How to Choose Fertilizer for Organic Gardening
A guest post from Kerri:
Nitrogen and Phosphorus and Potassium…Oh My!
So you’ve decided to embark on the grand adventure of backyard (or frontyard) gardening. You’ve watched Food Inc., you’re a big fan of Will Allen and Growing Power, you’ve read every issue of Mother Earth News. You want your garden to provide you with a bounty of organic, fresh veggies and fruits…but how do you really know what you’re growing and feeding to your family is “organic”? You have to consider every component of your fruit and veggie production…seeds and/or seedlings, soil, compost (if purchased), fertilizer. If you want to know your produce is 100% undeniably organic, you would have to purchase or acquire each of these components from a certified organic manufacturer or certified organic source. Pretty daunting, huh? I think so too. But, hey, let’s not go all “all or nothing” here! Relax…take a deep breath. You can tackle all of these things in time and what you grow in your backyard is undoubtedly better than whatever commercially grown, non-organic produce you can buy at your local grocery store, right?
Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research on one of the components noted above, fertilizer. What’s in it? What do those numbers on the label mean? What’s the difference between an organic and a non-organic fertilizer? My dad grew up on the homestead in Fort Atkinson and he knows a thing or two about gardening. Last year, I was rather disappointed with the yield of the front gardens and this year I decided I would make fertilizing a priority. As I do with most conundrums about gardening (and other things), I went straight to my dad. “Is my soil “bad”?” “What’s going on?!” He brought over his two gardening staples: composted manure and Miracle Gro. His method begins right at planting. Dig your hole, throw in some composted manure, plant your plant, maybe add a little more composted manure then…water. Try to fertilize once a week. My dad and I diverge on the choice of fertilizer (Miracle Gro is a product of Scott’s which is tied to Monsanto, the guys behind Round-Up, which contains glyphosate which has been linked to cancer, infertility and Parkinson’s according to a recent study published in the April 2013 edition of the scientific publication Entropy. Yeah…I want none of that) so I’ve been in search of an organic fertilizer that’s safe for my plants and my family.
The three main components of fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and you can find their percentages on the front of the fertilizer package (e.g., 5-3-2 is 5% nitrogen, 3 % phosphorus and 2% potassium). Fertilizers also contain small amounts of other trace minerals necessary for growth and found in all organic materials (e.g., copper, iron, boron). A filler rounds out the mixture which provides a buffer so the plants don’t get scorched by direct application of the fertilizer ingredients. So, at my local Menard’s, I went in search of a fertilizer that provided these basic ingredients and was also organic (i.e., the filler is organic and there are no chemical additives).
I found Chickity Doo Doo…a chicken manure fertilizer that also contains 9% calcium (the Chickity Doo Doo website states that this helps root and leaf growth and increases overall plant health) and is OMRI approved. OMRI, or the Organic Materials Review Institute, is a nonprofit that approves products for use in operations that are certified organic by the USDA. Score! And into the cart the Chickity Doo Doo went. Then I looked for composted manure. There were no OMRI certified dairy cow manure products at Menard’s so I went with the one pictured below.
I’m not keen on special ordering organic composted dairy cow manure because that would get a little pricey. I’ll have to do a little more researching to find out if there’s a local organic cattle farm I can strike a deal with. I’ll let you know what I find out! Next week: Recipes for Homemade Fertilizer
Also, check out my garden this week!
originally posted on brewersorganics.com
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