I spent the day cleaning the front of my garden and adding compost and organic, liquid fertilizer and I came to realise something! I always read in all good gardening books and magazines that to keep your plants healthy and thriving, you have to feed them. Well, what in the world do plants actually eat?? I did some research in my favourite book – “Food From Your Garden” by J G Simpson – and here I found out that the three major plant food elements are Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK). All artificial fertilizers show the ration of these major elements, i.e., 2.3.3 (22) – this is the best combination of NPK for vegetable beds and 3.1.5 (26) is the best combination for fruit trees, vines and creepers. NOT that I will be using these artificial fertilizers – but at least I am now aware of what these codes mean and what the plants actually need to flourish.
I sometimes get the feeling that these commercially sold products are meant to keep you from actually understanding the why and what in gardening. You lose touch with the true needs of nature around you if you just grab a bag off the shelf that has a picture of a fruit tree on it! I have this tendency (can be annoying at times) to cut things up and look inside…. if you know what I mean! I want to know how things work and why. So now I am doing my research on nutrition. I’ll keep you posted on what I find!
Happy gardening xxx