Fertilizers add vital nutrients to your soil and replace those already taken up by plants growing in your garden. A continuous replenishing is necessary. Fertilizers can be either organic or inorganic - good gardeners use both. Inorganic fertilizers with their quick availability are absolutely essential to good growth in the Far North where organic fertilizers are very slow to break down because of cold soil.
The well-fertilized plant not only grows and flowers better, its consequent good health resists and survives disease and insect attack, its vigor reduces fussy care and maintenance.
All fertilizer must be liquefied before the plant can absorb it, therefore follow all dry applications with a thorough watering if no immediate rain. Organics must be chemically altered by soil microbes before they can be taken up by plants and should therefore be applied some months before needed.

How and When

Organic fertilizers:
the natural organics, manure, green manure, processed sewage, bone meal, fish meal, blood and bone, cottonseed meal and the synthetic organic, urea formaldehyde, are slow-release and some act as soil conditioners and activators of beneficial bacteria as well. Dollar for dollar and hour for hour of your time in applying them, natural organics are not considered to be as effective as a good program of soil conditioning with additives of balanced, inorganic fertilizers; however, many gardeners still swear by them and most still use them in one form or another.
Fresh manure, which is usually applied as a top dressing to planting beds in fall, should never be used in direct contact with plants; rotted or dehydrated manure is mixed with soil during preparation of planting beds and as a mulch; highly concentrated manures such as chicken or pig should be thoroughly mixed with soil before applying. Green manure is the product of growing (usually between other crops - as in a vegetable garden) a grass or other plant that rots rapidly and produces organic fertilizer and humus when turned under in the soil; rye is the most widely grown; seeded early in fall, it makes good growth before winter, stays green and commences to grow quickly in spring; should be turned into the soil before seed heads form.
Processed sewage is spread on top of soil from spring to midsummer and watered in according to directions on bag. Bone, fish and cottonseed meal, blood and bone, and so on are mixed with soil at planting time in recommended proportions. Urea-formaldehyde, especially recommended for lawns, is long acting, non-burning and should be used as directed on bag.

Inorganic fertilizers:
 these are balanced chemical formulas available from garden suppliers; they should be chosen carefully to provide what is needed for your soil and your plants. Too much, the wrong one, or applied at the wrong time, is worse than none at all. Too much will burn the plant, the wrong one will stimulate the wrong type of growth - all leaves, for instance, and no flowers - and applied at the wrong time it could throw the plant off a good growing pattern - as would happen if soft new growth that would later winterkill formed because fertilizer was applied in late summer or early fall. If you are not sure what to use, consult your provincial or state department of agriculture.
All inorganic fertilizers are non poisonous: content and recommended dosages are all clearly marked on their packages. Follow instructions explicitly: an overdose or incorrect application can quickly and seriously injure or kill a plant. Always water in granular fertilizers and never feed a wilting or apparently sick plant: try plain water and shading from the sun first. The useful contents of general garden chemical fertilizers are primarily:
nitrogen, which promotes leaf growth and, in correct quantities, a rich green color; it also feeds microorganisms during their decomposition of organic
materials, a very necessary action in good soil phosphorus, which stimulates the production of flowers and therefore fruit and seed potassium, which induces strong stalks and roots and builds resistance to disease and winter damage.

 

By government regulation the percentage of these minerals in each brand of fertilizer is marked on the bag. For instance, 10-6-4 means that the fertilizer contains at least 10% nitrogen, 6% available phosphorus and 4% water-soluble potassium. The rest is filler. Check these percentages against the price and compare with other brands. What may appear to be a cheaper brand may actually be less fertilizer and more filler. Find out from local authorities what is the best formula of inorganic fertilizer for general garden use in your area - some Midwest soils, for instance, need no extra potassium.
Minute quantities of such minerals as magnesium, calcium, iron, known as trace elements, are also needed for good growth, but most garden soils have these in sufficient quantities. However, if you have a problem that applications of regular brands of inorganic fertilizers do not correct consult your department of agriculture - it may be that your soil needs extra trace elements.

Inorganic fertilizers come in different forms:
as granules, to be mixed in soil, spread on lawns and around (not touching)
plants and then watered in as crystals, to be dissolved in water and the solution sprayed on foliage (known as foliar feeding), poured on the soil around the base of plants, injected through a root feeder into the ground, or, as a starter solution of fertilizer and water, used to feed seeds and transplants in various concentrates such as tablets, sticks and perforated, long-lasting
plastic packets.

Uses of inorganic fertilizers

For flowers and vegetables:
 before planting, thoroughly mix granular inorganic fertilizers into the soil, according to manufacturer's recommendations; after planting, before and after flowering add recommended quantities to the top of the soil in a circle around each plant, not touching leaves or stems, and water in. Bulb plantings benefit from an application of fertilizer in the fall, but do not fertilize perennials, trees, shrubs or hedges after midsummer to prevent the formation of tender new growth that could winter-kill. Vegetables in rows should be fertilized by first mixing the granular form into the soil when the bed is being prepared, then adding more (at rates recommended by the manufacturer) up and down the rows, 4 inches away from the plants, when growth first appears, and again just before bloom. Foliar feedings are used as a quick pickup for all leafy plants and are particularly effective as a supplement to granular fertilizers mixed in the soil. Liquid starter solutions are used to damp down seed beds before sowing and to soak planting holes before new plants are set in place.

For deciduous trees and shrubs:
in spring work granular fertilizer into the surface of the ground above the roots, which usually spread out as far as the shrub or tree's branches extend outwards above it; or apply liquid feedings through a specially designed feeder to the roots. Dosage is usually half that for flowers, but be sure to check directions on the package. For evergreens: apply in spring as above, dosage is usually one quarter that for flowers. Some horticulturists believe that, other than an application of a high-phosphorus fertilizer below the root ball at planting time, evergreens do not need extra feeding for the rest of their life.

For lawns:
before seeding or sodding, work a balanced lawn fertilizer into the top 3-4 inches of soil. For established lawns, feed with a high-nitrogen fertilizer on the last snow. For both new and old, follow with further feedings in late spring and again in late summer. Always water in if no rain. For established

Gardens:
where a fertilizing program has been consistently carried out for more than 5 years, use inorganic fertilizers high in phosphorus rather than those high in nitrogen.

For a starter and transplant solution:
used to soak new plants before setting in the ground, seed beds before planting seeds, new plantings immediately after putting in place and young seedlings. Make a dilute solution of water soluble fertilizer (20-20-20 is the most commonly used) in proportion of 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water and mix well. Can be poured directly on roots and leaves without injuring them.
Inorganic fertilizers combined with other materials

Fertilizers are sometimes combined with insecticides, herbicides and trace elements and have the value, in one application, of feeding the plant, preventing weeds and killing insects, both in the soil and by systemic penetration of the plant. Insecticides in this mix may be poisonous so extreme care should be used in handling them. When applying, soil should be loose, moist yet dry enough to crumble easily and have all weeds removed. Work the mixture into the top 2-3 inches of soil at time of application and water in immediately. Not recommended for vegetable or edible crops. For correct dosage, read the label.

Where using fertilizers combined with herbicides, to control weeds on lawns, be careful not to apply so much that trees or valuable plantings, whose roots may be below the grass roots, are killed by seepage.

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