubt whether to feed or not, then let yourself be guided by the vigour of the plants. Fertilizer test kits are available, but the interpretation of the results can be tricky for the normal gardener.
By law the maker of a product which is described as 'fertilizer' must declare the nitrogen, phosphates and potash content on the package. The content of most other nutrients must also be declared when they are added to the product.
The meaning of the words and figures on the package:
N = Total Nitrogen
P2O5 = Total phosphates
P2O5 soluble in water = Phosphates which are immediately available
P2O5 soluble in neutral ammonium citrate and in water = Phosphates which are immediately or very quickly available
P2O5 soluble only in mineral acids = Phosphates which are available slowly
K2O = Total
As an example: You buy a bag of fertilizer, on the front it has three numbers on show, in this instance let us say, 3:6:9 more often than not in red. What does this mean; number 3 refers the nitrogen content, so this fertilizer contains 3.0% N (nitrogen). The number 6 refers to phosphorus content, so this fertilizer has 6.0% P2O5 (phosphates or phosphoric acid). The number 9 refers to potassium content, so this fertilizer contains 9.0% K2O (potash).
Author Resource:-
A fantastic period of my time is spent in my garden, but as I am getting older and things are getting harder to do, I have decided to use a company called Home Repair. So far they have given me all the help and advice that I have asked for. I still do a bit of pottering around my own garden.
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