If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that I’m all about organic gardening, especially when it comes to my vegetable garden! Growing organically used to intimidate me, and I thought it would be way too much work. But it turns out that, in many cases, using natural products actually makes gardening easier! Especially when it comes to using organic, natural fertilizer for garden vegetables – and using natural fertilizers in the vegetable garden is not only healthier for us, they work way better than chemical ones!
The secret for growing amazing vegetables starts with the soil, and it’s super important to focus on building rich, fertile soil – especially in the vegetable garden. Over time chemical fertilizers destroy the structure and fertility of the soil, and eventually strip the soil of natural nutrients. So over the years you have to use more and more chemicals to get the same results (Yuck!!).
When you use natural, organic fertilizers, you are building up the structure and fertility of the soil, and it will only get better with time! You’re working with nature and giving the plants exactly what they need to grow their best, and produce tons of healthy, organic vegetables. I don’t know about you, but that sounds much, much better than dumping all those nasty chemicals in the garden (and in my food!) and destroying the soil.
Yummy vegetables grown using natural fertilizer
As you may know, we grow much of our food in a community garden. The soil at the community garden is less than ideal, and I’ve been working to build it up over the past few years. This year, I’m teaming up with Suståne to build and enrich the soil at the community garden using their all natural fertilizer for garden vegetables. I’m super excited to see what a difference it will make for my vegetables! (I’m also super excited because they are a Minnesota company, and I LOVE to support my MN peeps!!)
Suståne natural fertilizer
Natural Fertilizer For Garden Vegetables
If you’re just making the switch from chemical fertilizers, or you haven’t made the switch yet because you’re worried it’s too complicated to figure out how to mix and match all those organic soil additives you see in the garden center… then you’re in for a real treat. Thanks to new products coming out on the market these days (like the natural fertilizers Suståne makes), it’s even easier to give your soil the nutrients it needs to grow and amazing vegetable garden.
Using natural fertilizers at the community garden
Using Natural Fertilizers to Build Fertile Soil
Back in the olden days (I don’t know, like 5-10 years ago), organic gardeners used to have to mix and measure all kinds of natural soil additives (peat moss, blood meal, bone meal, manure, lime…etc) to build up their garden soil (my eyes are glazing over just typing that!). One of the main reasons I’ve never used natural plant fertilizer in my gardens before is because I’m not a scientist, and doing math is not my strong skill.
I can’t think of anything more intimidating than the thought of having to figure out what types of soil additives each of my vegetables need in order to grow their best, then measuring and mixing it all correctly… not to mention the cost of buying all those individual soil additives. Don’t get me wrong, using those natural soil additives correctly is an awesome way build up fertile soil too, but it sounds like way too much work for me.
Natural fertilizer granules
Lucky for us, these days it’s becoming much easier to find natural fertilizer for garden vegetables that are already mixed for us so all we have to do is add them to the soil. Talk about a no brainer! Oh, I am all about making gardening easier. These granular fertilizers take the guess work out of using natural fertilizers, and make it super easy too! All you need to do is grab a scoop and mix it in the soil. Heck, you don’t even have to carefully measure the amount of natural plant fertilizer products you add to your garden because there’s no risk of adding too much and burning your plants. Sweet!
How To Apply Natural Fertilizer
Like I said, it’s super easy to apply granular fertilizer to your garden. There are only a few ways to do it, and there’s really no way you can do it wrong when using the natural stuff. So how do you add it? Well, two good ways are to top dress your plants, or to add it to the hole before planting your vegetables.
Top Dressing:
I had already planted most of my vegetables before Suståne sent me their products to try out, so I top dressed the plants I had already planted. It’s great to know that it’s never too late to add natural plant fertilizer to your garden! To top dress your plants, you simply pour the granules over the top of the soil around the base of the plant, and gently (very gently if you’re working around immature plants or seedlings) work it into the top layer of soil. Don’t worry, you don’t have to dig up the plant or work the fertilizer deep into the soil, simply take a few seconds to mix it in.
Top dressing vegetable plants
Plant Hole:
Plant hole!?! Who you callin’ a plant hole? (Haha! Sorry but ‘plant hole’ is just funny!). Ok, ok, in all seriousness, adding the fertilizer granules to the plant hole before planting your vegetables is another way to go. After you dig the hole, simply add the recommended amount to the hole and mix it into the lose soil (or not), and then add the plant as you normally would. Yep, told you it was easy. (I got a late start on planting my tomatoes this year, so I was able to add Suståne vegetable plant food to the hole before I planted my tomatoes.)
Pour fertilizer into hole when planting
How I’m Testing Suståne Natural Fertilizers
Suståne sent me some of their natural fertilizers to try out in my garden this year, and the community garden is the PERFECT place to test these out. The only thing I’ve ever added to the soil up there is compost, and natural mulches to keep the weeds down (which break down to feed the soil too), so it’ll be really easy to see the difference these natural fertilizers make up there.
I’m testing two of their granular products to build up the soil at the community garden: 4-6-4 flower & vegetable plant food, and their concentrated compost. (you can find all the information about the products I’m using on this page) I used the concentrated compost on half of my vegetables in one garden, and I used the vegetable plant food on a few of my tomato plants. I’m going to be doing side-by-side comparisons on these later in the summer to show you the difference that using Suståne natural fertilizer for garden vegetables makes. I can NOT wait to see the results!
Suståne compost tea bags
Suståne also sent me some of their compost tea bags to try out, and I will be using their compost tea only on select plants throughout the summer to compare how well those plants grow and produce -vs- the plants I don’t use the compost tea on. It’s going to be so much fun!!
Where Can You Buy Suståne Natural Fertilizer For Garden Vegetables?
You can find Suståne organic fertilizer for sale at some retail locations, just click here to find a store near you. You can also purchase their products on Amazon…
Suståne All Natural Flower and Vegetable Plant Food
Suståne Compost Tea Bags
More Posts About Organic Gardening:
A Six-Step Approach to Organic Gardening Pest Control
Eggshells as Organic Pest Control
Neem Oil as Organic Pest Control
How to Use Beneficial Nematodes for Organic Pest Control
Using Ladybugs for Organic Pest Control
Have you ever tried using natural fertilizer for garden vegetables before? Tell me about your experiences in the comments below.
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