:)

[serabelle]

I am soooooo happy that garden season is finally here! I live in Western PA, so watching all of you post your beautiful pictures has just been maddening for the past couple of months! I spent almost my entire weekend in the dirt though, so now I feel much better

Comments

[david_anderson]

Jerry Baker is a quack. Think about it, miracle grow isn't enough by itself, you need to add ammonia to get that instant nitrogen burn. But since you are adding way too much nitrogen, you better add sugars, so that whatever bacteria survive can take up all that excess nitrogen. Plants make sugar, they don't absorb it. Giving the microbes a boost of sugar isn't necessarily a bad idea, but in this case you are going to be selecting big time for whatever survives this concoction.

Concentrate on building your soil, instead of quickly greening up your plants. That miracle gro/ammonia mix will work on killing you soil while providing the quick nitrogen, but it hurts you in the long run, making your plants dependent on the chemicals.

[serabelle]

Thanks for this -- I was skeptical about the whole situation. I put a lot of work into my soil this year, so it's good to know what to avoid!

[david_anderson]

Definitely keep up your good work on building your soil. It will get better and better each year. If you need some "quick green" stuff, take it as a sign that your soil needs more work, rather than looking for an instant fix. The quickest fix I will go for with nitrogen in my veggie garden is blood meal. It is sort of a medium speed when compared to ammonia, though it's fast compared to other organics (other than urine), but the N is released by microbial action on the proteins, so it isn't slamming the microbes.

[serabelle]

Awesome information, I'm assuming you do all organic?

[david_anderson]

All organic, at least in the J.I. Rodale sense of "organic". Not necessarily in the USDA National Organics Program sense. I puton compost tea too clse to harvest, my compost pile often doesn't reach the time and temperature requirements, if I had a cow and it had an infection, I'd give them an antibiotic.

[blindaurora]

You know antibiotics for truly sick animals is an aspect of organic farming I hadn't given much thought to. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[david_anderson]

That's why I'm a huge advocate of "getting to know your farmer" over whether they are certified organic. There are often good reasons for a farmer to avoid getting certified, and if you agree with their reason, there is no reason not to buy from them. On the other hand, organic certification does give you certain guarantees when you are buying commodities at the store

[ayse]

I'll second that Jerry Baker is a quack. Look at that formula: he has you putting dish soap on your plants. Dish detergent will KILL plants, and if you applied it to the point of runoff.... That man makes me crazy.

I'll also second that you should build your soil rather than use synthetic fertilizers. If you spend more time making great soil than fussing with the possible nutritional needs of a few plants you will have a much better garden. Not to mention that all fertilizers leave behind salts in the soil that will build up and start burning your plants. Commercial growers do this regular maintenance called leaching where they flood the fields and let the salts leach out (into our drinking water, but that's another story) so the field will be fertile again. Most homeowners are either not able or willing to do something that drastic.