Plant Feeding Techniques

Plants need a mix of nutrients, just as humans need to consume a mix of protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals and vitamins. They particularly need nitrogen (N) for leaf growth, phosphorus (P) for root growth, and potassium (K) for fruit growth. All plants need all three, but leafy crops particularly need nitrogen, and fruit crops won't develop well without enough potassium.

Here Are Some Of The Easiest Ways For Plant Feeding

Nitrogen

Your salads and other leafy crops won’t flourish unless they have enough nitrogen.

Chicken manure pellets are cheap, easy to source, and contain most of the essential nutrients for plants. They are particularly high in nitrogen. I use them all the time for rejuvenating old compost to grow salads. Simply mix a handful into your compost before you plant your salads.

Here Are Some Of The Easiest Ways For Plant Feeding

Potassium

To get good yields of tomatoes, runner beans, squash, chillies, strawberries and other fruiting crops from containers, you need to regularly add additional potassium (K).

The easiest way to do this is to buy a bottle of tomato feed. Although called tomato feed, this will do the job for all fruiting crops.

Here Are Some Of The Easiest Ways For Plant Feeding

Vitamins And Minerals

Liquid seaweed is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. You can add it to your watering can once a week to keep your plants healthy. Or, to make a precious bottle go further, you can spray it on to the leaves of your crops using a simple hand spray (an empty spray bottle, cleaned well, works perfectly).

Here Are Some Of The Easiest Ways For Plant Feeding

Soil Life

Healthy soil contains an invisible and amazing array of bacteria and fungi which digest the nutrients you are adding, releasing it to the roots of your hungry plants.

You can buy various products such as mycorrhizal fungi to add life to your pots. But one of the best sources is worm compost or worm tea. You can make this at home in a wormery.

Here Are Some Of The Easiest Ways For Plant Feeding

Worm Compost

Worm compost is fantastic for containers: as well as soil life it’s rich in the vitamins and minerals your plants need, as well as some of the major nutrients. Mix 10 - 25% into old compost to rejuvenate it, or add 5 - 10% to new compost to add soil life. Add a layer of an inch or two to hungry crops like courgettes and tomatoes to give them a boost half way through the growing season.

Here Are Some Of The Easiest Ways For Plant Feeding

How Much To Feed?

Feeding crops is as an art as well as a science. How much you feed depends on lots of variables: the size of pot, what compost you’re using, how big your plant is, and how fast it’s growing. The secret is to give it a go, observe the difference, and learn from the results. As a general rule, little and often is the safest strategy (too much feeding is as bad as too little). And feed more when your crops are fruiting.

Hamlet HillRoydonEssexCM19 5JY

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