Great Garden Fertilizer
No matter what kind of garden you want to create – you need fertilizer to feed the soil and help plants resist pests. Here are some basic garden fertilizers that I find have helped me.
Or you can make your own organic fertilizer. There are many formulas for this, depending on what type of soil you have. Here is a basic one that you can use for most gardens:
3 parts seed meal
1 part blood meal
1 part dolomite/calcite lime mixture
half part part bone meal
half part kelp meal
As you can see – this is measured by volume not by weight. Adding a third part of diatomaceous earth will help to keep pests from your plants as well. Do not use the kind for pools but be sure to only use the kind made specifically for food and garden use.
You may need a different version or your amounts of each part may differ depending on the type of soil you have in your garden. You can find this out by testing the soil and then deciding what formula works best for you. You can find out more about fertilizer formulas and reading your soil here or check out this calculator from Oregon State University. I have listed here some of the elements for your own fertilizer, as well as a testing kit of your own.
No matter what kind of soil you have, it is always best to use the soil testers first, and then decide on your fertiizer based on your findings. If you want to go ahead and formulate your own fertilizer using the formula above, you can find the basic ingredients here.
Kelp Meal
Dolomitic Lime
Blood Meal
Cottonseed Meal
