One of the most common questions I get asked is what type of organic vegetable fertilizer should I use in my garden? In fact, I get asked so many questions regarding organic fertilizers and keeping garden soil healthy that I decided this summer I am going to write some posts about soil health and using organic fertilizers in the garden.
Part of this project will be me testing out new organic gardening products and sharing the results with you. Woohoo! I love trying new products and telling you about the ones I dig the most.
I’m super excited to team up with Dave Thompson’s Organic Healthy Grow. They sent me some of their organic plant fertilizer to test in my vegetable garden and containers this summer. If you’ve never heard of Healthy Grow, you should definitely check out the company’s story. Healthy Grow is produced at a full cycle self-sustaining farm, which is super cool!
Healthy Grow organic tomato fertilizer
But first, let me take a step back and tell you a little story about organic plant fertilizer…
Don’t Be Intimidated By Organic Vegetable Fertilizer
When I first started gardening, the word “fertilizer” scared the heck out me. I knew I didn’t want to use chemical fertilizer in my vegetable garden, but I had no idea what to use. Back then, there weren’t a lot of options for organic fertilizer for sale. Oh, and I knew nothing about how to build up my soil, let alone how to keep my soil fertile.
I knew that using manure from certain animals was a no-brainer when it came to organic fertilizer… but I’ve never had a local source for quality manure (and even if I did, the thought of bringing home fresh manure and letting it age in my compost heap triggered my gag reflex). So, I just didn’t use anything.
My results varied from year to year, and I didn’t have a huge amount of success growing vegetables until I started paying attention to the health of my soil – and adding organic amendments is the key to healthy soil. Using organic plant fertilizer in your garden shouldn’t feel intimidating or make things more difficult for you. When you work with nature to build your soil, organic gardening is actually pretty easy!
Organically grown peppers from my garden
Why is Organic Fertilizer Important?
Ok, it might sound like I’m getting on my soapbox for a minute… but I think this is a really important question to address before talking about organic plant fertilizer. Like I said, I was pretty clueless about the importance of soil health and organic fertilizers when I first started gardening, and I know this is an intimidating topic for lots of gardeners, so hopefully this will help.
In gardening, everything starts with the soil. It’s really tough to grow tons of healthy, organic food unless your soil is also healthy, organic and fertile. Chemical fertilizers give us instant gratification, but they cause major damage to the health and fertility of our garden soil over time, which means you’ll have to add more and more chemicals to the soil to get the same results year after year. Yuck!
Healthy Grow organic vegetable fertilizer
But when you use organic fertilizers, you’re building up your soil structure to be a rich source of nutrients for your plants. Rich organic soil means stronger, healthier plants, higher yield, and healthier food for us! Makes sense, right?
Besides, I find that organic vegetable fertilizer works better than the harmful chemical stuff anyway, so using chemicals in the vegetable garden doesn’t even make sense to me. Ok, I’m stepping off the soapbox.
Now the fun part, let’s talk about poop…
No, not that kind of poop! Haha!
The Good Kind of Poop
Healthy Grow has a variety of organic fertilizers to choose from depending on the types of plants you are growing. Since I’m growing vegetables, they sent me a few different types of their organic fertilizers to try. I’m trying the tomato plant food as well as the vegetable & herb fertilizer in some of my containers.
Healthy Grow organic plant fertilizer granuals up close
These two products are made from composted chicken manure, which is one of the best types of poop you can use for growing vegetables. Don’t worry, the fertilizer comes in the form of dry pellets, so it won’t trigger any gag reflexes. It does have an odor, but this stuff is made from naturally composted chicken manure, so it’s not so stinky. I love the idea of being able to get the benefits of chicken manure in and easy-to-use pellet form.
Mixing fertilizer granulars into the soil
They also sent me some of the worm castings to try in a few of my raised garden beds (worm castings = worm poop). Worm castings are also great for building healthy soil. I mean, what could be a more natural fertilizer to use in the garden than worm poop, right? Worm castings look and feel just like dirt, and this stuff doesn’t have any scent at all.
Healthy Grow organic worm castings up close
First Impression?
My first impression of Healthy Grow’s organic vegetable fertilizer are good; the instructions are clear, it’s easy to use and it doesn’t have an overwhelming odor to it. The bag tells you how much fertilizer to use for each size of pot, or in the garden. You simply mix it into the soil, and you’re done. It really doesn’t get any easier than this.
I’ll be reporting about my experience of using Healthy Grow organic fertilizers on my vegetables a few times throughout the growing season, so stay tuned.
Healthy Grow organic worm fertilizer
Where can you find this organic fertilizer for sale?
You can find Dave Thompson’s Organic Healthy Grow 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…
Dave Thompson’s Organic Healthy Grow Vegetable and Herb Fertilizer
Dave Thompson’s Organic Tomato Fertilizer
AND, as a bonus, Healthy Grow is giving away a bag of their organic worm castings fertilizer to THREE lucky winners! Click here to enter to win. Ends June 1st, 2016 so make sure to sign up today!
Ok, now it’s your turn. Post your questions about organic vegetable fertilizer in the comments below and I will try to address them in future posts.
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
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