How often should I fertilize my garden?

Jerry Baker books have home remedies, most out of amonia, dish soap, thinks most of us have at home. I have had very good luck with his stuff. Tells you how often to apply as well.

I use Miracle Grow every few months.

@ColoradoMom I have that book given to me by a dear friend. I am glad to hear they work and will give them a try! ;)

The Baker book is fun but you have to buy all the natural ingredients, many of which you may not have in your house.

The easiest, healthiest and most economical fertilizer is compost (or chicken guano, if you keep chickens {rabbits, goats, guinea hens, horses,} ).

Just shovel it around every few weeks during the growing season. Amend the beds in the spring before planting also.

I use Miracle Grow too once a month. It may be too often; not sure.
I’m jealous, @Cruiser. I wish I had more space. So far, all I have are green (unripe) grape tomatoes that will turn red, of course!

@gailcalled This is my first season with this garden the previous owner had built. I tilled in copious amounts of peat moss, a few bags of manure to prepare for this year. I will probably do that every season too. Not sure how much more I need to do throughout the year as I don’t want to over do it either.

If you throw a thin layer of some healthy compost on top and some mulch (leaf or grass) on top of that, you should be fine for the season.

@Aster I was selling my old house last summer and knew I would not be able to keep a planted garden so I did mine gardening in 5 gallon buckets. I had 5 huge tomato plants, green beans, zucchini, green and hot pepper and an herb garden all in buckets. It was work keeping them hydrated but I pulled it off!

Thanks @incendiary_dan I will look into doing that once everything is up!

If you tilled in peat and manure you should be set for the year. Too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen will result in more vegetative (Stalks, etc) growth and less production of the fruits or veggies.

Thanks @Adirondackwannabe That is the kind of answer I was hoping to find! GA!

Oh yea, I’ve been reading up a lot about diluted urine as a good nitrogen fertlizer, apparently more effective than the expensive chemical stuff.

I don’t use anything more than water (and amicable soil of course) and get enough, even too much produce. I do now and then spike them with miraclegro, but to stay as natural and healthy as possible, nothing. sorry for giving the control answer :(

I’m not sure there is such a thing as too much compost. With synthetic fertilizer, I’d be sparing (if at all), and probably not before the plants have set fruit.