It is common knowledge among people with a vegetable garden that proper nutrition for your plants is incredibly important. By giving them the right nutrients, the plants can grow into sturdy vegetable plants that can give a large harvest.

So we use fertilizer, or plant food, to help our plants grow better, but when do you add plant food or fertilizer? And how much do you give? Here we explain the basics of fertilizing so you can go into your vegetable garden well prepared!

What is plant food for fertilizing vegetable garden?

Plants need plant food, also known as fertilizer, in addition to soil rich in organic matter such as compost. You can think of plant foods as supplements for humans. For example, tomatoes need soil with a good amount of calcium.

If you’ve grown plants in your vegetable garden, you know that vegetable plants in particular draw a lot of nutrients from the soil. They do this so they can pass them on to the fruits they are supposed to bear. So it is helpful to supplement these nutrients. That’s where fertilization and plant nutrition come into play. Plant food and fertilizer replenish lost nutrients and ensure that the soil has an acceptable amount of nutrients for healthy growth.

Before each vegetable garden season, it’s a good idea to do a soil test so you know exactly what the quality of your soil is like. This pH soil test from ECOstyle tells you easily and quickly the state of your soil. Now we know that not every vegetable gardener does a test, but we highly recommend it! It may just be that the fertility of your soil is fine, so then you don’t need to fertilize.

A word of advice: be careful when fertilizing. The only thing worse than not feeding your plants is over-feeding!

When do you fertilize the vegetable garden?

For edible crops, manure is usually mixed into the soil in the spring before the plants are planted out. There are different types of manure you can use for this purpose such as

worm manure

or

garden manure

. Should you have already planted the plants anyway, you can always give granular plant food such as

Kitchen garden AZ

from ECOstyle. Do not use liquid plant food for young plants yet, these can damage the young roots.

Perennial flowering plants can be fertilized before growth begins in spring. Wait until Ice Saints so you know it’s not freezing anymore. This keeps the good bacteria in the food from freezing to death.

So in general, it is fine to start in spring, but remember that plants mainly need help when they are growing the most, which is not the same for all vegetables:

• For
  
  lettuce
  
  ,
  
  arugula
  
  and
  

  cabbage

  
  

   

  
  but other leafy vegetables may also need this earlier in the spring.
• 
  

  Corn

  
  

   

  
  and
  

  pumpkin

  
  

   

  
  grows very fast in mid-summer and then have good
  

  plant nutrition

  
  

   

  
  needed. For a long-growing vegetable such as corn, fertilization is often done at the beginning and just before major growth.
• 
  

  Tomatoes

  
  

   

  
  and potatoes need extra plant nutrition mid-season. If tomatoes start to flower, then you can go to a low nitrogen (N) nutrition such as
  

  CANNA Terra Vega

  
  

   

  
  .

How much fertilizer do I use? And which one?

Generally, there will be an “NPK” number on the packaging. This includes Nitrogen (Nitrogen), Phosphorus (Phosphorus) and Potassium (Potassium). This refers to those three main nutrients plants need and is often rendered as 3-4-4 or 12-12-12. The numbers equal the percentage weight of each nutrient in the package. Of course, it often contains other substances such as magnesium, iron, calcium and manganese.

To get your vegetable garden started, or back in good order, start with general fertilization. There are some plants, such as the tomato plant that like some more specific nutrition such as

CANNA Terra Flores

. This also contains calcium which helps against blossom rot, also called nose rot.

Phosphorus (P) is important because it stimulates root growth and development

Looking at later in the season, some plants may benefit from extra nitrogen (N). Nitrogen helps with leaf growth and there are vegetables that benefit from it:

• 
  Kool
  
  and
  

  broccoli

  
  

   

  
  can use some more three weeks after transplanting.
• 
  

  Peas

  
  

   

  
  ,
  
  beans
  
  and
  

  cucumbers

  
  

   

  
  can be added after they begin to blossom.
• 
  

  Peppers

  
  

   

  
  ,
  
  peppers
  
  
  

  eggplants

  
  

   

  
  and
  
  tomatoes
  
  can use extra nutrition as the first fruits develop. Tomatoes can even get some two weeks after the first tomato is picked.
• 
  Corn
  
  When plants are 15 to 25 cm tall and when husk develops.
• 
  

  Spinach

  
  

   

  
  and
  
  kale
  
  When they are about 1/3 of their growth.
• These vegetables do NOT give you extra phosphorus: sweet potato, watermelon,
  

  carrots

  
  

   

  
  ,
  

  beets

  
  

   

  
  ,
  

  lettuce

  
  

   

  
  .

How to use manure pellets

We talked earlier about granular fertilizers, ideal for the beginning of the season when you don’t want to work your entire vegetable garden with manure. You can easily spread these pellets over a large area. It is important, however, that you then allow these to soak into the soil well with water, so be sure to water well after applying the fertilizer. The fertilizer should go about 5 to 10 cm deep. In seedbeds, planters or pots, you can easily use a

garden rake

or

garden shovel

use.

A good tip is to spread the pellets before it rains. The rain brings nutrition deep toward the roots so the plant can make use of it.

How do you use liquid fertilizers?

Liquid fertilizers are mixed with water and then poured over the soil at the base of the plant. It is important to note that you never use more than what is written on the package. This is because liquid plant nutrients are stronger than pellets and can burn the roots or give the plant a “nutrient burn” where the plant has simply received too much nutrient and there is nothing more it can do.

It is also unwise to give liquid plant food to plants you have just repotted. This is because the roots of the plants are still somewhat sensitive and fragile after repotting. Liquid fertilizers can therefore easily burn the roots.

Many vegetable gardeners wait about 2 to 3 weeks before giving flyable fertilizer to their plants so that the plants have time to repair their root damage after repotting.

Before giving your liquid plant food, give the plant some water. This will prevent the roots from burning because of dry soil. Again, make sure you dilute it as stated on the package and use no more than necessary.

Manure for vegetable garden at The Grow Supplier

So we know how important it is to give the plants what they need. That’s the reason we at The Grow Supplier have carefully curated our range of plant food and fertilizer. All of our plant foods are organic and help grow the tastiest vegetables in your own garden. Here are some more of our plant foods:

• 
  

  Canna Terra:

  
  

   

  
  The Canna Terra line consists of nutrients for different phases of your vegetable plant. There is
  

  Canna Terra Vega

  
  

   

  
  for the growth phase and Canna
  

  Terra Flores

  
  

   

  
  for the flower and fruit phases.
• 
  

  OG Nutrition:

  
  

   

  
  The OG Nutrition line consists of three nutrients that complement each other and includes
  

  Cellar

  
  

   

  
  ,
  

  impulse

  
  

   

  
  and
  

  Curing

  
  

   

  
  . This gives you everything your plants need.
• 
  

  Fiery Fruit Fuel

  
  

   

  
  : Fiery Fruit Fuel specifically targets “fruiting plants” such as peppers, peppers and tomatoes. It contains everything these plants need for nutrition and is a water-soluble granulate. This makes it very effecient to use.

Fertilizers for large vegetable gardens

We also have bulk manure and garden soil from Bio Kultura, namely:

• 
  

  Organic garden soil compost 1m3

  
  

   

  
  &
  

  Organic garden compost 2m3

  
  

   

  
  
• Organic manure compost 1m3

All in all, we have done our best to put together the best possible range of fertilizers and plant food for the vegetable garden on our website.

Vegetable gardener with pleasure

Now you know the basics of fertilization and can get started with it.

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