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| Go greener |
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| With a growing number of gardeners eschewing chemicals in favour of natural alternatives, we can suggest some effective products from our organic gardening selection |
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| Relax and refresh |
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| Good food freshly prepared daily, aromatic coffee, chilled wine and a grassy play area for the children. What more could you need? |
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| Food heaven |
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| Our Farm Shop is heaven for food lovers! Delicious handmade food, top quality groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables and stylish cookware and gifts. |
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| The Discovery Walk |
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| As thousands of daffodils herald the spring, stroll or stride around our Walk while the youngsters enjoy the Nature Trail |
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Food glorious food…
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| Thursday, 19th June 2008 |
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IN THE GARDEN WITH PETA MARSHALL
Getting one’s own diet right can be tricky enough (less carbs and fats, more vitamins and proteins, controlled sugars, etc), but we should be just as careful with how we feed our plants!
With the plant-growing season in full swing we should just spend a little time focusing on feeding plants. After all, they have plenty of challenges ahead of them: growth, flowering, fruiting, the need to resist pests and disease, and so on. An army marches on its stomach and so, metaphorically, do plants!
If your garden is anything like mine there are far too many plants crammed in close together, all competing for available food and water. Therefore it’s only fair that they are provided with extra nutrition.
There are three main plant nutrients, and each is essential for the development of a certain part of a plant.
Nitrogen (N) is responsible for leaf and stem growth. It is vital to nearly all plants in the early stages of growth. It is essential to leaf crops, for example lettuce, cabbage and spinach. Bone meal is the traditional source of nitrogen used at the time of planting although other slow-release, more complete fertilisers have superseded it.
The lawn needs plenty of nitrogen when it starts to grow in spring, but beware, overdoing it may mean you are out there with the mower every couple of days for the rest of the year. In order to avoid over-feeding a lawn, buy a feed appropriate to the season.
Phosphorus (P), usually referred to as phosphate, is responsible for root growth. As all garden plants are dependent on their roots this is essential in plant establishment.
Potassium (K), usually known as potash, is responsible for flower and fruit production. Potash is very soluble so is easily washed away, it needs regular replenishment for crops that need it. Tomatoes and peppers need plenty of potash to fruit well. Roses need potash to bloom; additional potash in midsummer guarantees a bold autumn encore.
Packaging tells us the proportion of each of the plant nutrients that a fertiliser contains. This is expressed in letters and numbers (indicating the percentage of each main nutrient) always in the same order: N, P and K. For example the nutrient content of Growmore is 7:7:7, equal percentages of each nutrient. Growmore is a chemical fertiliser. It is a fast release product, useful for a boost on the vegetable plot, but there are organic options such as Fish, Blood and Bone.
The three main nutrient bases are enough to confuse most of us, but this is just the start. There are also several different types of fertiliser formulation:
Liquid: the most popular and convenient way to feed plants. A concentrated liquid fertiliser is diluted in water and applied to soil or compost in the growing season. It is fast-acting and used regularly to provide the nutrients the plant needs. For example, liquid tomato fertiliser.
Soluble: a powder or crystalline solid that is dissolved in water and used as a liquid fertiliser. It is fast acting and either general or specific to a certain crop. For example Phostrogen, a general purpose soluble fertiliser.
Granular: solid fertilisers made into easy-to-handle granules. They can be slow- or fast release and most are general fertilisers supplying the main, and sometimes minor, plant nutrients. For example, Growmore.
Slow release solid: fertilisers that gradually break down in the soil, releasing nutrients over a long period. Organic based fertilisers fall into his category. For example Fish, Blood and Bone.
Controlled Release: fertiliser in specially coated granules that only release nutrients into the soil when there is sufficient moisture, and the temperature is warm enough; ideal in pots and hanging baskets. For example Osmocote.
Are you confused yet? If not, read on…for there are also organic and inorganic fertilisers.
So how do you determine which is which? Organic means a fertiliser derived from something that was once living, in other words plant or animal remains.
Naturally occurring minerals, although not organic are usually also acceptable in organic food production. Chemical fertilisers are man-made and usually contain higher nutrient levels, and these are quickly released into moist soil.
Organic fertilisers usually contain lower concentrations of plant nutrients, but these are released slowly into the soil over a long period as the organic material breaks down. This means there is less risk of over-feeding delicate plants. Remember, just like most of us at Christmas-time…plants can be over-fed too!
There is no hard-and-fast programme I can give you for feeding plants, as so much depends on what you are growing, and the general condition of your soil or compost. But generally, the things that are flowering or fruiting throughout summer (such as bedding plants, container plants, tomatoes, roses, soft fruits, and so on) should be fed every two or three weeks with a high potash fertiliser. Otherwise, make sure everything else is fed with something appropriate (such as lawn, or tree & shrub fertiliser, and so on) at least twice a year and preferably three times.
After all that talk about plant food, I’m beginning to feel a bit hungry myself! Happy gardening!
Help is on hand with Pauline and her team.
If, on your next trip to Priory Farm plant centre, you visit the fertiliser shelves and become completely mesmerized by the array of colourful but confusing fertiliser packs available, and don’t have a clue which to get for your particular needs, then do ask our staff for help. You may even be lucky enough to catch our fertiliser and pesticides guru, Pauline Varley.
For many years she has been responsible for ordering all the hard products stocked at the centre, to help gardeners make the most of their plots. And in that time she has become an expert in what’s available, and the right product for the job. She says: “Feeding plants can be daunting if you’ve never done it before, simply because of the choice available. But we can help you with this. All you’ve got to do is ask!”
This week in your garden
Capsid bugs are little pale green insects which are about 1/4in (6mm) long. They nibble on the growing points of outdoor fuchsias, hydrangeas, currants, and may others trees and shrubs. Pick off and destroy any that you see, or spray with Scotts Bug Clear.
Ripening cherries can be picked now and kept for several days if absolutely dry. They tend to keep better if left on the sprigs (stems).
Oxygenating pond weed – such as Canadian pond weed (elodea) – can be invasive and quickly choke a pond. Now is a good time to thin them out by pulling out handfuls and putting them on the compost heap (but check first for little fish, frogs or tadpoles)
Peta Marshall is the plant centre manager at Priory Farm in Nutfield. Website: www.prioryfarm.co.uk
NEXT WEEK: Focus on pelargoniums
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