Fertilizing Your Veggie Garden

Things are growing! I have a tomato plant that seems to have doubled in size overnight. 

Knowing if, and when, you need to add fertilizer to your veggie garden can be very tricky. It’s like knowing if you should prune your tomato plants; it's specific to your garden, climate, and plants. 

The best way to know what your garden needs, is to do a soil test. I’m an avid gardener and have never done a soil test.  I know where my dirt comes from, which of my plants need what, and because I live in Seattle my dirt is probably acidic and lacks nitrogen. (see this post for more information about why I know that)

I’d like to share with you the basics on fertilizing your plants, so that you can make the best decision for your garden.

Why you should fertilize, you've never done it before and everything turned out fine:

It may have turned out fine, but it probably could have been a lot better. There are 16 different elements that are essential for productivity, and every single one of them is important. A deficiency can be as severe as the plant dying, or simply the plant not producing as much as it could have.  

Why your plants might need to be fertlizied:

• It rains a lot where you live (that’s you my fellow Seattlites). Nutrients get washed away by rain.
• Your garden is packed full of veggie plants, maybe a little too packed.
• You have a lot of heavy feeders growing. This includes tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, peppers, broccoli, asparagus,  cabbage, spinach, and corn.
• Your garden consists of dirt that was dug up from your backyard. Regular soil does not have enough nutrients to sustain a vegetable garden. 
• You use the same dirt year after year, but don’t add compost or fertilizer.
• You receive dirt in bulk from a recycling company. They said the dirt was organic and good for the garden, but who knows!

Why you may not need to fertilize:

• You have added compost, or mulches with organic materials.
• Your garden is new, and you purchased organic soil that was amended with nutrients.
• You don't see any signs of a nutrient deficient plant:
• Yellowing of the leaves (not from over or under watering) is a sign of a nutrient deficiency.
• The plant is not growing at the proper rate. (compare it to your neighbors).

How to fertilize:

Find an organic fertilizer that has 5-5-5 ratio or lower. The three numbers stand for the weight of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Since you won't be doing a soil test, you should go with a lower ratio of each. Next follow the directions for "side dressing". I love the Dr.Earth solution above. 

Now you have your weekend project!

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Tomato Tuesday: Sideways Starts

I just took a peek at the weather forecast and it looks like next week may be our week here in Seattle.  I'm going to go for it and transplant my tomatoes this weekend. Eek!

I saw my Grandma this weekend and she offered a wonderful tip on planting tomato starts. She also gave me some rhubarb crisp. Jealous? You should be.

My Grandma always plants her tomato starts sideways into her garden to build a sturdier plant. This also creates a larger root system allowing the plant to take in more water and nutrients. Confused? Here is a very scientific drawing of what happens:

As you can see, roots will begin to grow from the buried tomato stem. 

Here is how to do it:

1. Pinch off the bottom stems of your plant.

2. Dig a trench that is 3/4 the length of your plant. One side should be deeper than the other to accommodate the current root structure. You want the root structure to be about 3-4 inches from the surface.

3. You can sprinkle some kelp meal into your trench to give the roots a little boost. You may have some leftover if you followed my tip from this post on creating your own Pacific Northwest organic fertilizer!

4. Add water to the trench if the soil is dry.
5. Remove your plant from its container very gently. The soil that my start was in was very fluffy and light so I did not break up the base at all.

6. Place most of the plant into the trench, with the top quarter of the plant above the ground.

7. Fill in your trench with soil, add mulch to the top to keep the soil warm.
8. Do not worry that the top of your plant is lying on the ground, after a few days the plant will correct itself and grow up (see drawing above).

This technique is ideal for those with "leggy" tomato starts or in shorter growing seasons. If you have a longer growing season this may not be necessary for you as your plant has had enough time in the garden to establish a strong root system. 

I will share pictures of this plant as it switches directions and grows up, I just have to figure out how to keep it warm until next week. Maybe a wool blanket? 

:)

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Chives that Thrive(s)

OK, I promise I won't rhyme anymore. It was a good attempt. Chives are one of the easiest herbs to grow. They taste great and keep coming back year after year, surviving the cold winters.

You can grow chives in your garden, in a container, and they do great indoors on a windowsill!
Here is how to maintain your chives:

• Watering: Chives thrive with consistently moist soil. They will handle periods of dry soil, but this will affect productivity and growth.
• Sun: Chives do best in full sun, but can handle partial shade.
• Fertilizer: If you have not added compost to your soil or any other amendments this year, fertilize your chives once per month this spring. I do this by using the organic fertilizer I created in this post and sprinkle a small amount around the base. 
• Dividing: Every three years, it's a good idea to thin out your chives, so share some with your neighbor!
• Maintenance: Once I see pods start to develop (see purple below) I snip them off. In my opinion,  letting your chives flower reduces the production and flavor of the leaves. 

•  Flowers: You may wish to let the chives flower. They are edible and wonderful in salads!

• Harvesting: When you harvest, cut the leaves from the outside in leaving 2 inches of the leaf left. The chives will grow back.

If you are interested in growing chives this year, I would recommended purchasing bulbs that have already been started. If you start them from seed, it will take them a year before you can harvest. 

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Preparing Your Soil

 I see sunshine in our future.  7 whole days in a row (I choose to ignore the rain drops). I've begun dreaming about all the things I'm going to do, I've got my sunglasses ready, and my flip flops waiting by the door. I can't wait to crawl out of my cave of gloomy darkness. 

While day dreaming, I had a moment of panic when I realized that on your list may be gardening. I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet. 

I want to offer my number one tip for a successful garden this summer. If you listen to nothing else, I promise knowing the following information will lead to a successful garden.

It's all about the dirt, baby. 

Crappy soil, a professional umbrella term for; lacking nutrients, too acidic, poor drainage, clay like soil, or sandy soil. And living in Seattle, we all have crappy soil.

With the amount of rain we receive, Seattle is known for having soil that is high in potassium but low in everything else, as the rain washes the nutrients out. Unfortunately, just adding fresh compost does not do the trick since your compost is made up of matter from this region that came from soil that is high in potassium an low in other nutrients.

It's time to fertilize. And don't worry this method of fertilizing is green and healthy. Here is your mix:

.5 part kelp meal
.5 part lime
4 parts seed meal (cottonseed or canola seed)
.5 part phosphate

If you can't find all of the ingredients at your garden store, the two most important ones are seed meal and lime. Although I had no problem finding all four:

I purchase each item separately, as I have not been able to find fertilizer that has everything I mentioned above. Most of them include potassium as well, which our soil does not need more of. Potassium does produce large juicy vegetables and a high yield however it also dramatically decreases the overall nutritional value! If purchasing the above is overwhelming then here is what I recommend buying:

In addition, purchase some agricultural or gardening lime. Follow the directions on the back as to how much to add. 

Here is how I mix my parts and store it, I will be adding this fertilizer throughout the summer, so I make a large batch and store it in a plastic container:

                    

Once you have your mixture work it into the first few inches of your garden with a rake. If you have already planted then you can sprinkle around the plants base. However do not fertilize new seedlings until they are established.

The information above comes from a fantastic gardening book called "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon. It is my absolute favorite garden book, but only for the true garden nerds. 

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