In this video, I share the ugly truth about fertilizers you need to hear now! Spring fertilizing season is here, but some gardeners are resistant to applying fertilizers. This video discusses the truth about fertilizers, confronts controversial myths, and explains why compost and fertilizer are often not interchangeable in your vegetable garden.
Please see the following links for items shown in the video:
Jack’s All Purpose 20-20-20 Fertilizer (1.5 lbs)*: https://amzn.to/42nJYEB
Jack’s All Purpose 20-20-20- Fertilizer (25 lbs)*: https://amzn.to/3yO4hh1
MiracleGro Tomato 18-18-21 Fertilizer (3 lbs)*: https://amzn.to/3mZa14J
Alaska Fish Fertilizer (1 Gal)*: https://amzn.to/3JtOiJJ
Alaska MorBloom (1 Gal)*: https://amzn.to/3Jo1Giy
Full AMAZON STORE*: https://www.amazon.com/shop/themillennialgardener/
Video Links:
How To Save Money Buying Fertilizer: https://youtu.be/BT-jylXnqDQ
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Intro To Fertilizer Myths And Truths
1:14 2 Reasons Gardeners Avoid Using Fertilizer
1:52 Do Gardens Need Fertilizer? Is Permaculture Real?
4:46 Why Vegetable Gardens Are Often NOT Sustainable
8:15 Can I Use Just Compost & No Fertilizer In A Garden?
9:25 Why Compost Is An Inefficient Way To Fertilize
12:46 How To Fertilize A Garden For Free (Almost)
14:49 Why You Must Fertilize A Container Garden
17:07 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to fertilize vegetable gardens and how to fertilize fruit trees, have questions about growing fruit trees or want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN (INDIVIDUAL LINKS)*:
Miracle-Gro Soluble All Purpose Plant Food https://amzn.to/3qNPkXk
Miracle-Gro Soluble Bloom Booster Plant Food https://amzn.to/2GKYG0j
Miracle-Gro Soluble Tomato Plant Food https://amzn.to/2GDgJ8n
Jack’s Fertilizer, 20-20-20, 25 lb. https://amzn.to/3CW6xCK
Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide https://amzn.to/2HTCKRd
Southern Ag Natural Pyrethrin Concentrate https://amzn.to/2UHSNGE
Monterey Organic Spinosad Concentrate https://amzn.to/3qOU8f5
Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer (BT Concentrate) https://amzn.to/2SMXL8D
Cordless ULV Fogger Machine https://amzn.to/36e96Sl
Weed Barrier with UV Resistance https://amzn.to/3yp3MaJ
Organza Bags (Fig-size) https://amzn.to/3AyaMUz
Organza Bags (Tomato-size) https://amzn.to/36fy4Re
Injection Molded Nursery Pots https://amzn.to/3AucVAB
Heavy Duty Plant Grow Bags https://amzn.to/2UqvsgC
6.5 Inch Hand Pruner Pruning Shears https://amzn.to/3jHI1yL
Japanese Pruning Saw with Blade https://amzn.to/3wjpw6o
Double Tomato Hooks with Twine https://amzn.to/3Awptr9
String Trellis Tomato Support Clips https://amzn.to/3wiBjlB
Nylon Mason Line, 500FT https://amzn.to/3wd9cEo
Expandable Vinyl Garden Tape https://amzn.to/3jL7JCI
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8A
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© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #fertilizer #compost
37 Comments
If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 Intro To Fertilizer Myths And Truths
1:14 2 Reasons Gardeners Avoid Using Fertilizer
1:52 Do Gardens Need Fertilizer? Is Permaculture Real?
4:46 Why Vegetable Gardens Are Often NOT Sustainable
8:15 Can I Use Just Compost & No Fertilizer In A Garden?
9:25 Why Compost Is An Inefficient Way To Fertilize
12:46 How To Fertilize A Garden For Free (Almost)
14:49 Why You Must Fertilize A Container Garden
17:07 Adventures With Dale
Well done sir.
My dog loves figs 🥰 Thanks for sharing such valuable information 💕
I was just coming to your channel to look up information on fertilizing, you must of read my mind. I have peaches that just started forming and wondering should I start using the rose and bloom fertilizer.
First I want to agree that comparing a vegetable garden to a natural system is like comparing apples to oranges. Having said that, I do believe that through diversity, we can amend our garden soils without the use of organic or inorganic fertilizers.
I would also like to say that I have no problem with people gardening with fertilizers. Any way that gets people out there to grow a garden, be it a raised bed or just a pot of basil, it's all good.
I am basically working off the idea that all soils have all the nutrients a plant needs, it is the biology that is lacking to unlock those nutrients.
Currently, I make my own compost, leaf mold, raise worms, make different teas and extracts and just recently, trying some Korean natural farming methods. I should also mention that I use a microscope.
Granted, it is a lot easier to buy some Jacks 20-20-20, I've done it in the past, works great. What happens when the next pandemic strikes, or worse… another global conflict. I am by no means a survivalist, but I want my garden to as self sustainable as possible.
My gardening method is a lot of work, however once established, even a vegetable garden can create it's own ecosystem.
I have a small channel you might want to take a look at. I have 2 garden tours from 21' and 22'. In 21', I used a mix of fertilizers, in 22, I used up the organics in my potato bed and just used "natural home made fertilizers" for my beds and grow bags.
Note: You can get a pretty good microbiology community in a grow bag, just can't let it dry out.
Enjoy your videos! Stay Well!!!
This was so helpful!! Thankyou!
Excellent video
I mix chicken poo and water for maintenance fertilizer….thoughts? Also, do you use bone meal and lime? How and when do you use?
Great video
You are amazing!!! Thank you. So many good tips and information!!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I love how Dale's eyes get so big when he sees the peanut butter fig! Precious!
My favorite gardening guru. Always have good presentation.
I love me some fertilizer. Makes my plants go nom nom nom
Very good analysis. Useful data. Thank you.
Thank you for this. Just got on amazon and can only get part of the fertizer i want. And the one i want is not in my local stores.
I definitely think fertilizer is necessary in the kind of garden you’re describing. I do think you’re (unintentionally) underselling the role compost plays in plant nutrition. To me — and I’m not a scientist but I am a little nerdy — the nutritional value of compost is in how much it immobilizes nutrients that would normally run right into groundwater, like nitrogen, and mobilizes nutrients that are otherwise immobile, like phosphorus. You can add a 10-10-10 fertilizer to the soil but there’s an extra step (your plants actually benefitting from the fertility) and they’ll capture more of that nutrition from further away with a healthy soil life.
So I am not prepared to stop fertilizing my garden for the reasons you describe — I just think that measuring compost’s value according to its NPK analysis is a bit like measuring fertilizer’s value according to its fungal content. They serve two different purposes. If I could only have one it would probably be compost but ideally I want both.
I dont have much room, but i see that compost is highly affective.
Plus soil has doubled in price and we are on a fixed income. We want to grow..but it often ends up expensive.
Be aware that free compost and mulch might contain herbicides and pesticides, so test them with germinating seeds before spreading on your beds.
I’ve avoided using fertilizer in the vegetable garden because l heard it contained high levels of heavy metals and things like cadmium and glysophates, is that true? Would that be just for synthetic fertilizer? What’s the difference between a bag of organic and synthetic?
Your a great gardening resource. I do have to take issue with you about heirloom tomatoes. Just because you have not had success with them doesn't mean others have not had tremendous success. I've been growing them for 15 years. I grow from 15 to 20 varieties, 25-30 plants every year with great success. Yes, they are more work than hybrids but if you mulch them well, prune them including the bottom leaves up to 18" from the soil line, as they grow, you will not have disease issues and there is no comparison in taste. After 50 – 100+ years of being around, heirloom tomatoes are alive and well because of taste! The only hybrid that I grow is Sungold Cherries and that's because my wife likes them (by the way, also indeterminate). I prefer Black Cherry Tomatoes. You are missing out on a glorious taste experience because you have been fed a line of dodo about Heirlooms. Blessings to you and your garden.
Right on Point. I use both compost and organic fertilizer. I was still picking tomatoes and making sauce in the begining of November last year and I am in zone 6b.
The argument for compost is that the fertilizer contained, tho much less, is more bioavailable than traditional fertilizers.
I think many people dont realize that vegetables have been bred to produce more and better fruit, most dont occur like that naturally. They are expecting some help along the way to be able to produce the amount and size that they do.
I can't count how many times I have had to argue the difference between fertilizer and compost. Some people are adamant about permaculture, but don't know there is a difference between fertilizing and composting, and that I have to fertilize the veggies as well as compost the garden each year. Thank you for educating!
Brother you're doing a great job with all the information that you give people just got to realize you're giving the best information that you can possibly good and that not everything is going to work for everybody but I must say all your information has helped me my garden is🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
Thanks for this very helpful and useful information 🌱💚✨👌🏾
Love this guy!
Interesting. I might trade in my black kow for some blood meal and bone meal. I don't know how I feel about putting black kow down 2 weeks prior to transplanting. Is that so I can hit 90 days of black kow in the ground before harvest to avoid bad bacteria? Last year, even with a mulch barrier, I would have dirt splash up from the ground onto the plants during watering. I don't know if I want poop splashing up on my fruit.
Check out Paul Gauchi's back-to-Eden film and mulching system, and then reconsider the statement that a vegetable garden absolutely needs synthetic fertilizer
Thank you for the video and excellent commentary. I would like your thoughts on nutrition content as a factor in the choice of supplements. I just watched a video on Hillsdale College's channel with Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms as the speaker. The discussion was on the nutritional content of produce and livestock from a natural biome vs from commercial fertilizer. His point was that all food production using naturally occurring fertilizer is exponentially more dense in nutrients and flavor than that from commercial "NPK" sources. His point: raise Better, not just More. What do you think about this?
Here's a crazy tip for improving your compost…. peeing on your compost pile will add N, P, and K. There was even a public health study in WI or MN, I think, where they collected from the community and showed its value. (Old time expression of being "too poor to have a pot to piss in", came from poor families having a pot to collect their urine so they could sell it to local tanners for spare change)
Gardening is local. Weather, soil, light, disease pressure, everything varies. The idea that everyone should add all-purpose synthetic fertilizer on a routine schedule is just foolish. It ignores the local variables entirely. Likewise, the notion that synthetic fertilizers are bad in all instances is foolish. Everyone does not grow the same things in the same soil within the same space. Get a soil test from your local university extension. Learn what your soil needs. Observe how your soil performs for your plant selections; augment accordingly.
How about a video on what to do if you get invasive tree roots in your raised beds? I just discovered tree roots in our raised beds and am wondering what I should do, so I can transplant my tomato and pepper plants ASAP. Cheers!
Thanks for breaking it all down! That was informative and very helpful.
Well believe it or not I remember back in 1961, when I was 5, mom took me to get the smallpox vaccine and I asked ole doc Fetcho what was in that needle and he said "buggy juice" so this is probably the point your making but I also want you to know there is no way you're gonna make me believe Santa Claus is a black man. sorry!
Hi neighbor, I live in the same county. I've been watching you getting inspired. I just bought a new home this past December, and I'm pushing my yard to be 100% edible.