Start thinking about feeding

and bone or non organic man made fertilisers like growmore, miraclegrow and phostrogen. Is either better than the other, probably not but non organic fertilisers tend to be faster acting but also shorter lasting.

The fertilisers mentioned above are suitable for general usage but some plants may require specialised feeding when grown on soils that make vital nutrients unavailable to them. On acid soils with a low ph reading lime can be applied to raised the ph level to help grow certain plants. This is particularly important for brassica vegetable crops like cabbage and broccoli where low ph levels cause clubroot disease.

On high ph soils sulphate of iron and various branded fertilisers suitable for acid loving ericaceous plants can be applied. Plants that fall into this category include some of our garden favourites like Rhododendron, Camellia, Magnolia and also blueberries. A yellowing leaf is a sign that an ericaceous plant needs a feed. In such a case liquid feed first for a fast acting remedy and top dress with a slow release fertiliser afterwards, this will probably have to be repeated for the rest of the plants life.

Having mentioned top dressing it brings me to the method of fertiliser application. Top dressing is used to feed existing planting by scattering fertiliser around the soil near the plant. This can be lightly worked into the soil with a hoe but is not essential. Base dressing is adding and incorporating fertiliser into the soil while planting. Both these methods are carried out with a solid fertiliser.

Liquid fertilisers can also be used but are often short term but very fast acting. Watering on is the term for applying liquid feed to the soil around the plants roots and foliar feeding is when the liquid feed is applied to the leaves of a plant. When ever using a fertiliser always apply to the manufacturers specifications.