Using fertilizer in the veggie garden- why, how, what & when?
This video addresses some common questions about fertilizer, some basics about fertilizing plants and my personal approach, including the few guidelines I live by when it comes to feeding my garden.
Video Transcript Available Here: https://www.growfullywithjenna.com/post/using-fertilizer-in-the-vegetable-garden
RX Soil Testing (use my code ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ for 10% off your order): https://rxsoil.com/nutrients?source=growfully
Related Videos
Start With Soil: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4zzslvkscX0uuXNvj6qJJzFG5iQvreQE
Planting Guides: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4zzslvkscX1GINHAQTENBbj2eu-2v0gC
University of Maryland’s lists of heavy, medium and light feeders: https://extension.umd.edu/resource/fertilizing-vegetables
Some of the links included here are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. I will only recommend items I love and should you choose to make a purchase, it helps support the channel! Thank you! ๐
Hortisketch Garden Planner and Garden Manager (use my code JENNA5 for $5 off) – https://gardensavvy.com
My favorite, long-lasting seed starting trays: https://allaboutthegarden.com/?sca_ref=3177483.OMdSez9uOx
A.M. Leonard Horticultural Tool & Supply: https://amleo.idevaffiliate.com/184.html
North Spore Premium Mushroom Starting Supplies (use my code GROWFULLY for 10% off): https://bit.ly/GROWFULLY
Lomi Composter: https://lomi.sjv.io/e43XYz
Dripworks Irrigation: https://www.dripworks.com/?ref=Growfully
Omlet Chicken Coops and Supplies: https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/?aid=KTYTQCQR
The best workwear for women: Dovetail Workwear- (use code GROWFULLY for $10 Off): https://www.dovetailworkwear.com/growfullywithjenna
My favorite minimalist work boots: Lemโs Shoes- https://www.avantlink.com/click.php?tool_type=cl&merchant_id=e8df0da8-a847-4269-8316-5d9656836fea&website_id=16c4848c-b204-4030-8a1a-31de06c7b635&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemsshoes.com%2Fcollections%2Fwomens-boulder-boot-all
If you use Amazon and want to buy anything at all, click through with this affiliate link: https://www.amazon.com/ref=nav_logo?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=growfully1-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=a89f7b007b5c135500b2ade136c88ff2&camp=1789&creative=9325
Growfully Amazon Storefront (products I use): https://www.amazon.com/shop/growfullywithjenna
00:00 Intro
00:37 Fertilizer Basics- NPK and beyond
03:25 Test your Soil BEFORE fertilizing
06:07 Feed the Soil NOT the Plants
10:44 Which Plants Need What?
12:02 My General Fertilizer Protocol
16:59 Bioavailability of Nutrients to Plants
18:20 Soil pH Affects Nutrient Uptake
19:40 Soil Microbes Role in Nutrient Uptake
20:39 Soil Moisture Content affects Nutrient Uptake
30 Comments
What a well thought-out and informative video. Wish you made this 4 years ago when I started gardening.
Like most, new and old gardeners, feeding your plants is a #1 concern.
At 1st, I did a combo of synthetic and organic fertilizers, then organic and now concentrating on feeding the soil. Buying a microscope changed the way I garden.
One example. I compared the biology of the castings from my natural bedding worm bin to a bag of purchased worm castings. The bagged product had no microarthropods, no nematodes, some flagellates, no fungi, some fungal spores, just bacteria, boring! My natural bedding castings had microarthropods, nematodes (good ones), amoebas, flagellates, a few ciliates (ciliates are a sign of anaerobic conditions), some beneficial fungi, a ton of fungal spores, pollen and of course, bacteria.
These are the organisms that extract the nutrients from the soil to feed our plants. Unless you are using synthetic fertilizers, you need all these organisms to break down your organic fertilizers.
I look at my leaf mold and compost under the scope as well, along with trying to monitoring my beds through the growing season.
The only regret I have is, when I put in all my raised beds I did not incorporate a lot of my native clay soil. This year I will be doing that. Unfortunately, I discovered jumping worms last year and will have to either cook or solarize the soil.
Anyone filling raised beds out there. Incorporate as much of your own native soil as possible.
One method of fertilizing, is making comfrey tea. Comfrey, is what's called a dynamic accumulator, it's leaves are packed with nutrients. Ferment in a 5 gallon bucket for about a month and instant liquid fertilizer. I go the extra mile and aerate it before applying to the garden to knock down the anaerobic bacteria, they probably die off anyway.
All I feed my seedlings is worm casting extract, everything seems to do well.
Enjoy your videos!!! Stay well!!!
Thank you Jenna. This has helped me a lot.
Speaking of feeding the soil.
Establishing a perennial cover crop of thyme and oregano has paid off in spades in my tomato, pepper and celery beds.
Not only have the living roots supported the soil life through the winter and spring, but it also enabled me not to mulch with shredded leaves, no jumping worms.
The soonest I can plant my warm weather crops is mid May to early June. In the meantime the thyme and oregano are reestablishing the microbial network below the soil.
I only pulled a few tomato plants last fall, mainly to check for jumping worms, the rest I left the roots to decay in the soil. When time to replant my tomatoes, I will plant adjacent to last years plants as not to disturb the soil.
I completely understand a vegetable garden is no way close to a natural ecosystem. I do believe I can create my own little ecosystem where fertilizers only need to come from my own garden, like comfrey, worm castings and LAB.
I already placed some Organic fertilizers in my jumping worm infested bed, along with 2 doses of LAB, waiting for my soil sample results. Jumping worms make the nutrients unavailable to the plants, along with destroying the soil aggregates that keeps our soil together.
This fall I will be doing a cover crop of wheat and hairy vetch, after I harvest my onions and potatoes, keeping the soil alive.
I LOVE talking gardening. Stay Well!!!!
๐๐๐๐thank you
Hi Jenna, Thank you for sharing all the useful fertilizer info it was very helpful! I have a question about squash. My squash gets big flowers and then they all fall off and I don't get any squash. Any suggestions? Thanks!
killed it, on point!
Dear Jenna, I am writing to you from Texas where I live. I would like to grow Roselle and other plants from seed.
I have been reviewing seed starting videos and a many of the gardeners I've watched recommend using a sterilized planting medium to avoid fungus knats and other bugs and diseases.
recommending
The methods used for sterilization include microwaving the planting mix or pouring boiling water into the mix and stirring it in or baking the seed starting mix in the oven.
What do you think about this? Thank you so much for you videos. I've learned so much from you. Your the best!
Iโm gonna need to watch this one again, and take notes. Cover crops are something I really want to use. And a broadfork where necessary.
You are one smart cookie! Thanks a ton. ๐
Good video. Maybe one on fertilizing container plants would be good as well.
I feed the soil the same ways as you mentioned. Recently, I have been researching JADAM methods for feeding the soil. It certainly is an affordable method.
You might want to test those onions and sweet potatoes you pulled for steroids. Them dudes were jacked.
Wonderful Lesson! Thank you for sharing so much wisdom. When soil is left alone and no one disturb we Keeping Microbes ๐ฆ lives and this is key for successful gardening. When soil is destroy microbes are destroyed and this leads for us to keep buying fertilizers and pest control disease from keeping the plants getting ill.
love the little photoes to help know whats what! fab thanks so much
Jenna, that video must have taken a lot of work to prepare! It's the best video on soil I've seen since The Hobby Farm Guys excellent (but little watched) video on the same topic. One of the things I like about your channel is that you're more scientific and less married to theory than many other channels. Some people won't dig at all or use any fertilizer ever because of their theories.
Excellent info! A succinct summary of fertilizing. I will share this with my fellow Maryland Master Gardeners.
"The starting point of all achievement is desire." —Napoleon Hill
Your videos are always so helpful! Iโm going to need to watch this one a few more times and take notes๐I have a question that I donโt think Iโve heard asked before: I only grow food in raised bedsโฆ Do you think Iโm missing out on the natural soil nutrients of native soil gardening? Or do some crops do better in one or the other? (Iโm in Zone 7b Georgia)
Good morning Jenna. I finished a course earlier this year. The top extension agent at NC State visited our class and well….ironically she said they rarely need to recommend P and K in our area because it is already there and usually too much. Eye-opener as an economist. There is a LOT of money being made on balanced fertilizers, like 10-10-10, that are mostly not useful and like you said, potentially harmful to your garden and the general environment. I tested four different beds. Every single one was beyond the recommended range for P, K, which according to her, is STANDARD.
Her general suggestion was til once, test to start, amend, and then roll with organic
decomposingcompost on top. At that point, for HERE, you basically feed nitrogen. Blood meal, etc. No more tilling. Just manage the top.My recommendation for each bed was only nitrogen. One bed included a lime recommendation to raise the Ph a tad.
Excellent PSA, Jenna. TEST YOUR SOIL.
Great vid. I'd give it 3 thumbs up if I could!
How are the carrots doing?
Great video! I started gardening over 15 years ago, but only started soil testing the last few years. I was very surprised at how many nutrients my soil had optimal amounts of! I also learned I had too much of some things, like calcium. I had 605 & the optimal range is 80-320!
great video- very educational! I appreciate you, Jenna- one of few savvy woman youtube gardeners!
Jenna, I suggest you have a look at John Kempf's last webinar called How Excess Nitrogen Creates Yield Drag | John Kempf and Advancing Eco Agriculture on YouTube. It explains why the nitrogen cycle most people think about is completely false, and why you should not add mineral nitrogen or any mineral really, to your plants.
Yea! This is the video I really needed. I'm never sure about the "what and when". You've provided us with an excellent go-to reference video for soil 'health' and garden plant nutrition. I love the fact that it was a lot to take in. It will be easy to find the information again. It's all there. Many thanks. I should be even more successful with my gardens this year.
This video is incredibly informative and helpful for anyone who wants to learn more about fertilizing plants. Keep up the great work, and keep sharing your valuable insights with the world!๐๐๐๐
Great and informative video
Another great video! Thanks!
Jenna great video! I'm a new gardener and I am using raised 12" beds that I filled with 1/3 peat, 1/3 coarse vermiculite and 1/3 good compost. I've planted my cooler season crops already but wish I saw this video earlier. I did add bone meal and a little espoma plant tone to my beds. I also topped off the beds with composted cow manure but now I'm thinking maybe that wasn't such a good idea especially in my carrot bed and onion bed. I did inoculate my peas as I heard in a new garden bed this is helpful. Should I still do a soil test? I'm thinking maybe I should before I plant out the rest of my warm season seedlings and direct sow plants.
Jenna, excellent video for many reasons. 1. Breaking down how a fertilizer is labeled and what the label means. 2. Informing people that good fertilization of plants is more than just putting down fertilizer. 3. Stressing the importance of a soil tests and proper ph for your type of plant. 4 Discussing how the percentage of organmic matter in the soil makes a difference on nutrient uptake.
In North Carolina you can take your own soil samples and send in to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture to get a soil report. It is free except during peak commercial growers soil testing which is from December to March. They will still do it but there is a small fee. The results are available online. The soil samples can either be mailed there or dropped off at each counties agriculteral extension offices.
The results can also be based on what type of crop you are growing.
One of the harder parts of home gardening is trying to get a proper ph with multiple types of plants. I find if you compromise the ph for a variety of plants, most vegetable are somewhat forgiving. The only plant family that can be sensitive to improper ph levels in my experience is the Solanaceae family which can result in poor fruit development due to lack of uptake of secondary nutrients like calcuim.
I also tell people that I do have one rule of thumb (even though I am not big on rule of thumbs LOL) on fertilization is that it is better to underfertilize than overfertilize. Over fertilization especially nitrogen can ruin many vegetable crops for reasons you have already talked about.
Great job, Jenna. You should become a commercial grower if you are already not one.
Thanks Jenna for "fertilizing" my brain with such great info!!