PRACTICAL FACTS ABOUT FEEDING
Ruth looks at the best ways to help your plants
DO you ever walk into a garden centre to buy plant food and feel utterly bamboozled by the myriad varieties on offer? What (if any?) is the benefit of a liquid feed over a granular one? Should I start feeding now – or wait a bit? And is it possible to give my plants too much food?
If it leaves you scratching your head in bewilderment you are not alone, and that is why we have devoted much of this edition of
AG to feeding plants. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to plant requirements. Some varieties need very little, others need to be regularly topped up to do their best.
Plant foods have moved with the times. The days of ‘muck and magic’ are largely past and horticultural companies spend millions each year researching and creating fertilisers for every need.
Yet the basics remain much the same. Plant requirements are centred around three main nutrients: Nitrogen (N) for leafy growth; phosphorus (P) for healthy root development; Potassium (K) for flowers and fruit, and to boost overall robustness. General fertilisers contain all these, usually supplemented by trace nutrients. You can also buy feeds with just one ingredient. On the next few pages I explain the ‘how, why, when’ of plant nutrition and the dangers of under- and over-feeding. Elsewhere, we look at different fertilisers, how they work and how to use them.