Organic Fertilizers

Just because we grow our vegetables and fruits organically, doesn't mean we don't fertilize our gardens and orchard. We just don't use commercial fertilizers (nutrition made from chemical compounds) that are not organic, (plants or organic animal sourced ingredients).

For pretty close to four decades, I used rabbit manure both composted and fresh for my garden, as well as compost even in a suburban setting. That put tons of nitrogen and trace minerals in my soil for beautiful, lush green plants which grew fast. Since the rabbit poop was self contained, little, round pellets, it acted as a slow release mechanism doling out the good stuff over a few months as they decomposed. But for the first time this year, my garden is missing them. We have no meat or fiber rabbits on our homestead. Although we did have some when I mucked out the rabbitry for the last time this spring. So, I needed to find an alternate source for nitrogen rich pellets.

We live in zone 7, although you couldn't tell it from the weather this year. For most of us seveners, our spring gardens runs into our summer garden and our fall plantings runs into our summer gardens so we set aside spaces from our spring gardens to plant our fall gardens after after amending our spaces with compost and fertilizers. I usually amend the soil of our spring garden areas when I side dress the summer crops.

Since we don't have rabbit manure to use anymore and the chicken (hen house) waste hasn't reached its 6 months to a year's worth of composting yet, I was stuck with nothing to amend the garden patches with. The solution I fell back into my old urban fertilizer mixture to add to the area we set aside in our garden for fall planting.  I guess I should have tested the soil, but I pretty much knew what had been deleted from the previous planting.

My General All-Purpose Fertilizer Mix
(Broadcast spread over a 800 sq ft garden
Or, divide in half for 1 TBS side dressing plants)

Available @WalMart for $5

1-4 lb bag of Expert Gardener 4-4-4 organic fertilizer
1-3 lb bag of organic blood meal, 12-0-0
1- 3 lb bag of organic bone meal, 2-14-0
2 cup wood ash, for 13 essential nutrients
2 cups Epsom salts, for magnesium
2 cups egg shells, washed and ground into a powder,  for calcium

It's pretty balanced as most general fertilizers go. Extra nitrogen for plant growth and extra phosphorus for good root development. Magnesium is added because it's essential for calcium absorption. Calcium prevents root end rot in tomatoes and squashes. It also makes for healthier plants. In plants like broccoli, it boosts the nutritional calcium value in the end produce.

DISCLAIMER-I know you shouldn't mix nitrogen rich compounds with wood ash. It creates an ammonia gas, but I mix it and use it within 12 hours, and it's never seal and stored. Wood ash also raises the pH of the soil, but I use so little of it. The insect repellent qualities and the essential nutrients from the wood ash makes it a necessary ingredient to my mix. ***If in doubt, leave it out.*** Wood ash can be hand broad casted over the area separately and raked in.😀

So how does your garden grow?

Have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo