Everyone has to eat to stay alive. With out a regular source of starch, protein and other nutrients we would all very quickly die. Flowers have a different arrangement. They make use of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the air as well as the soil water in order to manufacture their very own starch and sugars. All they will need from the soil is a quantity of straightforward chemicals that they then use to produce all the amino acids, proteins, vitamins and enzymes etc.
All soils possess a stock of these vital chemicals known as plant nutrients, they come from the mineral part of the dirt (sand, clay, etc) as well as from the humus it contains (fallen leaves, dead roots, etc). When the soil is cultivated and garden plants grow in it, the balance is sometimes upset. Essential elements in the soil are diminished faster than they are replaced by natural means.
Probably the most serious loss includes three key elements - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They are known as the major plant nutrients, and are crucial in large amounts if the plants are to grow as anticipated. This means that these key plant nutrients have to be replaced on a regular basis. A proportion will be supplied if organic dressings such as compost or manure are applied, but we must use fertilizers as the main source of supply. A fertilizer is the material which offers appreciable amounts of more than one of the key plant nutrients without adding significantly to the humus content of our soil.
A bewildering number of fertilizers can be found in garden centres these days - organic and inorganic, straight and compound, liquid and solid. The decision is all yours. Do remember, however, there is no 'good' and 'bad' fertilizers, all of them have a job to carry out and the correct choice depends on the plant, dirt type, area involved, the time of year and so on. The golden rule is always to feed plants on a consistent basis, but no more than what the container recommends. In case you are undecided whether to feed or not, then let ones self be guided by the vigour of the plants. Fertilizer test kits are available, but the interpretation of the results can be difficult for your everyday gardener.
By law the producer of a product which is described as 'fertilizer' must declare the nitrogen, phosphates and potash content on the package. The content of most other nutrients must also be declared when they are added to the product.
The meaning of the words and figures on the package:
N = Total Nitrogen
P2O5 = Total phosphates
P2O5 soluble in water = Phosphates which are immediately available
P2O5 soluble in neutral ammonium citrate and in water = Phosphates which are immediately or very quickly available
P2O5 soluble only in mineral acids = Phosphates which are available slowly
K2O = Total
As an example: You purchase a bag of fertilizer, on the front it should have three numbers on display, in this instance let us say, 3:6:9 typically in red. What does this mean; number 3 refers the nitrogen content, so this fertilizer contains 3.0% N (nitrogen). The number 6 refers to phosphorus content, so this fertilizer has 6.0% P2O5 (phosphates or phosphoric acid). The number 9 refers to potassium content, so this fertilizer contains 9.0% K2O (potash).
Author Resource:
An incredible quantity of my time is spent in my garden, but as I am getting older and things are becoming harder to do. I have decided to make use of a company called Landscaper London . So far they have given me all the help and advice that I have asked for. I still do a bit of pottering around my own garden.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")