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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Fertiliser?

4 replies

beguilingeyes · 24/08/2023 11:57

I'm a complete novice. We have inherited a beautiful garden and have planted some fruit trees/bushes and some flowers.
Is there some sort of all-purpose fertiliser that I can buy or do different plants have different needs.

OP posts:
Ifailed · 24/08/2023 12:50

If you re-cycle all your garden waste via a compost heap, you'll need very little, if any fertiliser. A top dressing once a year of blood, fish and bone should cover most things. Have you checked your soil's PH to see if a bit of lime would also help?

senua · 24/08/2023 12:59

Your garden needs Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). Fertilisers will have different ratio of NPK for different purposes eg tomato feed will be high in Potassium.
Look for a fertiliser that is described as something like 'all purpose' or 'universal' and you'll be fine. You can get more specialised when you are more confident. Baby steps!

HarridanHarvestingHeldaBeans · 24/08/2023 13:06

I only use fertiliser for things in pots and some vegetables. Everything else gets a top dressing of compost twice a year. I make the fertiliser, either from seaweed or comfrey leaves. (There is one exception, but I doubt you're growing a lemon tree at the moment, so it doesn't matter!).
If you are buying it in, then liquid seaweed is as good as anything else. I try to avoid anything solid, because it creates dust and I already have a lung condition.
Making your own fertiliser is very satisfying, but be warned, the smell will knock you flat!

deplorabelle · 24/08/2023 13:38

Synthetic fertilizer is not great for the environment so best to use sparingly if at all. Unless your soil is very thin and sandy, I would just do as others have suggested, compost plus blood fish and bone or well rotted manure.

I live in a wet, flood prone area so only feed in spring and midsummer. In autumn I mulch with just compost, as most plants don't need much in winter and to avoid fertiliser polluting waterways with excess nutrients from fertilisers and manures.

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