Everyone must eat to live. With no steady supply of starch, protein and other nutrients we would all very rapidly pass away. Flowers have a different procedure. They use carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the air and the water in the soil so as to manufacture their very own starch and sugars. All they require from the dirt would be a number of basic chemicals which they then use to produce all the amino acids, proteins, vitamins and enzymes et cetera.
All soils contain a stock of these vital chemicals commonly known as plant nutrients, they come from the mineral part of the dirt (sand, clay, etc) as well as from the humus it contains (fallen leaves, dead roots, etc). When the earth is cultivated and garden plants grow in it, the balance is often upset. Essential elements in the dirt are diminished more rapidly than they can be replaced by natural means.
Probably the most serious loss includes three key elements - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These are known as the major plant nutrients, and are necessary in large quantities if the plants are to grow as anticipated. This also means that these key plant nutrients have to be replaced on a regular basis. A percentage will be supplied if organic dressings like compost or manure are applied, but we have to rely on fertilizers for the main source of supply. A fertilizer is a substance which supplies appreciable amounts of a number of the major plant nutrients without adding significantly to the humus content of our soil.
A bewildering number of fertilizers are available in garden centres these days - organic and inorganic, straight and compound, liquid and solid. The choice is all yours. Do bear in mind, however, there is no 'good' and 'bad' fertilizers, they all have a job to carry out and the correct choice is dependent on the plant, soil type, area concerned, time of year and so on. The golden rule is always to feed plants on a consistent basis, but no greater than what the container recommends. If you are in any doubt whether to feed or not, then let ones self be guided by the vigour of your plants. Fertilizer test kits are readily available, but the analysis of these results can be tricky for the ordinary 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 example let's 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 quantity of my time is spent in my garden, but as I am getting older and things are becoming harder to do. I have decided to make use of a firm called Landscaper London .. 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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