Fertilizer

[Insekto]

Wel, I just asked my mom if she wanted me to plant a couple of tomatoe and bean seeds back in our patio, however, I started thinking about what I'm going to need and this concern came into my mind. Do I really need fertilizer to grow some of those seeds in my house? How necessary are these?

 

[Beth_B]

It depends on what sort of soil or growing medium you have available...not sure what your available dirt is. I assume you are planning on planting in containers, yes?

For me personally, where I live the soil is very rich (lots of trees and rain) so I've several times dug up dirt from my side yard for containers. Or I will use a purchased potting soil and mix in compost. My own, or commercially bought organic.

I don't often use fertilizers since I am lucky, dirt-wise. If your available soil is poor, amending it with compost or other organic materials will surely help. In most of the US we have resources available to analyze our soil and correct for definciencies if necessary.

Can you purchase commercial potting soil where you live? Sorry if that is a stupid question. If you can, that is what I would use. And maybe some sort of fertilizer during blooming and fruit production although that is certainly not mandatory IMHO.

 

[Insekto]

It depends on what sort of soil or growing medium you have available...not sure what your available dirt is. I assume you are planning on planting in containers, yes?

For me personally, where I live the soil is very rich (lots of trees and rain) so I've several times dug up dirt from my side yard for containers. Or I will use a purchased potting soil and mix in compost. My own, or commercially bought organic.

I don't often use fertilizers since I am lucky, dirt-wise. If your available soil is poor, amending it with compost or other organic materials will surely help. In most of the US we have resources available to analyze our soil and correct for definciencies if necessary.

Can you purchase commercial potting soil where you live? Sorry if that is a stupid question. If you can, that is what I would use. And maybe some sort of fertilizer during blooming and fruit production although that is certainly not mandatory IMHO.

Yes I will be using containers and some dirt from my garden for it, that's why I'm seeking for some information about what I have to use in order to make it grow succesfully with no hasless, thank you for the advice though.

 

[Corzhens]

In the many years of our gardening, we never used commercial fertilizer. Our usual fertilizer is the water that is used to rinse fish and meat in the kitchen. And we also have the compost bin where we put excess vegetable trimmings and rotten fruits. But the compost is mainly for trees. With small plants like pepper or ginger (we always have them) the rinsing water is enough as fertilizer for them. Even our dragon fruit thrives on the rinsing water.

 

[digger]

We happen to have a rich, blackish soil that is great for planting so I've never thought about applying a commercial fertilizer for our edible plants. I decided to grow my own garden because I want to eat organic foods as much as possible. What I would do is use the rinsing water from rice. I would also make a natural fertilizer from fish innards that were made to dry and mixed with soil.

 

[petesede]

Just play it safe and buy a few bags or high quality organic soils, they are really cheap, and then mix it in with your garden soil. Even if you have decent soil, adding some high quality soil to the mixture will increase your yield enough to make it worthwhile.