Let’s get one thing straight: raspberries are hungry plants. They’ll suck up a ton of nutrients, and if you want a good harvest, you have to fertilize them. But that doesn’t mean you need a fancy raspberry fertilizer with a pretty label and a bloated price tag.

The Only Raspberry Fertilizer You Need

There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there about raspberry fertilizer. Some say you need high potassium, some say you need more nitrogen.

It’s very confusing. Thankfully, this article is not confusing.

I’ll get right to the point about which raspberry fertilizer you actually need and why it’s the best one. Don’t waste your money on other crap that you don’t need.

Let’s not waste any more time and get right into it.

Products:

FoxFarm fruit and flower fertilizer

FoxFarm microbe brew

Raspberry plants

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

Do Raspberries Need Fertilizer?

Raspberries are heavy feeders, meaning they use up a ton of nutrients to grow properly and produce a ton of fruit.

They’re not like those delicate little flowers you throw in a pot and forget about. Raspberries need lots of organic matter, fertilizer and water to give you a good harvest.

They grow really fast, spread wide, put out a ton of leaves and roots, and they’ll give you some good fruit.

In their native growing conditions, they grow in very fertile soil, so they’re never left without nutrients. If you don’t fertilize them, then you’ll get weak canes and small fruit.

And the fruit probably won’t even taste that good.

What Nutrients do Raspberries Need? (Best NPK for Raspberries)

NPK stands for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Each letter is the symbol for each element on the periodic table.

Each number represents the percent by weight of each element in a fertilizer. Every commercial fertilizer has an NPK ratio on the package.

Let’s say, for example, a fertilizer has an NPK ratio of 3-7-1. That means it’s 3% nitrogen, 7% phosphorus, and 1% potassium by weight. Very simple.

I can’t and I won’t give you an exact NPK ratio for raspberry plants because that just doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t.

Anyone who says something like, “You NEED this NPK fertilizer for your raspberries” is lying. Raspberries can’t tell what NPK ratio they’re getting.

You need to understand what the main purpose of each nutrient is in a plant:

1. Nitrogen (N): Nitrogen is used mainly for leafy growth. So people who tell you that raspberries don’t need a lot of nitrogen obviously have never actually grown raspberries. They put out a ton of dark green leaves that collect the energy for the developing fruits.
2. Phosphorus (P): Phosphorus is mostly used for root, flower, and fruit development in raspberries. We all know how many roots, flowers, and fruits raspberries produce. If they don’t get enough phosphorus, you won’t get enough raspberries. Plain and simple.
3. Potassium (K): Potassium is used for fruit development, disease resistance, and overall plant health. Together with phosphorus, it is necessary for healthy fruits. Plus, potassium helps with many of the physiological functions of raspberries.

These are the macronutrients that raspberries need, meaning they need them in the greatest quantities. If your plants don’t get them, you won’t get good raspberries.

They also need several micronutrients like calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and iron – the stuff that most cheap synthetic fertilizers don’t have.

These nutrients are also used for overall physiological functions.

Are Synthetic or Organic Fertilizers Better for Raspberries?

Here’s the honest truth: it doesn’t really matter.

I know that gets the organic hippies upset but it’s true. It doesn’t really matter if you use synthetic or organic fertilizers for your raspberry plants. It just doesn’t.

Do I have a preference? Yea, I prefer organic fertilizers. And I’ll tell you exactly why.

Firstly, organic fertilizers are derived from organic sources. They’re not made in a lab by some guy with a degree.

They’re made from real ingredients derived from natural sources. They have nutrients, yes, but in their natural form.

Synthetic fertilizers have nutrients in their fully bioavailable form, making them ready for your plants. This is good in one way but can be bad in other ways.

This high bioavailability can cause your plants to take in a lot of nutrients, causing them to get nutrient burn. It becomes a bigger problem the more you use synthetic fertilizers.

If you’re only doing one application here and there, it really won’t do any harm. But if you’re fully reliant on synthetic fertilizers just to see some growth, then there’s a problem.

Importance of Soil Microorganisms

People who rely heavily on synthetic fertilizers often overlook the actual health of their soil. They don’t care about organisms in their garden, just the nutrients that are going in.

But I’ll tell you that no matter how much Miracle-Gro you put into your garden, you won’t have healthy soil. You just won’t. Because that’s not what contributes to healthy soil.

Microorganisms in your soil are actually what make healthy soil. It’s very simple.

It’s often found that the higher quantity and diversity of beneficial microbes in your soil, the healthier your plants will be. Quantity and diversity.

But are microbes in the soil or do you have to add them? Well, both.

Yea, there’re microbes in your soil already. I mean, that’s just the nature of nature. But are they as numerous and diverse as we want? Probably not.

So there are ways that you can actually add microbes into your soil. They have products for this, like FoxFarm microbe brew, that add microbes directly to your soil.

Just dilute a bit with water and soak your soil.

You should also be using lots of compost or manure. These contain millions of microbes that populate your soil and help your plants.

Remember when I said that organic fertilizers are not bioavailable to your plants right away? That’s what microbes do. They break down the fertilizer into a bioavailable form so your plants can actually absorb them.

Importance of Organic Matter

Again, adding a bunch of fertilizer to your soil won’t do anything in the long run. It won’t fix your soil, it won’t fix your plants, it won’t fix your marriage.

But even if you add a bunch of microbes to your soil; if you don’t feed them, they’ll just die and all that was for nothing.

Microorganisms eat organic matter. Mulch, manure, compost, leaves, and food scraps are the main food sources for microorganisms.

They eat these materials and convert them into bioavailable nutrients that your plants can actually absorb.

Add a bunch of compost or manure to your soil to help feed the soil microbes.

If you don’t do this, the microbes will die. That’s it.

Stop Searching for a “Raspberry Fertilizer”

Commercial fertilizer products that have the phrase “raspberry fertilizer” really get me upset.

Here’s a little industry secret: most of those super specific fertilizers are just all-purpose blends repackaged and renamed in different bags.

They write “for raspberries” on the front of the bag, increase the price, and hope you won’t notice.

There’s nothing inherently different about them that makes them a “raspberry fertilizer.” There just isn’t. Don’t fall for it.

The Only Raspberry Fertilizer You Need

Most people have heard of FoxFarm. They have their Happy Frog and Bush Doctor lines with amazing organic fertilizer products.

If you want fertilizers that work, like actually work, then make sure to check them out because it turns out they make a great fertilizer for raspberry plants.

FoxFarm fruit and flower granular fertilizer is the perfect fertilizer for flowering and fruiting crops, especially raspberries.

This fertilizer meets raspberry needs

With an NPK ratio of 4-9-3, this fertilizer is perfect for the growth and development of healthy raspberry plants.

I did say that NPK doesn’t matter, but only in the grand scheme of things. If the NPK was something like 5-8-3, it’d still be good.

I never stress about a perfect NPK, but the phosphorus and potassium is great for heavy fruiting. Plus, the nitrogen will fuel all that leafy growth.

It’s not front-loaded with nitrogen like a lawn fertilizer, it’s actually made for fruit production.

It’s loaded with microorganisms

Not only does it have nutrients, but it also has beneficial microorganisms. They’re called mycorrhizal fungi and they’re great for perennial plants.

It’s not crap; they’re necessary to break down nutrients into bioavailable forms for your plants. And it’s great that the fertilizer already has them inside.

These fungi will reproduce and colonize your soil. They form symbiotic relationships with plants and actually help them absorb water and nutrients. Isn’t that crazy?

They break down organic matter into bioavailable nutrients and transport it directly to your plants. That’s definitely worth it in my opinion.

You can use it for other plants

Like I said, it’s not one of those recycled “raspberry fertilizers” that really don’t do anything special.

It’s made for all flowering and fruiting crops. This includes tomatoes, eggplants, squash, blueberries, peppers, strawberries, and so many other plants.

It’s the kind of fertilizer you buy once and use for your entire garden. And that’s how it should be.

So don’t hesitate to pick up FoxFarm fruit and flower fertilizer to fertilize all your raspberry plants this year.

When to Fertilize Raspberries

Don’t overcomplicate this. It’s simple.

Here’s how I like to do it; nothing complicated:

1. Early Spring: Wait until you start to see the first shoots appear. Don’t be cheap; put a bunch in there and scratch into the top inch of soil. Then add your compost, mulch, and water. Some people do it right when the ground defrosts before new growth appears, but this just means that more fertilizer will wash away before your plants can use it.
2. Mid Season: Once you see the first flowers appear, then you know you have to fertilize again. They’ll be using a lot of nutrients at this time, so again, don’t be cheap. Part the mulch, throw a bunch in there, scratch it in, put the mulch back, and water.

That’s it. FoxFarm fruit and flower fertilizer is perfect for these applications.

Some people say to fertilize again in the fall. The problem is that your plants won’t even use those nutrients before the ground freezes and they go dormant.

Don’t dump fertilizer on your plants in the fall; it’ll just wash away and you’ll waste it.

I heard someone else say one time, “Don’t fertilize raspberries past June!” What? Are you kidding? Why can’t you fertilizer raspberries past June?

They’re still growing and God knows that’s when they produce the most fruit. So why wouldn’t you fertilize past June? Makes no sense to me.

Is Liquid Raspberry Fertilizer Good?

If liquid raspberry fertilizer is the only thing you have, then I guess it’s ok.

The only problem is that you’ll have to fertilize so often during the growing season because raspberries are heavy feeders.

Liquid fertilizers often don’t give this kind of nutrition and they don’t stay in the soil for as long.

FoxFarm fruit and flower fertilizer is granular, meaning it’s dehydrated and ground up. It’ll stay in the soil for a long time, releasing its nutrients slowly as it gets broken down.

Plus it’s a hassle to manually water your garden with a watering can every other day just to fertilize. Nobody wants to do that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter. Do This Instead
• Planting Bare Root Raspberries in Spring
• Is Window Light Enough for Seedlings?

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t send you spam, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

This is the Only Raspberry Fertilizer You’ll Need for Your Garden

Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter as Much as They Say it Does

The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks to Grow Juicy Cucumbers

The Quick and Easy Way to STOP Blossom End Rot

10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow

3 Cheap and Easy Bean Trellis Ideas for Growing Tons of Beans

5 Easy Tomato Trellis Ideas for ANY Garden

How to Grow Cucumbers from Seed to Harvest

The post This is the Only Raspberry Fertilizer You’ll Need for Your Garden appeared first on The Real Gardener.

You’ve probably seen those perfect little charts showing how far apart to plant your tomatoes. “Space indeterminate varieties 24-36 inches apart.” “Keep rows 3-4 feet apart.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s cute on paper. But let’s be real: if you’ve got a small backyard garden, that kind of tomato plant spacing is a fantasy.

Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter

Nobody with a backyard vegetable garden is giving up half their bed just for some imaginary airflow. And you know what? Tomatoes still grow.

That’s just the nature of plants. They grow.

I’ve never seen a plant in the wild afraid about growing too close to something else. Especially the exact same plant.

So let’s cut through the crap and talk about what actually matters when it comes to tomato spacing. Plus, I’ll show you what you can do instead.

I promise, I know backyard vegetable gardening.

Products:

Tomato seeds

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Textbook Advice vs. Real Life

A lot of these spacing requirements come from the back of tomato seed packets. If you’ve never read it, good.

But I’ll tell you about it anyways.

Most of those instructions say to space your tomatoes 24-36 inches apart. What?! Are you crazy?! That’s 2-3 whole feet!

And they say to space rows 3-4 feet apart. Who has that kind of space?

There’s no way I’d have the space for that kind of spacing in my garden. And I know you don’t either. That’s exactly my point.

Even though we use these seeds, the instructions are not made for us. They’re based on:

• Ideal conditions. Something we don’t always have in our specific growing zone, let alone our backyard.
• Wide, open spaces. Basically a farm. Most vegetable gardeners don’t have that kind of space. Most of use have a backyard, patio, balcony, or something like that.
• Commercial growing setups. Again, this is industrial agriculture, not home gardening.
• People who apparently have unlimited garden beds and nothing better to do. Anybody who’s lived a day in this world knows that most people can’t do this.

Then the online gardening experts like to parrot this information to their followers. And that’s where the problems start.

Then people actually start following these spacing requirements and they complain about not having enough space. I get it, I used to do that too.

Planting tomatoes 2-3 feet apart was normal for me too, I know.

But I slowly started challenging those “experts.” And guess what: I still get tons of tomatoes.

Does Tomato Plant Spacing Matter at All?

I’ll be fair here.

Yes, tomato plant spacing does matter to a degree. I won’t lie about that. It’s true that the more cramped your tomato plants are, the more you’ll see these issues:

• Fungal diseases: Fungi spread quickly, especially in moist and stagnant conditions. If your plants are really close, fungi will have no issue moving around freely.
• Less airflow: Again, the more crowded they are, the less airflow there’ll be. This increases the risk of diseases, like powdery mildew.
• Difficulty pruning and harvesting: Your plants will be really close, so it’ll be more difficult to get in there to prune and harvest ripe fruits. You might have to do some digging around or you might miss some tomatoes.

But will your tomato plants die if they’re too close? No.

Will they still grow and produce a ton of fruit? Yes.

Will they take over your garden and look like a jungle? Also yes. But that’s kind of the beauty and fun of it. Nobody else will have a productive garden like yours.

What to Do Instead

Here’s what the practical backyard gardeners do to grow a bunch of tomatoes in a small space.

1. Pack them in

Get a bunch of tomato plants and pack them in closely if you have to. Yes, they’ll still grow. They’ll grow like a rainforest, sure, but they’ll grow.

You just have to keep an eye on them for that exact reason. If they get out of control, you have to spot it and take action.

The best thing to do is remove lower leaves and branches close to the floor. This will reduce the chances of pests and diseases getting onto the leaves.

Additionally, look for areas where the leaves are crowding each other, even along the tops of the plants. Removing these leaves will increase airflow and help prevent fungal diseases.

2. Forget about “rows”

Honestly, I never really understood what row spacing was for. It makes no sense to me. If the plants are spaced 2 feet apart regularly, why does there need to be 4 feet between rows?

Wouldn’t it just be 2 feet on all sides? I don’t know. Doesn’t make sense.

If the rows are meant for you to get in there to prune and weed, I guess it kind of makes sense. But we don’t have the space for that either.

So forget the row spacing entirely. That’s there for commercial growers where they need big machinery to come through.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any big machinery.

There’s no point of row spacing from my reasoning, so just space your tomatoes the same amount on all sides.

3. Grow vertically

It might sound obvious to a lot of people, but some people just don’t trellis their tomatoes. But this is what will impact your harvest the most.

If they’re sprawled all over the ground, obviously they’re going to get disease and crowd each other out. But if you allow them to grow vertically, all of a sudden you get more airflow and better harvests.

I have a full article on 5 tomato trellis ideas for any garden, but it really doesn’t matter in this case which one you use. Just get them off the ground.

If you like single stakes, good. Maybe you want a Florida weave or A-frame. That’s good too. They just have to be away from each other and away from the ground.

This will allow you to space them tighter, grow more plants, and still get a great harvest.

It’s what I and most other backyard vegetable gardeners do. And it works.

4. Don’t be afraid to experiment

Just try something different and see what happens. Nobody’s watching except you.

Or maybe you’re like me and your grandma comes outside to tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong. But that doesn’t matter.

Try planting your tomatoes closer together this year and see what happens. If you get blight or other issues, fix it for next year.

Is it possible that you’ll waste a growing season? Most probably not. It’s very unlikely that you’ll waste an entire growing season because of your experiment.

Is it possible that you’ll have a slight decrease in success one time? Yea, of course it is. But that shouldn’t stop you from trying.

It’s only natural that things change every growing season.

Just don’t let those garden experts tell you your plants are too close if they’re growing just fine.

How Close Can You Plant Tomatoes?

The honest answer is that I never measure my tomato plant spacing. So you can really plant them as close as you want.

As long as you’re ok with managing the chaos. I know I definitely am.

When planting tomatoes, I have this image in my mind of about 1 foot. I try to keep that spacing between all my plants.

If it goes down to 10 inches, who cares? I don’t. That doesn’t bother me now that I know that tomato plant spacing really doesn’t matter.

Maybe you have 2 feet between each plant. Great, they’ll definitely grow. You probably won’t have to do too much pruning.

If you’re like me and everything gets a foot, that’s even better. Now you can fit more plants in the same space, meaning you’ll get more fruit.

Maybe you’re trying to put 3 tomato plants in a 7 gallon container. I’ve never done that before, but I’m convinced they’ll grow just fine.

Yea, it’ll be tight, you’re right. But that’s where selective pruning comes in.

You should know that all of this might mean more pruning, trellising, tangled vines, and diseases. But if you’re ok with that, then do it.

If your plants are growing, producing fruit, and not collapsing under their own weight, then you’re good. Don’t let the internet or seed packets tell you otherwise.

This is your garden. Grow tomatoes the way gardeners actually grow them.

Tomato Plant Spacing With Square Foot Gardening

The idea of square foot gardening is when you divide your garden area into square feet. Lines are made with string or drip irrigation and each square is one square foot.

Each plant has its own number for how many of it can be planted in one square foot.

I don’t know all of them by heart but one example is that tomatoes are planted 1 plant per square foot.

This is one of the things that I agree with in square foot gardening. I think having tomato plants 1 foot apart is ideal for most vegetable gardeners.

I don’t particularly follow square foot gardening methods, but I think they can be valuable in some cases. Contrary to companion planting, it’s just used to increase the amount of vegetables you can grow in your garden.

Determinate Tomato Plant Spacing

It doesn’t matter if you’re growing determinate or indeterminate tomatoes, I still think spacing requirements are crap.

So I would follow the same advice for my determinate tomatoes that I’ve said before.

If you have to put 3 in one pot, then do it. I won’t judge.

Just know that determinate tomatoes can grow a little bit bushier. Oftentimes, their leaves are longer and larger than indeterminates.

This means that you’ll probably have to do some more pruning to maintain proper airflow. Again, if you don’t have a problem with that (which you probably don’t), then just do it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• How to Grow Cucumbers from Seed to Harvest
• Planting Bare Root Raspberries in Spring
• Is Window Light Enough for Seedlings?

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t send you spam, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

This is the Only Raspberry Fertilizer You’ll Need for Your Garden

Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter as Much as They Say it Does

The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks to Grow Juicy Cucumbers

The Quick and Easy Way to STOP Blossom End Rot

10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow

3 Cheap and Easy Bean Trellis Ideas for Growing Tons of Beans

5 Easy Tomato Trellis Ideas for ANY Garden

How to Grow Cucumbers from Seed to Harvest

The post Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter as Much as They Say it Does appeared first on The Real Gardener.

You’ve seen all the charts. You’ve read all the books. “Don’t plant onions near beans!” “Put basil next to tomatoes!” “Carrots love tomatoes!” It’s an uplifting idea that certain plants are best friends and others are mortal enemies. But let me ask you something: Have you ever actually seen companion planting play out in real life?

Companion Planting Doesn’t Matter

The answer is no, you haven’t seen it play out in real life. Neither have I.

Because here’s the truth that nobody says out loud: Companion planting doesn’t really matter. It just doesn’t. Sorry.

If you’re in a small backyard vegetable garden trying to grow some food, you don’t need a list of plant best friends. You just don’t.

It sounds nice in theory, but I’m going to show you why companion planting just doesn’t matter.

Products:

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

What is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is the idea that planting multiple different crops together will somehow benefit one of the crops or both at the same time.

Basically if you plant multiple different crops together, at least one of them will be benefited. Sounds simple, but it also sounds like nonsense.

They give all sorts of benefits. It’ll reduce pests, attract pollinators, improve the flavour of a crop, or something else.

Companion Planting vs. Interplanting

Interplanting is the practice of growing crops together in empty spaces to save garden space. It’s used just for the purpose of maximizing space in your vegetable garden.

It doesn’t give a direct benefit to a specific crop, like with companion planting.

Therefore, companion planting doesn’t include interplanting.

It also doesn’t include cover cropping because the plants aren’t actually growing together. You grow the cover crop, terminate it, then plant your vegetables.

Is Crop Rotation Companion Planting?

Crop rotation is the practice of rotating the planting of your crops every growing season.

Let’s say you have 4 garden beds and 4 crops. You’ll start with one crop in each bed and you’ll switch them up every year. The fifth year is when the same crop comes back to the same bed.

This practice supposedly helps to reduce pest and disease damage.

So you’re not actually growing multiple different crops together. You’re just switching them around.

Therefore, crop rotation is not companion planting.

I can’t really practice crop rotation on a large scale. I only have one spot where I can plant tomatoes because of the sunlight conditions, so that’s where they go every year.

Is Square Foot Gardening Companion Planting?

Square foot gardening is when you divide all your growing areas into square feet. Literally divide them. Most people use drip irrigation tubing to make the square feet visible. It’ll make a grid on your garden beds.

The proponents of this gardening method say that you can fit much more food when you actually space out your plants properly.

The default reference is 1 square foot. It becomes easy to space all the common vegetables because they’re all relative to 1 square foot, they say.

This really isn’t companion planting. Yes, you’re growing a bunch of different plants in one area, but not for the same reason as companion planting.

Square foot gardening is designed to save space, not to reduce pests or something else like that.

It’s more like interplanting than companion planting.

What They Say vs. What Happens

According to all those gardening experts, if you plant X next to Y, you’ll magically repel pests, improve flavour, boost growth, attract butterflies, and fix your marriage.

But that just doesn’t happen in real life. You just throw a bunch of plants in the ground and they grow, because that’s what plants do. They grow.

It’s not possible for you to run a research farm where you’re planting hundreds of rows of beans and marigolds. You’re growing some plants in raised beds, containers, or a small plot.

And guess what: It’s fine.

I know it’s fine because I do it every year.

When Companion Planting Kind of Works

Ok, I’m not going to just pretend everything is fake (even though it mostly is). There are a handful of situations where companion planting might help:

1. Interplanting flowers to attract pollinators. But even this is just common sense for most gardeners. I mean, how else are they going to get there? And it’s not like you need a specific type of flower.
2. Mixing in herbs to confuse plants. Again, it could work, but it’s a hit-or-miss. I’ve never seen that much success from this kind of companion planting.
3. Planting something tall for shade. Common sense again. It’s not surprising that a tall plant would shade out a shorter one.

But these aren’t companion planting secrets passed down by expert gardening wizards. It’s just basic plant behaviour. That’s it.

You don’t need a colour-coded spreadsheet to discover this.

Companion Planting 3 Sisters

“3 sisters” is a term that refers to corn, beans, and squash. They were historically grown by the Indigenous people of North America.

This is another one of the situations where companion planting actually does work. But not for the reasons that you think.

Nobody claims that the 3 sisters reduce pests or boost growth. Or at least they shouldn’t claim that.

It’s done for a couple main purposes:

• Bean Trellis: Corn naturally grows tall because of its central stem. This acts like a stalk that can support climbing bean varieties.
• Mulching: Squash is a trailing plant, meaning it grows along the ground. This creates a living mulch that helps to cool the soil and retain water.

These benefits are not superficial like companion planting benefits, so it’s not like regular companion planting.

This combination of plants has real benefits for a real backyard vegetable garden.

Why Companion Planting Doesn’t Work

Here’s why companion planting just doesn’t work if you’re growing vegetables in your backyard.

You don’t have enough space for it do anything

There’s no doubt that we don’t have lots of space in our backyards for vegetables. We just don’t. But that’s ok. There are ways around it.

But one of those ways is not companion planting. Those companion planting charts are assuming that you have dozens of plants of each variety.

God knows that most people can’t do that.

If you just have 6 tomato plants and some rosemary, it doesn’t make a difference if they’re growing next to each other. It just doesn’t.

And it would be a problem if it did make a difference. Where would you put them in that case? In your bedroom? Like where would they go?

Pests just don’t care

One of the main things that companion planting proponents say is that it helps to deter pests.

Are you serious? It deters pests? Anybody who’s ever been outside in their life knows that that is just not true.

Those aphids and hornworms aren’t out studying your garden. They’ll be there whether you planted garlic or not. And guess what: they don’t care.

If you’ve dealt with pests in any way on your vegetables, you know that they’ll come back. You’ll kill them, sure, but then they’ll come back. You’ll do some weird companion planting combo, but they’ll come back.

That’s just the nature of pests.

For example, some people practice companion planting to deter cabbage moths. The problem is that the cabbages are always going to be there. Those moths will find a way, trust me.

It makes gardening more complicated than it needs to be

Gardening shouldn’t be complicated. Actually, I think it’s fairly simple. But not everybody agrees with me.

Companion planting promoters really just make you start second guessing all of your plantings. “Oh no, I can’t plant onions here cause my beans are already growing.”

Come on. Just stop. Grow your onions; they’ll be fine.

Especially if you don’t have a lot of space like me. Like I said, where are you going to put those plants? I can’t just make space for them.

Most of it’s based on folklore

Most of the companion planting rules and combinations aren’t factual. They’re just rules from someone’s grandma passed down with zero evidence.

I’m saying they’re totally useless, or that you shouldn’t listen to your grandma, but it does mean that I don’t have to recognize them. And neither do you.

And you definitely shouldn’t have to reorganize your entire garden just because of these rules either. That’d be a waste of your precious time.

And I’m also not saying that everything needs to be determined by triple laboratory-analyzed studies. No, I don’t believe that either.

But anybody can make up these rules for whatever reason; why should I pay attention?

Here’s What Actually Matters

Here are my tips for successful “companion planting” in your backyard vegetable garden.

1. Plant what fits

We all know that backyard vegetable gardening doesn’t provide us with much space. I know, I have one as well, and I’m always complaining about the space.

But it gets worse if you try to think of different companion plant combinations that you need to plant. All of a sudden, you’re planting flowers where you need to grow peppers.

I’m not saying that flowers are bad to grow, but come on. If you don’t have the space for flowers, then don’t plant them.

If you don’t have the space for elaborate companion planting ideas, then don’t do it.

Just plant what you can fit. That’s it. Very simple.

If it fits in your space, put it there. Done. Don’t be worrying about those spreadsheets that say everything except practical gardening tips.

Don’t rearrange your entire garden because of what the “experts” say. Just don’t, it’s not worth it with what little space we have.

2. Use your eyes, not a chart

A companion planting chart can’t see your garden, only you can. Even if it could see, it wouldn’t be able to know your garden. Only you can do that.

Look around your garden and see what’s working and what isn’t working.

If one plant is shading another one, remove it or cut it back. It really is that simple. You don’t need to memorize a plant compatibility chart to do that.

Then you will remember, “Ok, peppers grow too tall that they shade out my carrots. Next year I’ll plant my carrots in front of my peppers.” That’s it.

3. Diversity is always better

Farms are made entirely of monocrops, meaning they only grow one crop for hundreds of acres. Obviously this can’t be done in our backyard vegetable gardens.

We want tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, radishes, and so many other crops. And that’s good. Diversity in the garden is good.

The more variety you grow, the healthier your garden tends to be.

It’s not because basil is secretly whispering words of encouragement to your tomatoes. Or because your carrots are somehow supporting your bean roots.

It’s because a diverse garden naturally attracts different beneficial insects. And that’s expected. They have more hiding places, shelter, and food sources.

4. Grow what you like

They tell you all these things that you have to grow as the perfect companions for your other plants. But sometimes I just don’t want to grow green onions next to my cucumbers.

Sometimes I just don’t want to grow green onions at all. Sometimes I don’t want to grow marigolds.

And that’s perfectly fine because it doesn’t do anything anyways. I just want to grow some vegetables and that’s it.

They won’t be upset if they don’t see their best friend next to them. They can handle it.

Don’t force yourself to grow any of those plants just because someone told you that they go together perfectly. If you don’t want it, don’t grow it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• Best Organic Fertilizer for Lettuce
• How to Use Manure in the Garden
• 5 Vegetables to Grow in Hanging Planters

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t spam you, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

Companion Planting is Overrated. Do This Instead

Best Organic Fertilizer for Vegetables That WORK

Compost vs Manure: Which One’s Better for Your Garden?

The Best Fertilizer for Pepper Plants to Grow Delicious Fruits

How to Start a 5 Gallon Bucket Garden for Beginners

9 Practical Uses for Sawdust in the Garden

How to Make a Hugelkultur Raised Bed for Growing Vegetables

Vegetable Garden Watering Tips for Healthy Plants

The post Companion Planting is Overrated. Do This Instead appeared first on The Real Gardener.

Lettuce is one of the easiest and fastest vegetables you can grow. But without the right fertilizer, it turns bitter, bolts early, or grows weak and limp. Whether you’re growing leaf, romaine, or butterhead lettuce, the truth is: fertilizer makes or breaks your harvest. If you want big, crisp, sweet-tasting leaves, this post gives you everything you need to know about fertilizing lettuce that actually works.

The Best Fertilizer for Lettuce Plants

Fertilizer is something that’s debated with lettuce plants. Especially considering that they grow so quickly and produce a good harvest in almost any soil.

But the truth is that the right fertilizer will give you a better lettuce harvest. But you have to use the right one.

I’m going to show you why lettuce needs fertilizer, the exact nutrients they need, the best times to fertilize, and the best fertilizers for lettuce plants.

So let’s get right into it.

Products:

Lettuce seeds

Espoma organic fertilizers

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

Why Lettuce Needs Fertilizer

Compared to fruiting crops like tomatoes and peppers, lettuce is a light feeder. This means it actually doesn’t need a lot of nutrients to grow well.

But that doesn’t mean it can grow in poor soil.

It needs a steady stream of nutrients to produce flavourful lettuce greens, especially nitrogen.

Here are some signs your lettuce needs to be fertilized:

• Pale or Yellowing: If the leaves of your lettuce are slightly light in colour or full on yellow, then they probably need some nitrogen.
• Growing Slowly: If your plants are growing particularly slowly compared to other plants in your garden, then it’s likely that they need to be fertilized.
• Bitter Leaves: It’s not always the case, but bitter leaves can be caused by a lack of nutrients. It causes stress and makes the leaves bitter.

Look out for these signs to see if your lettuce plants are devoid of nutrients. They won’t necessarily show these signs, but if there’re really no nutrients, then you’ll notice them.

Can Lettuce Grow Without Fertilizer?

Of course you can grow lettuce without fertilizer. But is it optimal? No.

Lettuce plants, just like every other garden vegetable, need certain nutrients that would otherwise not be in the soil if you don’t fertilize.

So if you don’t actually put the nutrients in, then they can’t get it.

And they still might grow to maturity, but you won’t get the best possible harvest. The leaves might be smaller, more bitter, or yellow in colour.

To avoid these issues and get a great lettuce harvest, make sure to use the right fertilizer for lettuce.

What Nutrients do Lettuce Plants Need?

Lettuce needs both macro and micronutrients to grow well.

Macronutrients are needed in the greatest quantity, while micronutrients are needed in much less quantities.

But you can’t just dump a bunch of synthetic fertilizer and hope to achieve the best results. Here are the 3 main macronutrients that lettuce plants need:

1. Nitrogen (N): Nitrogen is the most abundant nutrient in lettuce plants because it’s used for leaf and stem growth. All those leaves need a lot of nitrogen to produce well.
2. Phosphorus (P): Phosphorus is used mainly for root development in lettuce plants. It’s also used for flowering, but that’s not why we’re growing lettuce.
3. Potassium (K): Potassium is mostly used for overall plant health in lettuce. It does a lot of the smaller functions in the plants.

These 3 nutrients are used in the greatest quantities in lettuce plants.

Some micronutrients, like calcium, iron, boron, and magnesium, are necessary but used in smaller quantities in lettuce.

They’re mainly used for overall plant health and proper physiological functions.

Best Lettuce Fertilizer NPK (Lettuce Fertilizer Requirements)

NPK on fertilizers stands for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The letters are the symbols of each element on the periodic table.

Every commercial fertilizer has an NPK ratio on the package so you know the exact nutrient content of the product.

Each number represents the percent of each nutrient by weight. So an NPK ratio of 2-3-8 means the fertilizer has 2% nitrogen, 3% phosphorus, and 8% potassium.

The rest of the fertilizer is usually made up of fillers and other materials to bulk it up.

When looking for the right fertilizer, it’s hard to give an exact NPK ratio for lettuce plants. But generally, they need a high-nitrogen fertilizer.

A lot of people say to use a 10-10-10 fertilizer, but I generally avoid those high ratio fertilizers. They provide a balanced supply, not a targeted supply.

Why are Soil Macroorganisms Important?

Macroorganisms are large (not microscopic) organisms that break down large pieces of organic matter into smaller pieces. Things like leaves, wood chips, and grass clippings need to be chewed and broken down.

These organisms include worms, millipedes, beetles, and potato bugs. They eat and digest large pieces of dead organic matter, which is known as detritivorous.

When you put an organic fertilizer in your soil, the nutrients are not readily available to your plants just yet. They’re in the soil, but your plants can’t actually use them.

They’re in the form of organic matter, not readily available nutrients. This means that even organic fertilizers need to be broken down.

The smaller pieces of organic matter created by these organisms, along with the organisms’ excrement and the organic fertilizer, are further broken down by microorganisms.

Why are Soil Microorganisms Important?

Microorganisms, on the other hand, are microscopic organisms in your soil that break down organic matter. They finish the work started by the large organisms.

Fertilizers need to be broken down for the nutrients to become bioavailable for your lettuce plants. They get further broken down by microorganisms in the soil.

Large organisms can’t do all the work; microorganisms are what make the fertilizer bioavailable to your plants.

Without this decomposition process, your lettuce plants wouldn’t be able to absorb the nutrients. So the nutrients need to be broken down by microbes before your plants use them.

If you keep a healthy garden and avoid artificial products, you’ll usually have a ton of microorganisms in your soil already.

But if you want to increase their numbers, add some homemade compost or compost tea. These help to introduce large numbers of beneficial microbes to your soil.

Mulch can also increase the population of microorganisms in your soil, so make sure to use some. My favourite mulches are leaves and grass clippings.

Having a healthy mix of both types of organisms in your soil is ideal for healthy plant growth.

Granular vs. Liquid Fertilizer for Lettuce

Both granular and liquid fertilizers have their benefits for lettuce plants.

But you probably only have to choose one over the other because lettuce is a light feeder. So let’s see which one is better.

Granular Fertilizers

Granular fertilizer is made from dehydrating and grinding organic matter into a powder, making it look like flour.

Because of this, they release their nutrients over a longer period of time. The microbes need time to break it down into a bioavailable nutrient form.

That’s why you need soil that’s alive, not a pile of dirt.

They’re easier to apply as well; just open the bag and sprinkle a bunch on your soil. There are instructions on the package, but who’s going to read that?

Granular fertilizers are great for gardeners who want to fertilize their lettuce once throughout the whole growing season. They last for about 1 month in the soil, so about the time it takes for lettuce to mature.

If you have a lettuce variety that takes 70-80 days to mature, then you’ll probably have to do a second fertilizer application halfway through.

Liquid Fertilizers

Liquid fertilizers, on the other hand, are completely dissolved in water, creating a nutrient-rich solution. They need to be diluted with water before you apply them to your plants.

This category includes water-soluble fertilizers as well, which are fertilizers that still need to be dissolved before you use them.

Most liquid fertilizers still need some sort of decomposition before they become bioavailable, but it doesn’t take nearly as long as granular fertilizers.

Fish emulsion, on the other hand, is made of almost entirely readily available nutrients. This is because of the enzymatic and fermentation processes involved with making fish emulsion.

That means the nutrients will be available to your lettuce plants much quicker than granular fertilizers.

Liquid fertilizer application frequency depends on how strong the solution is. Generally speaking, an application every 2 weeks during the growing season is ideal.

Best Fertilizer for Lettuce Plants

Now we’ll get into my list of my favourite fertilizers for lettuce to get a great harvest.

Compost

Compost is mostly made from decomposed plant material and some animal material, like eggshells. It’s great for adding organic matter to your soil and supporting soil organisms.

It is technically an organic fertilizer, but it has a very low NPK ratio. It’s usually about 1-1-1, so fairly low considering most fertilizers.

But the point of compost isn’t to add a bunch of nutrients, it’s to add organic matter.

As we’ve talked about, organic matter is eaten by soil organisms, which also break down organic fertilizers into a bioavailable form.

If you don’t have enough organic matter, then your soil organism population will decrease. This means that your plants won’t have access to as many bioavailable nutrients.

Add compost to your soil at about 30-40% of the total volume. This will give good aeration, water-retention, soil structure, and support of soil organisms.

Manure

Manure is very similar to compost in the sense that it doesn’t have many actual nutrients. It’s mainly used to add organic matter and improve the structure of your soil.

The NPK ratio is roughly 1-1-1, making it very low in nutrients. But again, it supports the growth and development of soil organisms, which help make bioavailable nutrients for your plants.

In contrast to compost, manure is made completely from animal products, specifically animal poop. It repurposes this very common waste product from farms.

But it has to be broken down before you use it in your garden. It needs to age for at least 6-12 months. This process removes any pathogens that can harm your plants.

Apply manure at the same rate, roughly 30-40% of the total soil volume.

The best manures to use are cow, sheep, or goat.

I just bought about 10 bags of sheep manure and added it to my garden. I don’t mix it in, I just broadfork it a little bit to get it down a little deeper.

Espoma Blood Meal

I’ve spoken about blood meal in the past and everybody knows that I love it. It’s the perfect nitrogen-rich fertilizer for growing amazing lettuce.

It has an NPK ratio of 12-0-0, making it almost entirely nitrogen. It doesn’t have any phosphorus or potassium, but has many micronutrients like iron and magnesium.

And this shouldn’t be surprising considering the nutrient content of blood and other animal products.

I like to apply blood meal right at the beginning of the growing season. I put a nice pinch in the soil when transplanting my lettuce seedlings.

After the first application, you don’t really have to fertilizer again because blood meal is slow-release. This means it gets broken down very slowly, releasing its nutrients over a period of about a month.

And for anyone who thinks animal-based fertilizers are inhumane, then you’re wrong. Animals are generally not harvested for the sole purpose of making blood meal.

Blood meal is a byproduct of slaughterhouses. After the animals are killed (usually cows or pigs), the meat is sold in the store and the blood is collected to make blood meal.

Fertilome Fish Emulsion

Fertilome Fish emulsion is made from grinding fish waste into a slurry, and then a bunch of enzymatic and fermentation processes. These processes make the fertilizer almost completely bioavailable right away.

It has an NPK ratio of 5-1-1, making it highest in nitrogen. This is perfect for growing healthy lettuce leaves.

Additionally, it also has 1% each of phosphorus and potassium, which is great for root development and overall plant health.

Fish emulsion also contains many trace elements, like calcium, chloride, and sulfur, which is great for many of the plants’ physiological functions.

It says to apply it every month, but I think that’s too little. You should apply a diluted fish emulsion every 2 weeks for your lettuce plants. Anything more is unnecessary and will burn your plants.

Fish emulsion is also a good fertilizer for lettuce seedlings. Just dilute it to half the strength and apply it to all your seedling cells once the first true leaves appear.

Again, if anybody thinks fish emulsion is cruel to fish, then you’re wrong.

Only sometimes do they harvest fish for the sole purpose of making fish emulsion. It’s almost always made from byproducts; the bones, heads, scales, and organs are used.

This is actually a very sustainable practice because they’re repurposing waste instead of throwing it into the landfill.

Espoma Chicken Manure

Chicken manure is not like other manures that I’ve talked about. It’s much more potent and can easily burn your plants if you use too much.

This is true for all of the smaller animals’ manure. The smaller the animal, the stronger the manure. And that’s why chicken manure is used more like an organic fertilizer.

It’s dehydrated and ground into a powder, making it easy to sprinkle in your garden.

It has a fairly balanced NPK ratio of 3-2-3. This gives your lettuce plants a good spread of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. This helps with most plant growth patterns and functions.

It also has many micronutrients, like calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. These help with many of the physiological functions of lettuce plants.

Apply a good dose of chicken manure in the planting hole when transplanting seedlings. This’ll give them the boost they need for the rest of the time they’re growing.

You generally don’t have to do another application if you put enough the first time.

This is another fertilizer for lettuce that repurposes a common waste product, chicken manure. Or else, they’d be throwing all that into the landfill.

Espoma Bone Meal

This is another favourite of mine: bone meal. It’s made from cooking, dehydrating, and grinding animal bones into a fine powder.

Again, for those of you that think this is inhumane, it’s just not. Bones are going to be produced through regular meat consumption, it’s whether we use them or not that’s the problem.

By using them to make bone meal, we’re redirecting all that waste from the landfill into our vegetable gardens.

It has an NPK ratio of 4-12-0, making it higher in phosphorus than nitrogen. This might confuse you because I’ve said so much about how lettuce needs so much nitrogen.

But when combined with blood meal, you get the perfect supply of nitrogen and phosphorus for healthy leaves and roots.

I like to put a nice pinch of both blood and bone meal into the planting hole when I transplant my lettuce seedlings.

This is definitely my go-to fertilizer mix, so I hope you have good results with it.

When to Fertilize Lettuce Plants

When you fertilize your lettuce plants depends on which fertilizer you’re using.

For granular fertilizers, you really only need to apply them once at the time of transplanting. Add a good pinch in the planting hole before you plant your seedling.

This usually supplies nutrients for the entire plant’s lifespan, especially considering that lettuce plants only mature in 30-60 days. Granular fertilizers release their nutrients over a period of about 1-2 months.

For liquid fertilizers, you’re going to have to apply them every 2 weeks or so during the growing season. This is because they’re weaker and their nutrients are more bioavailable to your plants.

This means they don’t have to be broken down before your plants use them. Things like fish emulsion and other liquid fertilizers can be applied to your lettuce plants every 2-3 weeks for a constant nutrient supply.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks
• How to Use Manure in the Garden
• 5 Vegetables to Grow in Hanging Planters

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t spam you, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

The Best Organic Fertilizer for Lettuce Plants That You NEED

3 DIY Pea Trellis Ideas That WORK and Increase Your Harvest

How to Grow Broccoli the RIGHT Way (What People Get Wrong)

Is Window Light Enough for Seedlings? The Truth

9 Warm-Season Vegetables to Grow in Containers

Planting Bare Root Raspberries in Spring

How to Grow Lettuce From Seed in Every Season

Fix These 11 Common Seedling Problems Easily

The post The Best Organic Fertilizer for Lettuce Plants That You NEED appeared first on The Real Gardener.

When most people think of hanging planters, they imagine flowers. But if you’re smart about it, hanging planters can be used to grow fresh vegetables, especially if you’re short on space. Not every vegetable belongs in a hanging planter, though. You need plants that either trail naturally, stay compact, or have shallow roots. And I’ll introduce you to exactly that.

Vegetables to Grow in Hanging Planters

Whether you’re short on space or just want an aesthetic garden, hanging planters are the thing for you.

A lot of people don’t know that vegetables can actually be grown in hanging planters. They think that they are just for flowers.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

And let’s be honest: is there anything better than harvesting vegetables right from your porch?

Growing vegetables like this will multiply your growing space, allowing you to grow more food. And you’ll keep pests away from your precious food.

That being said, let’s get right into 5 vegetables you didn’t know could grow in hanging planters.

Products:

Self-watering hanging basket

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

Why Grow Vegetables in Hanging Planters?

There are many reasons why we would want to grow vegetables in hanging planters. So here are a few of them:

• Saves Space: Hanging planters can be used on patios, balconies, porches, and other underused spaces on our properties. You are able to take advantage of these spaces to grow more food in your garden.
• Better Airflow: Because the plants are above the ground and hanging in the air, there is much more airflow around them. This reduces pests like slugs and aphids, and reduces the risk of diseases like powdery mildew. But that won’t stop every pest. I still highly recommend using this high-quality floating row cover to protect from all of those flying pests.
• Accessibility: You don’t have to bend over to the ground to harvest your vegetables in hanging planters. They’ll either be at eye level or by stretching out a little bit to reach them.
• Aesthetic Value: It’s also true that hanging planters are just beautiful. Even with vegetables, they provide a hanging plant look that can’t be achieved any other way.

Choosing the Right Hanging Planter

Not all hanging planters are created equally.

There are different materials for different planters, each with their own benefits. There’s plastic, terracotta, fabric, and metal planters.

Personally, I like to use these plastic planters, simply because they’re cheaper. I don’t really worry about aesthetics when growing vegetables.

But if you do, then these terracotta planters would be better for you.

The best size for hanging planters is generally about 5 gallons, but you can use bigger or smaller if you need it for your plants.

But also know that the larger the pot, the heavier it will be. So if you’re not confident with the support, then don’t use a larger container.

5 gallon planters are generally a good size for most vegetables.

I also like to make my own hanging planters with grow bags. I’ll attach a strong string to the handles and attach that to my vertical support.

Because a lot of the time those hanging planters are expensive. So this helps me to save some money.

Another option for hanging planters is those ones that go on the railing of your porch or balcony. These are really easy to install and generally pretty sturdy.

Where to Hang Your Planters

It’s important to choose the right spot for your planters so they get enough sunlight and airflow.

Choose a place where the planters get at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight every day.

Normally I might say that it doesn’t matter that much with containers, as you can move them throughout the day. But it’s basically impossible to move hanging planters with the sun.

So make sure the spot gets enough sunlight from the beginning. A lot of us have large trees or other plants in our yards, so choose an area away from these.

Additionally, the support system needs to be strong enough to support the weight of the containers with all the soil in them.

Something like a railing, overhang, fence, or the wall is perfect for attaching your planters. These supports are usually pretty sturdy.

If you live in an area where the fences were made cheaply, then maybe don’t do that cause they’ll fall over.

You can attach them to windowsills, pergolas, or arbors as well.

To sum it up, choose a spot with lots of sunlight and a sturdy support structure.

How to Attach Hanging Planters

How you attach a hanging planter depends on what type of planter you have.

For railing planters, most of them just slip right on the top. The ones that I have lean too much forward to the point that they’re almost diagonal.

So I’ve had to put a piece of wood between the planter and the railing to keep it straight and upright.

For ceilings and overhangs, you’ll need heavy-duty anchor bolts. These can attach right to your structure and you can hand your pots on them.

This also provides a built in trellis for plants like tomatoes and peas.

Don’t attach these kinds of hooks to drywall or old wood. It has to be sturdy.

For walls or hanging planters for fences, you can use the same hooks or wall-mounted brackets. They work really well for fences because they’re usually pretty compact and effective.

These brackets allow you to hang any type of pot from your fence or wall.

Just make sure you have a strong hook on a strong support that can support the weight of your container full of wet soil and plants.

Make sure that the planters are not too high up, or else you won’t be able to water them. They should be at arm’s reach.

Preparing the Soil

With containers of any kind, you can’t just put regular old garden soil in there. It’s too heavy, meaning it’ll get compacted and reduce the amount of air, water, and nutrients your plants get.

This can be prevented by making the right soil mix.

A good container soil blend is usually 30-40% compost by volume, with the rest being high-quality potting soil.

This provides the water-retaining properties, some nutrients, and aeration.

Some people like to add coco coir for water-retention as well. But I find that, even though it holds onto more water, it takes a long time to get rehydrated after being dry for a while.

That’s my experience, but you can try it if you want.

I also like to add a bunch of perlite to give even more aeration. It’ll help to prevent compaction when the soil gets wet and dry.

You can also add some granular organic fertilizer, but we’ll talk about that later.

What do You Put in the Bottom of a Hanging Planter?

depending on how deep your containers are, you might not want to fill them all the way with soil. Not only would this be expensive, but it’s also unnecessary. You don’t need all that soil down there.

Instead, you can fill the first few inches of the container with any organic matter you have lying around. Leaves, grass clippings, shredded paper, or unfinished compost are perfect.

This creates a hugelkultur-style container for your hanging planters.

Watering Hanging Planters

You’ll notice that hanging planters dry out quickly, like super quickly. It’s kinda crazy, especially in the summer.

That being said, pay attention to the soil and make sure to water as often as you need it. You can check by sticking your finger in the soil up until your second knuckle.

If your finger tip is wet, then you don’t have to water. If your finger tip is dry, then you need to water.

During the summer, you might have to water some plants at least 2 times a day, depending on how hot it gets in your area.

Just make sure that the soil stays moist and your plants’ leaves are not drooping.

They have some self-watering planters on the market, but I’m not convinced they do anything. I guess you can fill up the bottom and water like that, but I don’t know.

If you’re curious about self-watering options, here’s a good one if you want to use it in your garden.

Fertilizing Hanging Planters

Fertilizing will be a little bit challenging because there’s hardly any life in your planter soil. It’s not raised beds or in-ground where there are tons of worms and microbes to break down organic matter.

That being said, you shouldn’t use a slow-release fertilizer like bone meal. These types of fertilizers release their nutrients over a longer period of time as they get broken down.

But since there’re barely any microorganisms in the soil, it basically won’t get broken down.

So you can put the fertilizer in there, but it won’t do anything for your plants.

Instead, I like to use a readily-available liquid fertilizer. You can dilute these with water and apply it to your planters every time you water them.

My favourite one is fish and seaweed fertilizer, which is an almost completely readily available liquid organic fertilizer.

It doesn’t need to be broken down any further to become bioavailable for your plants, so you don’t have to worry about that.

Another good one that I like to use is called HydraGarden. It’s a Canadian-made organic liquid fertilizer company. I use their products all the time in my YouTube videos.

I’m not affiliated with HydraGarden in any way, I just really like their fertilizers.

So dilute it with some water and use that every time you water your hanging planters. This will keep them happy and healthy through the growing season.

5 Vegetables to Grow in Hanging Planters

Now let’s get into our list of 5 vegetables you didn’t know could grow in hanging planters. And I won’t just be listing the obvious ones.

1. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are great for growing in hanging planters. But it’s better to grow varieties with smaller fruits compared to those with large fruits.

This is because it takes much more space, sun, energy, and nutrients to produce large tomatoes. And you probably won’t get that from a hanging planter.

Additionally, tomatoes can be grown vertically with a simple trellis, or you can let them trail down the side of the planter.

Trellising is because there’s already a strong string holding the container. You can make offshoots from that string and tie your tomato plants to it.

Or you can grow your tomatoes upside down. This is good if you have your containers really close to the roof and the tomatoes have nowhere to grow. So grow them upside down instead.

Make sure to keep up with watering, fertilizing, and pruning. Tomatoes can be fertilizes every time you water during the summer with a liquid organic fertilizer.

Here are some of my favourite varieties for hanging planters:

1. Veranda Red: This variety is a very compact determinate tomato that grows to only 2 feet tall. The small cherry fruits are ready to harvest in 55-60 days.
2. Sweetheart of the Patio: Another compact determinate tomato that’s perfect for the patio. This small plant only grows to 2-3 feet. They’re ready to harvest in 68 days.
3. Yellow Current: This indeterminate tomato variety produces tons of small yellow cherry tomatoes the size of a currant. They’re ready to harvest in 60 days.

2. Lettuce

Lettuce is a great plant to grow in hanging planters, especially in windowsills and balconies. They don’t need tons of sunlight or nutrients to produce a good harvest.

They can grow well with only 4 hours of direct sunlight per day, and they actually prefer it when it gets really hot. In the summer, lettuce can bolt because of the intense heat.

Morning sun and afternoon shade is perfect for growing lettuce. Giving them some shade can actually help their growth.

To further prevent bolting, try succession planting. This is where you continue planting lettuce seeds every week to ensure you have a continual harvest throughout the growing season.

Additionally, lettuce plants have very shallow root systems, meaning they don’t need much container space to grow well.

And they grow very low to the ground, typically about 6-8 inches tall. So you don’t need a trellis or much vertical space to get a good harvest.

Make sure the soil is kept moist because lettuce really doesn’t like to be dry. The leaves will wilt and turn crispy if you let them dry out too much.

Keep your plants well-watered and you’ll have a good harvest.

Here are some of my favourite lettuce varieties for hanging planters:

1. Little Gem: This lettuce produces a personal-sized romaine head that’s perfect for a small salad. It grows to about 10 inches and is ready to harvest in 50-55 days.
2. Hamberg Hybrid: This variety is a hybrid between romaine and iceberg, producing a small, flavourful, and crunchy head perfect for pots. Ready to harvest in 70 days.
3. Salad Bowl: This looseleaf lettuce variety is tender and crisp, and perfect for growing in containers and hanging planters. Ready to harvest in 45 days.

3. Strawberries

Yes, strawberries are a fruit. Yes, I included them on my list.

They’re so common in vegetable gardens that they technically count as vegetables in this case.

I like growing strawberries from bare-root plants because they’re cheaper and establish quicker than potted plants.

Strawberries need lots of sun to produce a ton of berries. 6-8 hours of direct sunlight is ideal for a good harvest. Shade during the day can slow down production.

They’re fairly shallow-rooted, like lettuce, meaning they don’t need much root space to grow well. A normal-sized hanging planter is perfect for strawberries.

They also don’t grow vertically, they usually only grow to 12 inches tall. They’re runners have more of a trailing growth habit where they cascade over the container.

Make sure to keep up with watering and fertilizer. Those juicy berries are very demanding, so use a high phosphorus and potassium fertilizer.

Phosphorus and potassium promotes flower and fruit production. My favourite one is bone meal.

The best hanging planters for strawberries are those that are about 6 inches deep. Like I said, they don’t need much root space.

Here are some of my favourite varieties:

1. Ruby Ann: The perfect variety for hanging baskets. It produces beautiful ornamental flowers and tons of cascading red fruits.
2. Albion: This is a classic everbearing strawberry variety that just keeps producing juicy and delicious berries. It’s resistant to verticillium wilt and crown rot.
3. Seascape: Another classic variety that produces a ton of berries in almost any garden soil. The berries are very large, sweet, and produce through all seasons.

4. Peas

Another perfect vegetable to grow in hanging baskets are peas. There are lots of compact varieties that don’t take up much space.

They need full sun and lots of water to produce a good harvest, so make sure to give them that.

The good thing is that peas, like beans, are nitrogen-fixers, meaning they take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it to a usable form in the soil.

Because of this, peas actually don’t need much fertilizer. They definitely don’t need any supplemental nitrogen. Some good compost will do most of the fertilization.

If you want to grow a vining variety, then you can attach a trellis to the vertical supports of the hanging planter. Or you can let the plants trail and cascade down the container.

Or you can choose from one of the many dwarf varieties that only grow between 1 and 3 feet tall.

Here are some of my favourite peas for hanging planters:

1. Peas-in-a-Pot: This variety was specifically bred for containers and small spaces. These tiny 10 inch plants mature in 60-65 days.
2. Snowbird: These straight and early-producing peas grow to only 16-18 inches tall. Ready to harvest in 58 days.
3. Blue Bantam Dwarf: This Burpee-exclusive variety takes a little bit longer to mature but is well worth the wait. Excellent-tasting peas are ready to harvest in 77-80 days.

5. Cucumbers

Cucumbers are a little bit more challenging to grow in hanging planters. They’re very demanding in terms of their care and it can be difficult to get a good harvest.

That being said, you have to keep up with watering, fertilizing, and pruning.

Cucumber leaves are very large and they need a lot of water to stay happy. Without water, you’ll notice the leaves will start to droop.

They droop naturally when it gets hot, but if they stay wilted even when the sun passes, then you know you have to water them.

As for fertilizing, they’re heavy feeders, meaning they need a lot of nutrients to produce well. Fertilize them every time you water.

For pruning, it’s essential not to let the plants get too out of control. Or else they’ll spread everywhere, produce a bunch of leaves and flowers, and give small fruits.

Instead, leave one main branch to grow and produce. This branch can be trellised along the hanging planter support, or it can trail down the side of the container.

For dwarf varieties, they can easily grow upright or cascading down the side.

Here are some of my favourite hanging planter cucumbers:

1. Bush Champion: A classic variety that takes up a third of the regular cucumber growing space. Vines are 24 inches long and ready to harvest in 55 days.
2. Picklebush: Another Burpee-bred variety that produces 4.5 inch long fruits that are perfect for pickling. The vines are only 24 inches long and mature in 52 days.
3. Spacemaster: This variety produces short and hardy vines that are only 26 inches long. It’s resistant to cucumber mosaic virus and is ready to harvest in 56 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks
• How to Use Manure in the Garden
• Stop Blossom End Rot Easily With These Tips

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t spam you, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

The post 5 Vegetables You Didn’t Know Could Grow in Hanging Planters appeared first on The Real Gardener.

If you’ve ever wondered whether manure is worth the mess, here’s the short answer: YES—but only if you use it right. Using manure in the garden is one of the best things you can do to increase production. Only when it’s properly aged, applied at the right time, and matched to your plants’ needs. But misuse it, and you could end up with burned plants, poor germination, or worse.

Using Manure in the Garden

A lot of people have some misconceptions about manure, which can be true in some cases.

But those are only the cases where manure is misused. When used properly, it truly is one of the best soil amendments, and it’s been used for centuries.

Today I’m going to cover the different types of manure, the best ways to use them, and how to use manure properly.

So let’s get right into how to use manure in the garden to grow healthy plants.

Products:

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

What is Manure?

Manure is the composted feces of animals. It’s animal poop.

Farmers collect it from their cows, sheep, horses, and other animals, they let it age for about 6-12 months, then they sell it.

A lot of people have the idea that manure is “inhumane” in some way. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Firstly, I’m not for animal cruelty, but manure has nothing to do with that. But it turns out that there’s an abundance of poop in the world, and it has to be used somehow.

So instead of throwing it into the landfill, farmers can make some extra money. Animals are going to poop either way. It’s about whether you want to use this valuable amendment or not that makes it humane or inhumane.

Why Use Manure in the Garden?

Manure is one of the best soil amendments. It acts similarly to compost, in the sense that it’s mainly used to add organic matter to your soil.

That being said, organic matter in manure helps to feed the beneficial organisms in your soil, which break it down into bioavailable nutrients for your plants.

And manure actually adds the beneficial organisms as well. It adds bacteria and other microbes that help to break down organic matter.

Manure helps to improve the structure, drainage, and aeration of clay soil. It also helps to fix the water retention issues for sandy soil.

So it goes both ways and has many benefits on both sides.

Additionally, manure also contains some nutrients. Although it has a low NPK ratio, usually around 1-1-1, it can add some trace minerals like iron, calcium, and sulfur.

Is Manure an Organic Fertilizer?

Because it contains some nutrients, manure is technically an organic fertilizer.

But it’s fairly weak and shouldn’t be used to replace regular organic fertilizer. Because it’s so weak, you still need to use fertilizers like bone meal and all that good stuff.

So it’s great for adding organic matter, but it can’t replace regular fertilizers.

Difference Between Compost and Manure

I made a whole article about compost vs. manure, so make sure to check that out to learn more.

Basically, compost is made from mostly plant sources (leaves, food scraps, grass clippings), while manure is made from animal poop.

It works the same way as manure, giving many of the same benefits.

I tend to prefer manure over compost, especially considering how much cheaper it is.

A high-quality commercial compost can be $10-15 per bag on the low end. While a high-quality commercial manure can be $2-4 per bag.

And that’s just because of the sheer abundance of shit in our world.

So when I’m filling my whole garden, I always choose manure.

Raw vs. Composted Manure

Composted manure is the traditional manure that you find at the nursery.

It’s aged, meaning it’s left to sit and break down for about 6-12 months. This helps to compost it with the help of beneficial organisms.

The composting process removes the harmful pathogens that can be present in manure. Obviously, it’s poop, it’s going to have pathogens.

But letting it age allows the pathogens to die off before you use it in your garden.

Additionally, it also dramatically reduces the chance that your plants will get burned from the manure. I’m not talking about being burned by heat, but by too much nutrition.

When there’s too much nutrition, your plants’ roots can burn and their growth can be stunted. So aging manure helps to prevent this.

Raw manure, on the other hand, is manure that is perfectly fresh. Straight from the animal’s rear end. Fresh, stinky dung cakes. You get the idea.

It’s not composted, meaning there might still be harmful pathogens that can harm your garden.

Different Types of Manure

Manure can be divided into 2 categories, each one being very different from the other.

1. Big Animals

This includes the most popular animal manures: cow, sheep, and goat manure. These animals are called ruminants, which signifies how they digest their food.

Ruminants have one stomach with four compartments, one called a rumen. The rumen is the first compartment that receives the original chewed food from the mouth.

After some digestion, the food then gets regurgitated from the rumen back to the mouth. The animal then chews this partially-digested food (known as cud) again.

It sounds disgusting, but this digestion process is why manure from cows, sheep, and goats is so good for your garden.

Manure from ruminants is very mild, smooth, earthy, and crumbly, making it the perfect soil amendment for your vegetable garden.

Other animals, like pigs and horses, also produce manure that you can use in your garden. However, they don’t have the same digestion process.

This can lead to problems in the manure like increased pathogens and large amounts of solid matter.

Because they can’t break down the plant fibres as well as ruminants, they can’t digest the food as well either. This leads to a typically poor-quality manure.

Pathogens can easily spread and leave the digestive system, and there’ll still be lots of solid plant matter, like large pieces of grass and undigested food.

Don’t get me wrong, if the only manure you can get is from horses or pigs, I’d still use it. But there’s a reason why it’s not usually sold commercially.

So go for cow, sheep, and goat manures as your first choice. But if you have pigs or horses on your property, then they’ll produce good manure as well.

2. Small Animals

This includes all birds, bats, rabbits, and other smaller animals.

Manure from these animals is much more potent than manure from bigger animals. That’s because the nutrients are extremely concentrated. They have a much higher nutrient content.

Because of this, they’re used more like organic fertilizers instead of spreading it all over the soil.

The most popular one is probably chicken manure. Chicken manure is great for plants and young seedlings that are just being transplanted. It gives them the nutrient boost to grow healthy.

A few other ones are bat guano, seabird guano, and rabbit manure.

Duck manure is also a thing, but it’s not that popular. A local Ontario company called Duck Dirt actually makes duck manure for vegetable gardens, so check them out if you’re interested.

Guano is a Quechua word that just means manure. So bat guano is bat poop, and seabird guano is seabird poop.

Harvesting this kind of manure is actually pretty labour-intensive. Somebody has to scrape the dry bird poop off the ground every day and then grind it all up into a powder.

But they make really good fertilizers. The NPK ratios vary between each different kind, with some favouring a certain nutrient, while others are more balanced.

Chicken and rabbit manure tend to have a more balanced NPK ratio, with something like 3-2-2 or 4-3-3 being very common.

Bat and seabird guano, on the other hand, are very potent and usually have skewed NPK ratios.

Bat guano usually has an NPK of about 8-5-3, so it favours nitrogen.

Seabird guano usually has an NPK of about 0-12-0, making it entirely phosphorus.

Other Manures

Now we’re going to get weird.

Everybody loves their dogs, cats, and family members. But have you ever thought about using their manure in your garden?

Ok, maybe I’m the only one, but you can’t say it doesn’t intrigue you.

There are proper ways to compost dog, cat, and human manure (humanure), making them safe to use in your vegetable garden.

But the problem is that most people don’t know the proper way, not even me.

That being said, you probably shouldn’t use cat, dog, or human manure in your vegetable garden because they can spread harmful pathogens.

If you can figure out how to compost it correctly, then I’d use it only for ornamental plants that won’t be consumed.

Human urine, on the other hand, is liquid gold for the vegetable garden. I like to get some fresh, locally-sourced urine, dilute it with a bunch of water, and then soak the soil of my vegetables.

It works so well and repurposes a very common waste product.

How to Use Manure in the Garden

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using manure in the garden that actually works.

1. Choose the Right Type

If you want to use manure more like you would compost (my personal preference), then choose manure from a large animal, like cow or sheep.

I just bought 10 bags of sheep manure at my local nursery for about $3.50 each. It’s very economical, so I’ll be spreading it over my entire garden, fork it in a little bit, and then add mulch.

2. When to Put Manure in the Garden

There’s a lot of debate around this topic, specifically between applying manure in spring or fall.

I always apply it in early spring for a few reasons.

Firstly, a fall application would barely do anything in my climate. The ground is going to freeze rock solid; nothing will decompose or work into the soil. Nothing.

There’s really no point putting manure in the fall because nothing will happen.

By time the ground thaws, it’s already early spring. So why not just apply manure in early spring?

Applying it at this time lets you work it into the soil slightly and it gives the manure time to decompose into the soil.

If you live in a climate where it doesn’t freeze, then you can apply manure in the fall as well.

Apply about 1-2 inches of manure across your beds.

3. Mix Into the Soil

I never like to do a full dig in my raised beds and in-ground beds, but a little agitation won’t do any harm.

By that I mean piercing the soil with a shovel throughout the whole surface. This helps to bring some of the manure further into the soil to blend and decompose.

If you don’t mix it in at all, then it’ll form a dry crust over your beds, making it difficult to plant in and water.

How Much Manure Should I Use?

It’s always best to use about 1-2 inches of manure in your garden. So spread it out until the layer is 1-2 inches tall above your actual soil.

For light feeders, like lettuce and radishes, 1 inch is probably fine because they don’t consume as many nutrients.

For heavy feeders, like tomatoes and squash, 2 inches is ideal because they go through a ton of nutrients.

Signs You’re Using Too Much Manure

Using too much manure can cause high salt contents in your soil. I’m not talking about table salt, but about ionic compounds. This basically refers to all nutrients.

So high salt content means high nutrient content, which we know will burn your plants.

Here are some common signs:

• Seedlings start to yellow, get stunted, or even die.
• Leaves have edges that are burnt and crispy (fertilizer burn)
• Your garden has an off-putting smell
• Poor germination in direct-sown crops

All of these signs can tell you that you probably put too much manure in your garden.

But don’t worry, it’s not too common to add too much manure, so it probably won’t happen to your garden.

Making Manure Tea

Manure tea is similar to compost tea, but it’s made with manure instead of compost. It allows microbes to multiply in the water to produce a microbe-rich solution for your plants.

This really only works if you make your own manure from your own animals. It’ll have more microorganisms to start with.

Commercial manure is still good, but the microbes might not be as active or plentiful.

Here’s a simple way to make it:

• Get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it up with water.
• Add a few handfuls of manure to a mesh bag or pillow case
• Submerge the bag in the water and make sure the manure is fully saturated
• Stir the mixture a few times a day
• Let it brew for about 1 week. Too long will make the microbes die.
• Dilute it with water and pour it on your soil!

Common Manure Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these common mistakes when using manure in the vegetable garden:

• Using Fresh Manure: This can introduce harmful pathogens and your plants can get burned because of too many nutrients in the manure.
• Overloading Your Soil: More isn’t always better, so apply as much manure as your plants need.
• Not Mixing it in: If you don’t mix it in, you’ll get a layer of crusty manure on top of your garden soil. This can make it difficult to plant crops and water your plants.
• Using Forbidden Manure: This applies to dogs, cats, humans and any other manure that you don’t know the source of. Again, it’s because of the high risk of pathogens that can spread to your edible crops.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks
• Best Organic Fertilizer for Vegetables that WORKS
• Stop Blossom End Rot Easily With These Tips

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t spam you, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

The post Don’t Use Manure in the Garden Before Reading This! appeared first on The Real Gardener.

If your cucumbers are yellowing, stunted, or just not producing the way they should, chances are your fertilizing game needs a tweak. And no—dumping more Miracle-Gro isn’t the answer. That’s not going to do any good for your garden in the long run. So stay tuned for the best organic cucumber fertilizer that’ll supercharge your plants.

The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks

Fertilizing cucumbers doesn’t have to be difficult, because it really isn’t.

But it’s also not as simple as some artificial gardeners like to tell you. Dumping a bunch of lab-formulated synthetic fertilizers won’t actually give you a good harvest.

There is some nuance, but it’s simple enough where any beginner cucumber gardener can do it.

And I’m going to show you all the tips and tricks to find the best cucumber fertilizer and fertilize your cucumber plants effectively.

That being said, let’s get right into the best cucumber fertilizer tricks to grow juicy cucumbers.

Products:

Burpee organic fertilizers

Espoma organic fertilizers

Foxfarm organic fertilizers

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

What Nutrients do Cucumbers Need? (Cucumber Fertilizer Requirements)

Cucumber plants are heavy feeders, meaning they need a lot of nutrients to grow properly. If you don’t give them enough macro and micronutrients, then they won’t give you a good harvest.

But you can’t just throw in a bunch of each nutrient, you have to understand what nutrients cucumbers need. Here are the 3 main macronutrients for cucumber plants:

1. Nitrogen (N): Nitrogen is mainly used for leaf and stem growth, especially with cucumbers. Those large leaves are going to need a ton of nitrogen to grow fast and vigorously.
2. Phosphorus (P): Phosphorus is mainly used for root and flower production. Strong roots and lots of flowers means you’ll get more fruits that are healthier and juicier.
3. Potassium (K): Potassium is used mostly for fruit development, but also for overall plant health. If you want a ton of tasty fruits, make sure your cucumber plants get enough potassium.

These nutrients are used in the greatest abundance by cucumber plants. They are in the greatest quantity in the soil and feed your plants the most.

As for the micronutrients, they are all needed, but in smaller amounts.

These include calcium, magnesium, boron, iron, zinc, and sulfur.

The most important one out of these is probably calcium. It supports healthy fruit development and helps to prevent blossom end rot.

As for the other micronutrients, they’re mainly for overall plant health and physiological functions.

Best Cucumber Fertilizer NPK

NPK stands for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, with the letters being the symbols of each element on the periodic table.

There’s an NPK ratio on every commercial fertilizer package.

It indicates the percent by weight of each macronutrient in a fertilizer. For example, a fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 9-8-7, has 9% nitrogen, 8% phosphorus, and 7% potassium by weight.

The rest of the 100% is made of fillers to bulk up or dilute the fertilizer so it’s not extremely potent.

It’s hard to give an exact NPK ratio for cucumbers. Some people say the best cucumber fertilizer is 3-4-6, others say 2-3-6, and some say 10-10-30.

But I can’t give an exact number because it depends on your soil and how your plants are growing.

Cucumber plants need varying amounts of each nutrient depending on their growth stage.

For example, young plants are not focusing on flower development, only growing new roots and leaves. So it wouldn’t make sense to give them a bunch of potassium right away.

Basically, it depends on the time that you’re fertilizing. And we’ll get into that later on in this article.

Are Organic or Synthetic Fertilizers Better for Cucumbers?

With absolutely no bias, organic fertilizers are always better than synthetic fertilizers.

But in all honesty, synthetic fertilizers just don’t do it for me, and they probably won’t for you either. They’re just not ideal for the vegetable garden, especially plants that you want to actually eat from.

Yea, it’s true that synthetic fertilizers are cheaper and work quicker. But are we looking for the easy way out or do we want a better cucumber harvest?

It’s also true that synthetic fertilizers contaminate water, acidify the soil, burn your plants, and decrease biodiversity in your soil.

Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, have none of these problems. They’re actually much better for your soil.

They promote biodiversity, are usually sustainably-sourced, don’t acidify the soil or burn your plants.

So always choose organic fertilizers over synthetic and you’ll have healthier and happier cucumbers.

Why Soil Microorganisms are Important

Synthetic fertilizers don’t need soil microorganisms to become bioavailable to your plants. They are isolated forms of the nutrients and are readily available to cucumber plants.

Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, need soil microbes to break them down in order for the nutrients to become bioavailable to your plants.

If they’re not broken down by microbes, then your cucumber plants won’t be able to absorb them.

Therefore, when you fertilize your cucumbers, they can’t get the actual nutrients right away. It needs to be broken down first.

So we need these microbes in our garden soil to do the heavy lifting when it comes to fertilizing.

Generally speaking, if you keep a healthy organic garden, you’ll have a ton of microorganisms in your soil already.

But you can increase their numbers by using homemade compost, compost tea, and mulch. These help to introduce new microbes and increase their numbers.

Add compost and mulch at the beginning of the growing season, and use compost tea periodically while your plants are growing.

Importance of Soil Macroorganisms

Some macroorganisms, like worms, potato bugs, and millipedes, also break down organic matter.

Macroorganisms are basically just large organisms; so really they’re just organisms. But they mostly break down the larger particles, like leaves, twigs, and other big pieces.

Microorganisms can only really break down matter on the molecular level because they’re so tiny.

So it’s important to have a healthy mix of both types of organisms in your soil.

Is Compost a Good Fertilizer?

While compost is technically an organic fertilizer, its NPK ratio is usually really low, like 1-1-1 or lower.

The same goes for manure. I just bought some sheep manure last week and the NPK ratio was 0.6-0.4-0.4, so it was really low.

So it won’t be able to provide all the nutrients that your cucumber plants need.

However, it’s still a valuable amendment for your garden. The main reason to use compost is that it adds organic matter and beneficial soil microorganisms.

It improves the soil structure, water retention, nutrient retention, and biodiversity. But it doesn’t really add nutrients in large quantities.

So yes, we should still use compost, but it doesn’t replace supplemental organic fertilizers.

Liquid vs Granular Fertilizer for Cucumbers

There are 2 main types of fertilizers that you can use for your cucumbers, each with their own benefits.

I tend to use a mix of both during the growing season, but you can decide based on your needs.

Granular Fertilizers

These fertilizers are made by dehydrating and grinding a material, making it into a powder like flour.

And they’re easy to apply as well. Just open the pack and sprinkle some fertilizer on your soil. Water it in and you’re good.

I mean, there are instructions on the back, but who reads that anyway?

Additionally, granular fertilizers release their nutrients over a longer period of time. This is because they need to be broken down before the nutrients become bioavailable.

That’s why you need living soil, not a pile of dirt.

Granular fertilizers are best for gardeners who want a set-it-and-forget-it approach to fertilizing. Just throw in some fertilizer and they’ll be good for about a month.

That being said, you’ll have to continually apply granular fertilizers to your cucumbers about every 3-5 weeks during the growing season.

Liquid Fertilizers

Liquid fertilizers are completely dissolved in water and need to be diluted before pouring on your plants. Water-soluble fertilizers are included with this as well.

Even though these fertilizers need to be broken down first as well, they don’t take as long as granular fertilizers.

That means your cucumbers will have quicker access to the nutrients.

If you’re only using liquid fertilizers for your cucumbers, then add some fertilizer every time you water. Dilute a little bit with a lot of water and drench the soil.

It’s ok to use liquid fertilizer more often because they’re usually pretty weak and a lot will run down the soil as well.

My Favourite Cucumber Fertilizers

Here are some of my favourite cucumber fertilizers:

1. Burpee organic fertilizers
2. Espoma organic fertilizers
3. Foxfarm organic fertilizers

These brands make really good fertilizers and I always recommend their products.

They’re also great for most other vegetables, so try them out in your garden.

When to Fertilize Cucumber Plants

There are 3 main times that you need to fertilizer cucumber plants

1. When They’re Seedlings

Yes, even small seedlings need fertilizer. A lot of beginner gardeners skip this part and they wonder why their seedlings’ leaves are yellow.

Cucumbers need to be fertilized when you start them indoors to give them the best chance to be healthy transplants.

Start fertilizing only after the first true leaves appear. If you fertilize as soon as they sprout, you might run into other seedling problems.

At this point, use a weak liquid fertilizer, like fish and seaweed emulsion. This has an NPK ratio of 2-3-1, so it’s perfect for small plants.

Additionally, use only half the recommended strength for seedlings. They don’t need that much fertilizer.

Any fertilizer with a low NPK ratio, like a 1-1-1 or 2-2-2, will be great for young cucumber seedlings.

2. When Transplanting

Another great time to fertilize cucumbers is when you transplant them.

Put a generous pinch of granular fertilizer in the planting hole when fertilizing. This helps to promote more early season growth and reduce transplant shock.

My favourite fertilizer is a mix of blood meal and bone meal. This gives your cucumbers enough nitrogen, phosphorus, and micronutrients to produce a ton of leaves and roots, which gets them ready for fruit production.

3. During Flower and Fruit Production

After the plants have been in the ground for about a month, then I’ll switch to a fertilizer with more potassium.

At this point, you should already have some flowers and the potassium will help to develop delicious fruits.

That being said, this Tomato + Vegetable fertilizer has an NPK ratio of 3-6-4, making it perfect for this time.

It’s great for all fruiting crops, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers.

To apply it, simply scratch it into the top couple inches of soil and water it in. The top feeder roots will have access to the broken down nutrients.

I know the package says it feeds for up to 3 months, but that’s usually only kind of true. A lot of it will get lost to runoff from watering and rain.

Instead, apply this fertilizer every 3-4 weeks during the growing season as the plants produce more fruit. This will give the fruits enough nutrients to be juicy and delicious.

Common Cucumber Fertilizing Mistakes to Avoid

Here are some of the most common mistakes that new gardeners make when fertilizing cucumbers:

1. Too Much Nitrogen: You’ll get a ton of leaves and long stems, but you won’t get any good fruit. They need phosphorus and potassium as well, so don’t forget them.
2. Fertilizing Dry Soil: Applying fertilizer to dry soil can burn your plants’ roots, which can stunt their growth. Instead, moisten the soil first with plain water, then apply your fertilizer.
3. Ignoring Soil Health: You can’t fertilize your way out of bad soil. Dumping some artificial ingredients in your soil won’t do any good either. Prioritize soil health with compost and mulch, then add organic fertilizers.
4. Fertilizing Too Late: Giving your cucumbers a ton of nutrients in late summer or fall will cause them to put out lots of new growth that won’t get anywhere. Fertilize early for early and delicious harvests.

Avoid these mistakes and you’ll have a bumper crop of delicious cucumbers.

Can You Make a Cucumber Fertilizer With Yeast?

Yeast fertilizers are becoming really popular these days for their supposed benefits for your plants, especially cucumbers.

I have to say, I’ve never tried, but I still have to comment on it.

I’m not convinced that yeast fertilizer is a “fertilizer” in the traditional sense. It’s probably more of a soil amendment.

And I say that because there’s no actual nutrients in there; it’s just yeast and sugar.

This video from Lucky Cat Creations shows how to make this “fertilizer.”

I think it’s more like compost tea, where it adds microbes to your soil, mainly yeast. It won’t do any actual fertilizing; you need nutrients for that.

So you can use it if you want, but it can’t replace cucumber fertilizer. I’ll have to try it this season to see if it does anything.

Using Milk as a Cucumber Fertilizer

Another gardening trend that’s becoming too popular is using milk to fertilizer vegetables. I don’t know why people do this.

Even if you dilute the milk with water. Even if milk adds tiny amounts of nutrients to your soil. Even if milk is on sale this week. Just why? Why would you use it as a fertilizer?

There are much better options for cucumber fertilizers that you don’t have to get at the grocery store.

Keep your milk in the kitchen and your fertilizer in the garden.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• How to Grow Cucumbers from Seed to Harvest
• Best Organic Fertilizer for Vegetables that WORKS
• Compost vs. Manure: Which One’s Better for Your Garden?

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t spam you, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

This is the Only Raspberry Fertilizer You’ll Need for Your Garden

Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter as Much as They Say it Does

The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks to Grow Juicy Cucumbers

The Quick and Easy Way to STOP Blossom End Rot

10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow

3 Cheap and Easy Bean Trellis Ideas for Growing Tons of Beans

5 Easy Tomato Trellis Ideas for ANY Garden

How to Grow Cucumbers from Seed to Harvest

The post The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks to Grow Juicy Cucumbers appeared first on The Real Gardener.

You walk into the garden and see it: dark, sunken spots on the bottom of your tomatoes or peppers. It’s disappointing, frustrating, and way too common. If you’ve been hit with blossom end rot, you’re not alone, and the good news is, you can fix it. In this guide, we’ll cover everything to know about fixing blossom end rot.

Easy Way to STOP Blossom End Rot

Like I said, blossom end rot is very common in the vegetable garden.

It affects a few of the main vegetable crop groups, especially nightshades.

So we’re going to cover what blossom end rot actually is, why it happens to your fruits, proven ways to prevent it, and how to save your harvest.

That being said, let’s get right into the quick and easy way to STOP blossom end rot.

Firstly, from now on, I will mostly be calling blossom end rot “BER.” I really don’t want to type out the whole name every time.

Products:

Espoma organic fertilizers

Foxfarm organic fertilizers

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

What Actually is Blossom End Rot?

Many gardeners seeing BER for the first time usually think it’s a disease. However, blossom end rot is a physiological disorder of certain plants’ fruits.

A physiological disorder is an irregularity in a plant’s normal physiological functions. It’s not caused by a pathogen, like a virus or bacteria.

Instead, these disorders are caused by abiotic (non-living) environmental factors, such as weather conditions, soil conditions, or something else.

BER occurs at the bottom of the fruit, or the blossom end. The flower is the blossom, so the fruit is the natural extension of the sexual organ of the plant, meaning it is the blossom end.

You’ll notice it if you look on the bottom of your fruit and you see soft, brown, and rotten spots. It can happen on unripe and ripe fruits.

What Causes Blossom End Rot?

Like I said, BER is a physiological disorder, meaning it’s not caused by a disease.

The short answer is that blossom end rot is caused by a calcium deficiency. But not necessarily because your soil doesn’t have enough calcium.

I know, it’s kind of confusing, but just stay with me.

Your soil could have all the calcium needed to grow perfect fruits, and then they will just get BER.

But there are a few other environmental reasons why your plants might not be getting enough calcium. So here is a list from most common to least common reasons:

Inconsistent watering

This is by far the most common cause of BER, so I’ll talk about it the most; pay attention.

You see, calcium is always found in ionic compounds in the soil, especially calcium carbonate. If you know anything about chemistry, then you know that ionic compounds are incredibly soluble in water.

Calcium can only be absorbed by your plants if it’s dissolved in water. If it’s not fully dissolved, your plants will be deficient, even though it’s in the soil.

So if you water your plants inconsistently, then the dissolution rates will be fluctuating, and the calcium supply to your plants will fluctuate as well.

I know that’s a lot of complicated words, but that’s what causes BER.

Other Potential Causes

There are at least 3 other potential causes for BER, but they are not nearly as common:

1. Root damage: Following the same logic, damaged roots won’t be able to take up calcium in the same way that healthy roots can. It’ll be inconsistent and sporadic, which can cause BER in your vegetable plants.
2. Over-fertilization: Using too much nitrogen fertilizer (especially synthetic) causes rapid leafy growth. This can harm the development of the fruits on your plants, leading to an imbalance in calcium absorption. This can cause BER in the long run.
3. Low calcium levels: This is extremely rare and almost never happens unless you’re growing in straight sand or something like that. Obviously, if there’s no calcium in the soil, then your plants can’t absorb it. If you’re concerned about it, then do a soil test to see how much of each nutrient your soil has.

Which Plants Get Blossom End Rot?

BER can only happen with fruiting plants. If the plant doesn’t produce fruit as its harvest, then you won’t have to worry about BER.

But even within all the fruits, it really only happens with two main groups: nightshades and cucurbits.

Nightshades include peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. Cucurbits include squash, pumpkins, and melons.

These are the most common fruits that get BER, but it can happen with others. I’ve heard of people getting BER with cucumbers, apples, and peaches, but it’s definitely pretty rare.

It’s not surprising at all that nightshades and cucurbits get BER a lot, especially considering that these plants are heavy feeders.

The fruits need a ton of calcium (dissolved in water) to stay healthy.

They need a lot of nutrients to produce healthy fruits, so if they don’t get it, then they won’t produce well.

Difference Between BER and Sunscald

A lot of gardeners think they have BER, they freak out for a little bit, but then it turns out to be sunscald. So here’s how to tell the difference.

BER is soft, brown, mushy. It’s like the fruit is rotting. If you cut one open, you’ll see that even the inside is soft and mushy. This is characteristic of BER.

Sunscald, on the other hand, mostly happens only with peppers, and it’s the opposite of BER. It’s still brown, but it’s not mushy or soft.

Instead, the skin usually becomes papery thin and sometimes crispy. If you cut one of the fruits open, you’ll see that the inside is pretty much not affected by the sunlight.

Additionally, sunscald usually only appears on the tops or sides of the fruits, while BER is always at the bottom.

Soft, mushy, and on the bottom of the fruit → BER

Thin, papery, and on the side of the fruit →sunscald

How to Stop Blossom End Rot

Here’s the best approach to fixing and preventing blossom end rot from destroying your tomato harvest:

Water Consistently

All of the plants most susceptible to BER are usually really big plants. Tomatoes, pumpkins, summer squash; all these plants need a lot of water to support all those large leaves.

But they also need lots of water for the hundreds of fruits that they’ll produce.

Like I said, calcium can’t be absorbed by your plants unless it’s dissolved in water. So make sure the soil doesn’t get dry.

A simple way to figure out when to water is to just stick your finger in the soil.

Bury your finger until the second knuckle. If the tip of your finger is still wet, then you don’t have to water. If the tip of your finger is bone dry, then you need to water.

Don’t let the soil dry out, don’t let the leaves wilt, don’t get BER.

Add Organic Matter

Organic matter is no doubt the cornerstone of healthy soil. Microorganisms feed on organic matter, which makes the nutrients available to your plants.

Well-rotted compost or manure is the perfect organic matter for your soil.

Additionally, organic matter helps your soil to retain water. And as we know, moist soil is necessary to prevent BER.

This helps with the overall health of your soil, and therefore, your plants.

If your soil is healthy, then there’ll be lots of bioavailable calcium and it will move around your plants freely.

Use the Right High-Quality Fertilizer

High-nitrogen lawn fertilizer is not the best fertilizer for your fruiting vegetable crops.

This has way too much nitrogen to produce healthy fruits.

Additionally, these types of fertilizers are almost always synthetic, not organic. Synthetic fertilizers promote rapid leafy growth, not proper fruit development.

Instead, use an organic fertilizer specific for fruiting crops.

My favourite one is bone meal because it has lots of phosphorus and other micronutrients, like calcium and magnesium.

This fertilizer is perfect for fruiting crops.

Another good one is kelp fertilizer, which contains a wider spread of micronutrients like calcium, magnesium, iron, and copper.

Don’t Disturb the Roots

Disturbed roots can inhibit your plants’ absorption of calcium.

Make sure you harden off your seedlings before transplanting to reduce transplant shock. This helps to acclimate your plants to the outdoor conditions before they actually go outside.

Additionally, planting other plants too close to your crops can disturb the roots. Give your plants proper spacing and make sure the roots have enough soil space to get access to water and nutrients.

Make sure to amend your clay soil and reduce any compaction as well.

Can You Fix BER Mid-Season?

Fruits that already have BER can’t be saved. They won’t revert back to normal if you water them properly.

And sometimes you won’t be able to tell if this is the case because it starts from the inside. It can take a while for the rot to spread to become visible.

So don’t try to fix fruits that already have BER, instead work to prevent it from happening again.

What Doesn’t Work Against Blossom End Rot

There’s a lot of bad advice out there for fixing BER. If you’re misinformed, then you might fall into their traps as well.

Here are some things that don’t work well to fix BER:

• Eggshells in the planting hole: Eggshells take way too long to break down to become bioavailable calcium for your plants in the same growing season. It can take several years for them to go from fresh eggshells to calcium, meaning it just won’t do anything.
• Antacids: Don’t make a weird face because some people actually say to use antacids. Yes, the active ingredient in antacids is almost always calcium carbonate, which is the best source of calcium for your plants. But it won’t fix a dissolution / uptake problem.
• Calcium sprays: Blossom end rot foliar sprays don’t really do anything. Again, BER is almost always caused by uneven watering. Overfeeding with a bunch of calcium won’t do it for you, so don’t waste your money on this junk.

Let me go back to the thing about eggshells.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t put eggshells in your garden, because you should; I do it all the time. Actually there’s a pile of eggshells from the winter waiting for me outside right now.

And I’m sure that by adding these eggshells I’m also adding calcium to my soil in the long run.

But the point is that it won’t happen in the same growing season.

So yes, use eggshells in your garden, in your compost, whatever. But don’t expect it to be some sort of magic fix for BER.

Varieties Most Susceptible to BER

Before I talk about BER-resistant vegetable varieties, let me first tell you which varieties are the most susceptible:

• Determinate tomatoes: These tomato varieties are by far the most susceptible to BER. The most likely cause of this is that they produce all their fruit at one time. This can cause a lot of stress for your plants, leading to significant water and calcium deficiencies.
• Heirloom varieties: With heirloom plants, they don’t have the same genetic makeup that some hybrids have. This makes them more prone to stress, stress damage, and blossom end rot. This includes any heirloom vegetable varieties.
• Large bell peppers: Large bell peppers need a lot of calcium and water to produce well. If they get even a little bit less than normal, then they will get BER very easily.
• Large zucchini varieties: Again, the same principles apply. Larger fruits are more prone to water and calcium deficiencies, simply because they need so much more of it.

BER-Resistant Varieties

Here are some blossom end rot-resistant vegetable varieties:

1. Cherry tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes are much smaller than other varieties. This means they don’t need as much water or calcium to produce good fruit, making them resistant to BER. I don’t think I’ve ever seen BER on my cherry tomatoes; it just doesn’t happen.
2. Gladiator Hybrid tomato: This tomato is actually one of the few blossom end rot resistant tomatoes. It’s bred exactly for that reason and performs very well.
3. Small-fruited peppers: Certain peppers produce very small fruits, such as Thai chili, tabasco, and sweet banana. The same logic follows from the cherry tomatoes; they don’t need as much water and calcium to produce good fruit.
4. Winter squash: Although winter squash plants grow really fast, the fruits actually mature quite slowly. They don’t ripen as fast as summer squash, meaning they won’t be under as much nutrient deficiency stress.

Can You Eat Blossom End Rot Fruits?

Fruits with BER are completely safe to eat… as long as you remove the rotten part.

The part of the fruit that’s actually brown is not edible and you have to remove it.

If your fruits are not ripe yet and they have BER, then I’d say there’s no point to let them ripen and then remove the brown part.

It’s only worth removing it if the fruits are already ripe and you still want something.

Can Milk Fix Blossom End Rot?

This might sound weird at first but it’s a real thing; people actually do this.

The idea comes from the fact that BER is caused by a calcium deficiency, which is caused by uneven watering.

So they think, “what has calcium and water together?”

Naturally, some people come to the completely logical conclusion to use milk on their fruiting plants.

The problem with this is that milk curdles, especially in the summer when all of these crops are growing. And that will cause even more problems for your plants.

But then you can say well just dilute the milk. In that case, sure, there probably wouldn’t be anything bad that would happen, but there wouldn’t be anything good either.

Even if it does add some calcium, it’s milk. We buy milk to drink, not to pour in our gardens. Just use a fertilizer if you really want some calcium.

So leave the milk in your fridge and the fertilizer in the soil, and don’t try to swap them!

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• 10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow
• Best Organic Fertilizer for Vegetables that WORKS
• Compost vs. Manure: Which One’s Better for Your Garden?

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t send you spam, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

This is the Only Raspberry Fertilizer You’ll Need for Your Garden

Tomato Plant Spacing Doesn’t Matter as Much as They Say it Does

The Best Cucumber Fertilizer Tricks to Grow Juicy Cucumbers

The Quick and Easy Way to STOP Blossom End Rot

10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow

3 Cheap and Easy Bean Trellis Ideas for Growing Tons of Beans

5 Easy Tomato Trellis Ideas for ANY Garden

How to Grow Cucumbers from Seed to Harvest

The post The Quick and Easy Way to STOP Blossom End Rot appeared first on The Real Gardener.

If you’re growing vegetables, you know how important it is to feed your soil, not just your plants. But not all fertilizers are created equal. For gardeners who want real, nutrient-dense food from a thriving garden, organic fertilizer is the way to go. In this post, we’ll break down the best organic fertilizer for vegetables.

Best Organic Fertilizer for Vegetables

Organic fertilizers are no doubt the key to having a healthy vegetable garden.

All those synthetic products just don’t get the job done in the same way organic fertilizers do. They’re just so much better in every single way.

There are applications for synthetic fertilizers, I won’t lie. But there’s no way they’re better than organic.

That being said, let’s get right into the best organic fertilizer for vegetables.

Products:

Espoma organic fertilizers

Foxfarm organic fertilizers

HydraGrow liquid fertilizers

Save 10% on your first Burpee seed order using code BURPEE10

Difference Between Organic and Synthetic Fertilizers

The thing that makes a fertilizer organic is the materials that make it.

Organic fertilizers, unlike synthetic fertilizers, are derived from 100% natural ingredients. This can include animal waste, plant waste, or minerals.

Bones, blood, manure, compost, seaweed, sulfates, and phosphates are used to make organic fertilizers, along with other materials.

They typically recycle waste from other sources (fish carcasses, for example, are used to make bone meal).

All of the ingredients are natural in the sense that they are derived from organic sources.

Synthetic fertilizers, on the other hand, are fertilizers that are made from synthetic materials. These are materials made in a lab and they are often very potent.

For example, instead of using bone meal for nitrogen, they can just isolate the almost pure nitrogen in the form of ammonium (NH₄⁺).

They can easily use the nitrogen from the air, combine it with hydrogen gas, and form ammonia. Ammonia is then used to form various nitrogen-containing compounds.

This nitrogen can then be applied to plants and it will be absorbed much quicker.

Additionally, most synthetic fertilizers are water soluble, especially considering that they are in ionic form. As you might know, ionic compounds are incredibly soluble in water, just like salt.

Why Organic Fertilizer is Better than Synthetic

I’m making a bold claim here by already assuming that organic fertilizers are better.

But don’t be surprised that I actually think that there are times when synthetic fertilizers are better than organic.

I think when you need very fast results, precise nutrients, or a cheap option, then synthetic fertilizers are the way to go.

However, I’m not convinced that these things happen often in the home vegetable garden. Except for needing a cheap option, the other two things just aren’t an issue.

So yes, if it’s the only thing that you can afford, then use synthetic fertilizers, because they are much cheaper. But here’s why organic fertilizers are better in every other way:

• Improve soil health: Organic fertilizers are not just nutrients, they have actual organic matter, derived from natural sources. This goes into your soil and helps with the structure, water retention, and much more.
• Feed beneficial microorganisms: The organic matter in the fertilizer helps to feed the beneficial soil microorganisms in your soil. These microbes don’t feed on specific nutrients like nitrogen, they need actual organic matter.
• Contain beneficial microorganisms: Some organic fertilizers actually have beneficial microbes in them, which then get added to your soil and help your plants.
• Release nutrients slowly: They also release nutrients slowly, not suddenly. This significantly reduces the chances that your plants will get fertilizer burn.

Like I said, there are definitely times when synthetic fertilizers might be better. But for these reasons, you should always use organic fertilizers for your vegetable garden.

What Makes a Good Organic Fertilizer?

A good organic fertilizer, first of all, has to be organic. It has to come from natural sources, like plant or animal waste.

Some brands will try to make their synthetic fertilizers look organic by playing with the colours or packaging. But always read the labels and the ingredients.

Secondly, organic certifications are always a good touch. They’re not necessary, but it definitely helps to make a good choice on which fertilizer to use.

Look for the OMRI, “Certified Organic,” “Canada Organic,” or whatever the certification is in your country.

Additionally, it should contain the nutrients that your plants need.

For example, if I want to fertilize a bunch of spinach, then I need a fertilizer high in nitrogen. I wouldn’t choose rock phosphate, but I might choose blood meal.

And if you’re still confused, then just try a good popular fertilizer and see how your plants react.

If they explode in growth and look really good after, then it’s a good fertilizer. If they don’t look too happy after applying it, then maybe you shouldn’t use it again.

I tend to lean more towards the animal-based fertilizers. I don’t know why; I guess there’s just something special about spreading crushed bones and blood all over your garden.

Understanding NPK Ratios

NPK stand for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium.

Yes, K means potassium; it’s the symbol for potassium on the periodic table, from the Latin word “kalium.”

These are the 3 macronutrients that plants need in the greatest quantity. They need other nutrients as well, like calcium and magnesium, but they need these 3 the most.

Generally speaking, nitrogen promotes leafy growth, phosphorus promotes root development, and potassium promotes flower and fruit production.

You’ll find an NPK ratio on every fertilizer you buy from the store, organic and synthetic. And it tells you the percent by weight of each macronutrient.

For example, if the NPK ratio is 4-3-7, then it has 4% nitrogen, 3% phosphorus, and 7% potassium. Something like that I would use for tomatoes or peppers.

Learn more: Best Fertilizer for Tomatoes to Grow Juicy Fruits

Liquid vs. Granular Fertilizers

Many gardeners get stuck up in the liquid or granular fertilizer question. So let me clear it up.

Liquid fertilizers are fertilizers that you buy as a concentrated liquid. These need to be diluted in water before applying them to your plants.

I’ll also include water-soluble fertilizers with liquid because they need to be dissolved in water before you use them.

Granular fertilizers are more like powder. They’re dried and ground up like breadcrumbs or flour, or something like that.

Here’s when you would use liquid fertilizers:

• If you want quicker results. Liquid fertilizers still need a little bit of time to fully break down and become bioavailable for your plants, but they’re much faster than granular.
• If you have young or small plants. Liquid fertilizers are usually weaker than granular fertilizers, so they’re great for things like seedlings.
• If you’re ok with fertilizing more often. Generally speaking, liquid fertilizers get used up quicker than granular. This means you have to constantly apply some fertilizer, possibly every time you water.

When applying liquid fertilizers, dilute it with water in a watering can and make sure to thoroughly soak your soil.

A tiny bit won’t do anything. You need to soak it.

Here’s when to use granular fertilizers:

• If you want a long-term approach. Granular fertilizers stay in your soil and feed your plants for a longer period of time than liquid fertilizers.
• If you’re not using it all at once. Liquid fertilizers tend to “go bad” quicker than granular fertilizers. If you know that you’re going to be leaving it on the shelf for a while, then choose granular.
• If you can’t afford liquid fertilizers. Granular fertilizers are considerably cheaper than liquid fertilizers, mainly because it’s less of a process to make them.

Granular fertilizers can be sprinkled right on top of the soil, or you can work it into the top layer.

If you’re sprinkling it on top, then make sure to water it in after. If you’re working it into the top layer of soil, then you can wait until the next time you water to water it in.

Is Compost an Organic Fertilizer?

Compost is made mostly from decomposed plant material. There’s almost no animal materials, except for eggshells or something like that.

That being said, many people wouldn’t consider compost an organic fertilizer. Maybe because it’s too similar to actual soil.

But because it’s not actually soil, it’s completely organic matter, it is technically an organic fertilizer.

Compost also has an NPK ratio, a very low one but still. It’s usually a 1-1-1 or 2-2-2 ratio for compost, so pretty weak.

But that’s because compost isn’t used just for adding nutrients. Its main use is to add organic matter, especially to poor soils like clay-heavy or sandy soils.

By that same definition, manure would also be considered an organic fertilizer. It has a little bit more nutrition in it, but it’s used for the same reasons in the garden.

Learn more: Is Compost or Manure Better for Your Garden?

This would also include chicken manure and even worm castings, so go ahead and use them as fertilizers.

Are Food Scraps an Organic Fertilizer?

Unlike compost, food scraps are not broken down yet.

This means that their nutrients are not bioavailable to your plants until they fully decompose.

Therefore, food scraps are not an organic fertilizer. But if you compost or bury your food scraps, then they can become an organic fertilizer.

Best Organic Fertilizers for Vegetables

Now we’re getting into my list of the best organic fertilizers for vegetables.

I tried to be unbiased, but most of these are either ones that I like or that I use in my garden all the time.

Bone Meal

This is hands down my favourite organic fertilizer. Like I said, there must be something special about dumping a bunch of crushed animal bones all over your plants.

Bone meal is made completely from animal carcasses, mainly cow bones. But other animals, like fish, sheep, goats, and horses, are often used as well.

After the animals go to the slaughterhouse, their bones are collected and used to make bone meal.

If you think that’s disgusting or “inhumane,” then just remember that the bones would otherwise be going into the garbage.

The process of making bone meal actually recycles and reuses a common waste product, bones.

All of the remaining meat, fat, cartilage, and gelatinous tissue is removed by boiling or steaming. Then they’re dried and ground into a fine powder.

This bone meal has an NPK ratio of 6-8-0, but it can vary slightly between brands.

The main nutrient is phosphorus, of course, but calcium, magnesium, and other trace minerals are present.

I use it for all my plants when transplanting; it helps with good root development.

Blood Meal

I told you that I like animal-based organic fertilizers.

Similarly to bone meal, blood meal is made from animal waste, specifically the blood. Animal blood is not typically sold at the grocery stores, so this is a way to recycle it.

Before the animals (mainly cows and pigs) are slaughtered, their blood is drained and collected.

It’s then dried and turned into a powder known as blood meal. Sometimes they boil the blood first just to evaporate some water and kill pathogens, but not always.

Again, if this sounds gross or “inhumane” to you, then just know that this is one of the best ways to recycle this waste product.

Blood meal is almost all nitrogen, with an NPK ratio of roughly 12-0-0. It’s basically all nitrogen.

I would use blood meal for vegetables that need a lot of nitrogen, like spinach, broccoli, or cabbage.

Manure

Manure is definitely my go-to soil amendment. I use it every single spring in all my garden beds, containers, and grow bags.

It’s made from animal poop, usually cow, sheep, or horse. I just get whichever one is on sale; one year it’s the sheep manure, one year the cow manure.

Again, it’s another way to recycle a very common waste product. If you think it’s “inhumane,” then I guess you’d rather have farmers throw their manure in the landfill.

Manure has a very low NPK ratio, usually around 0.5-0.5-0.5. It’s very weak and generally not meant to give your plants a ton of nutrients.

It’s mainly used for adding organic matter, improving soil structure, introducing beneficial microbes, and improving water retention.

You can also substitute it for compost, if you happen to make your own. Don’t buy compost from the store, it’s never as good as the stuff you can make at home.

If you have to buy it, then buy manure. But if you’re making homemade compost, then it’s better than store-bought manure.

Fish Emulsion

This is another great fertilizer that’s derived from a common waste product.

If you’ve ever seen commercial fishing projects, then you know that they have a lot of waste.

A lot of dead fish, small fish, unsellable fish, fish heads, scales, skin, bones, and other fish waste is gathered during commercial fishing.

Instead of throwing all of this waste into the landfill, they can turn it into organic fertilizer.

They take all of this waste and grind it into a fish slurry. Sounds delicious, right?

The slurry is then heated to above 80°C (176°F) to extract the oils and kill certain bacteria.

Then the slurry solids are strained out and removed. The remaining liquid is that liquid fish gold that’s perfect for use in your garden.

This fish emulsion fertilizer also has seaweed added for more micronutrients.

Because the NPK ratio is fairly low (2-3-1), it’s best used for young seedlings. Seedlings don’t need too much nutrition, so it’s perfect.

Other Fertilizers

Some fertilizers don’t really fall into any categories, they just have an NPK ratio.

For example, unless it’s a specific fertilizer like “alfalfa meal,” then it won’t have a name. It’ll just have an NPK ratio like 5-3-2.

So you’ll have to read and understand the NPK ratios to determine which plants it works best with.

For example, peppers benefit from more potassium to promote fruit and flower production. So an NPK ratio of something like 3-3-8 would be great.

It doesn’t necessarily have to say “pepper fertilizer” on the package.

My favourite one is the HydraGrow A + B fertilizer from HydraGarden. It comes in 2 different bottles and they have to be mixed and diluted in water before use.

I literally use this fertilizer all the time, even in my YouTube videos. I mainly use it for indoor plants and container plants, but it’s great for all vegetables.

I’m not affiliated with HydraGarden, I just really like their products, so make sure to check them out.

Organic Fertilizer Without Animal Products

For some reason, some people don’t like using animal products in their garden. Sure, I don’t understand why, but I can still respect it.

It’s not like there are thousands of organisms pooping and dying in your soil everyday, leaving behind their waste products.

And it’s not like animal-based organic fertilizers are made from recycled materials that would otherwise be thrown in the landfill.

Oh wait.

But in all sincerity, there are plenty of organic fertilizers that don’t have any animal products.

Compost, for example, can be made without animal products. If you don’t eat eggs or anything like that, then it won’t end up in your compost.

Additionally, there are many liquid and granular fertilizers made exclusively from plant products.

Kelp fertilizer is one of the most popular. It’s made entirely from kelp, which is a type of seaweed.

Another very popular one is cottonseed meal, which is made from the byproduct of cottonseed oil production.

There are so many other ones, so just make sure to do your research.

When to Apply Organic Fertilizer

It really doesn’t matter when you apply organic fertilizer to your garden.

You should apply it at any time your plants need some fertilizer. If they need it at the beginning of the season, then you should apply it.

For me, I like to do at least 2 applications of granular fertilizer during the growing season.

The first one is at transplanting time. I like to add a nice dose of bone meal into the planting hole for every seedling.

And then when the plants really start producing. This varies between different vegetable varieties.

For tomatoes, it would be at the time that you start getting a lot of ripe fruits.

For broccoli, it would be at the time that it starts producing a head.

So don’t think that there’s a specific time you should apply fertilizer. These are when I like to apply fertilizer, but it should be at any time your plants need it.

How Much Organic Fertilizer do I Use?

A lot of people end up putting less fertilizer than their plants actually need. And that’s because they don’t know how much fertilizer to use in their garden.

But the fertilizer packet tells you exactly how much you need to apply per square foot.

Of course, nobody follows that, not even me. But it’s still there for a recommendation.

However, I can say that you almost always need to add more than you think you need. For example, a tomato plant won’t do anything with a tiny pinch of bone meal.

You need to add a nice healthy dose for it to actually matter.

If you’re confused, then just follow the packet instructions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• 10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow
• 3 DIY Pea Trellis Ideas that Actually WORK
• Compost vs. Manure: Which One’s Better for Your Garden?

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t send you spam, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

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The post Best Organic Fertilizer for Vegetables That WORK appeared first on The Real Gardener.

Sweet peppers are a favourite among gardeners for their vibrant colours, crisp texture, and sweet, mild flavour. Whether you’re stuffing them, roasting them, or eating them raw, growing a variety of sweet peppers can take your garden harvest to the next level. In this post, we’ll explore 10 of the best sweet pepper varieties and offer tips for growing them successfully.

Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow

I have the feeling that a lot of new gardeners are intimidated to grow sweet peppers. I don’t really know why, maybe because they’re generally bigger than spicy peppers.

But I do agree that spicy peppers are easy to grow and they can produce a ton of peppers.

Sweet peppers are great too though, especially with all the different varieties.

So with that being said, lets get right into 10 sweet pepper varieties you NEED to grow.

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What are the Different Types of Sweet Peppers?

There are many different categories of sweet peppers, each with their own shape and size:

• Bell Peppers: These are the classic sweet peppers that are found almost anywhere. They are blocky and thick-walled, making them perfect for stuffing and fresh eating.
• Banana Peppers: Another popular group, banana peppers are long and tapered at the end. They’re usually yellow, which is why they’re called banana. These peppers are perfect for pickling and grilling.
• Frying Peppers: As the name suggests, the thin skin of these peppers makes them perfect for frying and sauteing. They are very long and slender, and don’t have as much water as other varieties.
• Mini Peppers: These peppers are one or two-bite-sized that are sweet and perfect for fresh eating. Because they’re so small, one plant can produce a lot of peppers.
• Ramshorn Peppers: Pronounced “ram’s horn,” not “ram shorn,” and also known as bullshorn. These peppers are shaped like an animal’s horn and are great for roasting and fresh eating.

Difference Between Sweet and Spicy Peppers

Like I said before, many gardeners have grown spicy peppers in their garden before.

The main difference between the two types (and the namesake) is the presence of capsaicin. Capsaicin is the compound responsible for the spiciness in spicy peppers.

Of course, spicy peppers contain capsaicin, with varying amounts depending on the variety.

On the other hand, sweet peppers have zero or very little capsaicin, which makes them sweet. Some varieties might have a little bit that’ll make them very slightly spicy, but still.

And if you get a sweet pepper variety that has very weak genetics or is a new variety on the market, then it can occasionally produce a pepper that is spicy. This is not very common though.

Apart from capsaicin levels, there are also some differences in growth habit.

You may notice the first one if you’re growing peppers from seed, and it’s that sweet peppers germinate way faster than spicy peppers!

Sweet peppers usually germinate in a week or two, while spicy peppers can take 4-5 weeks.

Additionally, sweet peppers usually have larger leaves than spicy peppers.

Can Sweet and Spicy Peppers Mix Flavours?

This is one of the most common misconceptions when growing peppers.

A lot of gardeners are afraid to plant sweet and spicy peppers in the same garden bed because they think the sweets will become spicy and vice versa.

Maybe by the roots mingling or the pollen mixing, the spiciness would somehow transfer to the other varieties. I don’t know, it’s truly a mystery!

But this is just not true; it can’t be true. Each plant is separate, they can’t suddenly mix or combine.

Sweet peppers and spicy peppers planted next to each other will taste exactly how they’re supposed to taste when harvested.

However, there might be a problem if you’re trying to save seeds for next year.

If pollen does get transferred between varieties, then it will create a hybrid in the seeds of the fruit, not the fruit itself.

So if you plant those seeds next year, you’ll get a really weird variety that probably won’t taste or look good. It might be spicy, it might be sweet, I don’t really know.

But for this generation of fruit, there won’t be any mixing, so you can plant sweet and spicy pepper varieties next to each other without an issue.

Why Grow Sweet Peppers

I don’t know about you, but peppers are expensive where I live. Regular price is around $4.99/lb. That’s way too much.

You can save so much money growing sweet peppers at home. And I usually don’t even buy them during the winter because I’d rather have them fresh in the summer.

And it doesn’t even have to be said, but homegrown peppers taste way better than store-bought.

You’ll never be able to find anything comparable to homegrown produce, especially peppers.

So grow your own sweet peppers this year!

10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties

Now let’s get into my list of my 10 favourite sweet pepper varieties that you need to grow!

1. Tangerine Dream

As the name suggests, this snacking pepper has a beautiful tangerine orange colour.

This is a snacking pepper that produces fruits that are about 3 inches long. They’re perfect for fresh eating and pickling, and they have a very sweet taste.

Sometimes the fruits can develop a bit of spiciness, so be careful.

The plants grow to about 18 inches tall and 12 inches wide, making them perfectly compact plants.

It’s a new variety for my garden this year as well.

Days to maturity: 70

2. Big Daddy

Big Daddy is truly a huge sweet pepper variety. Fruits grow to about 8-10 inches long, and they’re thick-walled and glossy golden yellow.

They are easy to harvest off plants that are about 18-24 inches tall and 12 inches wide.

And they’re perfect for stuffing and roasting. They hold up very well after being cooked and won’t fall apart easily.

Days to maturity: 73

3. Gypsy Hybrid

This is another new variety for my garden this year.

It’s an All-America Selections winner that is very prolific and produces a ton of fruit from just one pepper plant.

The tapered fruits grow to about 4.5 inches long and mature from a yellow-white colour to orange to red. They’re best picked at the orange stage.

They’re perfect for frying and fresh eating in salads.

Plants grow to about 18-24 inches tall and 12 inches wide.

Days to maturity: 65

4. Thunderbolt

A variety with a very intriguing name, thunderbolt is a prolific producer. The fruits average 10-13 inches long and is considered one of the most flavourful varieties.

The plants are about 40-45 inches tall and 35-40 inches wide, so considerably larger than the previous varieties.

The tapered fruits are perfect for frying and stuffing.

Additionally, this variety shows reliable resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus and tobacco mosaic virus.

Days to maturity: 65-80

5. Great Stuff

This variety produces huge peppers that are 7 inches tall and 5 inches wide. This makes the perfect for stuffing because they can hold a lot of stuff in there!

The fruit ripens from green to a dark red colour when fully ripe.

They are very productive and generally produce a good yield no matter what the conditions are.

Plants grow to about 18-24 inches tall and 12 inches wide.

Days to maturity: 75

6. Long Tall Sally

Another Italian frying pepper that is so versatile and perfect for frying, grilling, roasting, and even stuffing. The skin is thin and the fruit is sweet.

They produce an abundance of 8 inch long Cubanelle-style fruits.

Plants are about 40-45 inches tall and 30-35 inches wide and it’s one of the fastest-maturing varieties.

Days to maturity: 60-65

7. Emerald Giant

This huge blocky bell pepper variety is an heirloom, meaning you can save and replant the seeds next year for the same variety.

It produces heavy yields of 5 inch long peppers best harvested when they’re dark green. However, you can let them ripen to red.

They have a sweet and juicy flavour, thick walls, and crisp texture.

Plants are 26-30 inches tall and wide, and produce fruit over a long period in the summer.

Days to maturity: 72-80

8. Habanero Habanada

This is the first habanero variety that has no heat. It’s a heat-less habanero pepper.

Instead, it gives you sweet, tropical, and fruit flavours perfect for fresh eating and frying. This variety is extremely productive and early-maturing.

Plants grow to 13-15 inches high and 24-36 inches wide, and the fruits are about 3-4 inches long.

Days to maturity: 70-90

9. PeppiGrande Red

This interesting and innovative new variety is the first seedless sweet pepper. That’s right, there are zero seeds in these peppers.

It’s great for roasting and fresh eating, especially considering you won’t have to worry about the seeds.

The fruits are about 5-6 inches long, growing on plants that are 30-34 inches tall and 24-30 inches wide.

Days to maturity: 80-90

10. Slovana

Another beautiful sweet pepper variety that produces a ton of cone-shaped fruits.

The peppers are a bright neon yellow colour and they have a rich flavour and delicate sweetness. They’re great eaten fresh, grilled, or roasted.

Plants grow to 17-26 inches tall and 22-26 inches wide, with 2-6 inch fruits.

Days to maturity: 65-70

Which Sweet Pepper Should I Grow?

After reading about all these varieties, I understand that you might still be confused or overwhelmed on which one to grow.

So make sure to choose a variety that is easy to grow, produces quickly, and produces a lot.

Based on that, I would choose Gypsy or Long Tall Sally. These varieties are fairly easier to grow and they produce a ton of peppers very quickly.

If you want something different or interesting, then try PeppiGrande. Like I said, this variety is seedless, so it’ll be very interesting to grow and eat.

If you just want a classic sweet pepper, then try Emerald Giant or Great Stuff. These are the typical bell peppers and perfect for most use cases.

Do Sweet Pepper Seeds Need a Heat Mat to Germinate?

Another thing that beginner gardeners get confused with is if they should use a heat mat to germinate sweet pepper seeds.

Obviously they know that hot peppers need a heat mat. Because they’re hot, they need to be hot, right?. I don’t know what the reasoning is.

But for some reason, everybody knows that spicy peppers need a heat mat, but not that sweet peppers need one as well.

So I’ll tell you, yes, sweet peppers need a heat mat to germinate as well.

Peppers in general need to be in temperatures around 24-27°C (75-82°F) to germinate evenly. Of course, they can germinate without it, but we want what’s optimal.

So use a high-quality heat mat for your sweet peppers and the germination rates will increase.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• How to Grow Broccoli the RIGHT Way (What People Get Wrong)
• 3 DIY Pea Trellis Ideas that Actually WORK
• Compost vs. Manure: Which One’s Better for Your Garden?

If you liked this article, make sure to share it with your friends and family members who are also looking to sharpen their gardening skills. Also, consider signing up for our email newsletter; don’t worry, we won’t send you spam, just fresh gardening ideas every week!

If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, make sure to check out what I’m doing on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Pin this post for later:

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10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow

3 Cheap and Easy Bean Trellis Ideas for Growing Tons of Beans

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The post 10 Delicious Sweet Pepper Varieties You NEED to Grow appeared first on The Real Gardener.