Jun
8
Written by:
Andrew Marx
6/8/2010 5:42 PM
It’s easy to blame disappointing growth on any number of garden maladies—pests, poor lighting, spouses who don’t watch what they’re doing (just kidding, dear!)—but in the end, when your garden doesn’t live up to your lofty expectations, you have no one to blame but yourself soil! This is where I found myself this past weekend, knowing that I needed to get fertilizer but putting it off. I had been using Alaska fish emulsion for a few weeks, but at 5-1-1, it was really just encouraging a lot of leaf growth. That’s great up until a certain point, but when it comes time to put some meat on those bones, it’s not going to cut it. I decided to try Garden-tone, a product from a South Jersey-based company called Espoma. I applied it along with a nice side dressing of leaf and mushroom compost.
So far, the results have been great. The squash, eggplants, and cucumbers were ready to explode, but were waiting for that little bit of help from the 3-4-4 Garden-Tone (roughly a third to a half cup per plant) to really come to life. I’ve been training garden beans up the chicken wire between the squashes and cukes—I’m hoping their nitrogen-fixing properties will outweigh any proximity issues, but that remains to be seen. And fresh raspberries? They’re practically falling off of the bush.
The hops have benefited greatly from the extra height of the extra twine I put up. Next year, I’m making a hinged 4-pole assembly that can be raised or lowered—I’m beginning to think that balancing on top of a step ladder to tie twine above your head just to give your hops an extra few feet might not be the safest idea. But what’s life without a little danger? The hops were also pleased with their food, as the highest vines have all since pushed out cones that are almost full grown already (either that, or last year’s batch was just puny).
So far, I’m 4 for 6 of my tomato starters from GreensGrow. The Black Krim, Whopper, Pineapple, and Sweet 100’s are all doing well. The other two varieties, Cherokee Purple and Yellow Pear, are still playing ketchup… As long as I have something to eat when I go out into the garden, I’ll be okay. I would really appreciate some 1-pounders this year, though. I owe a lot of people a lot of tomatoes, and I don’t want my garden to let me down. Calcium is important for tomatoes, and realized I had a bottle of calcium supplements that I never really used. So, one pill went into the top of each bucket. I tried popping a few open, and they’re filled with a carrier of vegetable oil and beeswax. We’ll see how well they melt in the sun, and whether it’s enough for the plants to use.
As an engineer at heart, how do I know if my growing conditions are optimal? Soil tests and pH meters are great, but few people really take the time to check. When you walk through the soil section of any garden center, all of these fertilizers and additives are marketed to make us believe our soil is missing something. And most likely, they’re at least partially right: almost all soil can use something to grow more efficiently. I guess it comes down to faith in your own common sense. Your plants know how much effort you put into caring for them, and they’ll usually repay you in kind.
How grows all of your gardens so far? Any success with other fertilizers? Suggestions are always welcome!