All About Home and Garden

Fertilizing vegetable gardens is a reasonably easy task, but it's not the only thing you need to do to prepare the soil in your vegetable garden. Before starting to fertilize and perform other soil preparation, make sure that it's truly planting season first. You want to wait until the last possibility of frost has past and the garden soil must dry sufficiently for the best vegetable roots. Then you can get to work preparing and fertilizing your vegetable garden.

Fertilizing Preparation

There is a good all around formula for preparing your soil before planting for the season. Cover your garden with about 1" of fresh loam. Then add over that 2-3 inches of good compost. Add to that a good all around 10-10-10 fertilizer.

Thoroughly mix all this into the garden soil. The combination of organic materials with the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer will make your garden space a haven for healthy root growth. While you're tilling the soil, take time to remove any weed roots. Be sure to dispose of them far away, you don't want them finding their way back into the garden. You can see that there's a bit more to soil preparation than just the fertilizer. The compost adds other organic materials to keep the soil rich

Fertilizing Process

Make sure to take a look at the instructions on the bag of fertilizer. Take note of any specific remediation for particular soil conditions. You'll also need to make sure to apply the correct amount, or you risk damaging your plants' roots. Once you're done with the fertilizer, give the garden a quick rinse and water to start the absorption process into the ground and root systems.

Reapplying the Fertilizer

If you're growing plants with a long growing season, then you will most likely need to fertilize again later in the season. This shouldn't be as involved as the setup/preparation step above, but adding fertilizer will reinvigorate your plants and keep them growing strong. Just dig a small hole or ditch near the plants and drop in a little of the fertilizer. Don't forget to water, and make sure you don't get too close to the roots when injecting the fertilizer.

Ready to Plant?

Once you've got the soil setup and ready to go, there is an easy and reliable way to determine if your soil dampness is good for planting. Take a large handful of soil and squeeze it in your hand tightly. When you open your hand it should form a ball. Take your other hand and press on that ball. The ball should crumble. If the ball won't crumble the ground is too wet, if it turns to dust the ground is much to dry.

You can use the time you are waiting for the soil to get to the best planting texture to test the nutrient level. Many counties have agricultural cooperative extensions and some local nurseries that will test your soil for a modest fee. Nutrients are removed from your garden space every season. You cannot be certain which nutrients need replenishing without proper testing.

Without question good soil is essential to growing the best vegetables. The time spent preparing the soil in your garden space for vegetables will be rewarded. You want the ground to have a crumbly texture. This gives your vegetables the best environment to take the nutrients from the earth and bless you with a bountiful harvest.

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