A beginner's guide to garden fertilizers
A great garden needs plenty of sun, a great dose of water, and lots of nutrients in the soil. There are many fertilizers available to enrich your soil and, if you're choosing between garden fertilizers, the range can get a little overwhelming.
Here's a break down of the common types of garden fertilizers, to help you choose the best fertilizer for your garden.
But first, ask yourself, how green are my thumbs? Do you see yourself out in the garden, digging around, reapplying that fertilizer every week or two, or would you prefer to fertilize and walk away for a month or more?
Liquid Fertilizers
If you're passionate about fertilizer, don't mind getting a little messy and are happy to reapply your fertilizer regularly, than a liquid fertilizer is just the thing for you. The great thing about liquid fertilizers is they penetrate the soil quickly, so if your garden's looking a little sad and those plants are in need of a boost, a liquid fertilizer will get the job done fast.
Liquid fertilizers either come in a liquid form or as a powder, which you'll need to dissolve in water before you apply it to your soil with a watering can. Liquid fertilizers are by far the messiest choice in fertilizer and some popular kinds, such as concentrated fish emulsion, can be smelly at first, so they're not for the faint hearted.
Granular Fertilizers
Offering a far more sedate approach to gardening, granular fertilizers come in many forms, from organic compounds to technologically advanced, slow release products designed to last up to nine months before reapplication. Granular garden fertilizers don't work at once, as liquid fertilizers do. Instead, then need to slowly break apart under repeated watering before they start to discharge their nutrients into the soil.
The more advanced varieties are coated in a synthetic substance designed to slow the release of these nutrients as the granules disintegrate under sun and water, preserving their fertilizing power for as long as possible. If synthetics aren't your thing, you'll find natural granular fertilizers made from organic compounds like crabs, feathers, blood, bone and manure, and these work to invigorate the soil as the microbes present naturally release their nutrients.
If you'd love to give your garden a kick start right now and keep it fertilized over the longer term, consider combining the two. In the end, whether liquid, granular, synthetic or natural - whatever your preference - just add a dash of fertilizer. Your garden will love you for it.
