In this 227th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Tom discusses 9 Types of Garden Fertilizers and How to Use Them. Tom has tried different methods to improve plant growth in his gardens over the years, and he shares his experience and “recipes” with you.
This is intended to be a high level discussion of different fertilizers including Miracle Grow, Mittleider Method Micro-Nutrients, Used Coffee Ground Tea, Epsom Salt Tea, Comfrey Tea, Stinging Nettle Tea, Compost Tea, Worm Casting Tea and Fish Emulsion Tea.
Obviously this is just scratching the surface on garden fertilizers, and there are other products and methods that folks have used to successfully grow healthy plants and have excellent harvests. Feel free to add your methods to the conversation by providing a comment on this article, sending a comment to him at the Contact Us Page or sending an email to him at realsmallscalelife@gmail.com.
Garden Fertilizer Recipes
The following section will have “Garden Fertilizer Recipes” that you can use and try in your own garden. For all of these “teas,” you should use non-chlorinated water. If you use water from the tap or hose, make sure you let the water stand for about 24 hours to off gas the chlorine in the tap water. Yes, friends, our municipal water supply does have chlorine in it, and you don’t want to add chlorine to your soil and your plants.
For those of you with access to well water, rain water or pond/lake/river water, you can skip this off gassing “waiting period.” Mother Nature does not add chlorine to your water, and that is really a benefit of having a rain barrel or a well.
I have been using my rain barrel here at The Landing where I can, and I used well water at Driftless Oaks Farm.
REMEMBER: for all of these methods, I put the “tea” around the base of the plant. I do not spray the leaves of any of the plants. Keep it “low and slow” to minimize any viruses or blight. Wet leaves can equal blight, and we do not want that in our Small Scale Gardens.
Miracle Gro Garden Fertilizer
For the first time ever, I use Miracle Gro Garden Fertilizer in one of my gardens. This is truly one of the dark arts of gardening.
For my gardens, I followed the instructions on the side of the container. I put 1-1/4 Tablespoon of the Miracle Gro granules per gallon of water.
Mittleider Grow Method Mirco Nutrients and Garden Fertilizer
Links
Learn more about my Small Scale Garden and Gardening here at the The Landing on the Banks of the Willow River:
Garden Chat: Building a Gardening and Homesteading Advice
3 Critical Elements of Vegetable Garden Layout Design and Planning
Intro to Rain Gutter Grow Systems
Introduction: How Build Vertical Garden Planters
Small Scale Life Wellness Facebook Group
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Special Thanks
For Small Scale Life Podcasts, I would like to thank Sean at Osi and the Jupiter for the intro song "Harvest." Sean wrote this specifically for us, and I really enjoy all of his work. You can find more Osi and the Jupiter at their Bandcamp site: https://osifolk.bandcamp.com/
I would also like to thank Austin Quinn at Vlog Vibes for the intro and outro music. For more information abut Austin and Vlog Vibes, please see the Vlog Vibes YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY80LeqtJf-YBzJy2TWKpDw