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I'm growing all my veggies/herbs organically, and I'm confused about when to fertilize. I have this granular organic feed, and I also mix in some compost between plantings. I guess the compost part I have figured out, but I don't know if/when I should put down the granular stuff. Is it after a few set of leaves come in? Should I fertilize when flowers appear? Or fruit? The package says how much fertilizer to put down depending on the size of the plant, etc., but I just don't know when or how often to fertilize. Thanks in advance!
When to fertilize depends on the vegetable or herb you are working with. I am assuming that your granular fertilizer has the ratio (5-10-5, for example) on the package. The first number is for leaves (lettuce, chard, etc.), the second for flowers (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and others that you want to stimulate flowering, usually applied early in the season) and the third number is for fruit and applied when fruit set begins. An all purpose fertilizer will do all three things, and is best applied either when the seedlings or transplants first show new growth, or when flowering begins.
Herbs usually like a little adversity in their life--lean soil, and not over-watered so the true flavor comes out. Fertilizing often results in a lush herb with little taste. This is from someone who has killed with TLC!
I put down fertilizer when I first sow seeds, or transplants. Then I add mulch once the plants are well grown, and the soil has warmed up. I have found by adding lots of compost around the plants from then on gives them enough fertilizer for the rest of the summer.
I have found veggies don't like too much fertilizer when the weather is really hot - but compost seems to keep them happy.
"Feeding the soil will feed your plants"
HoneybeeNC had great advice. I use fertilizer myself, but adding amendments to your soil will have greater benefits then using fertilizer. I don't know a lot about fertilizer but runoff from it can pollute water sources and can have harmful side effects to the soil. I don't know if it's just man-made fertilizer, but organic fertilizer still has higher concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus. I think using it over a period of time is harmful to microorganisms and worms, but I'm not sure.
When I do fertilize, I usually just do it at the beginning of the season the help give the transplants a head start and just let the soil take care of them the rest of the season.
One thing about using the granular fertilizer is that you have to make sure it is completely rinsed off the leaves. If you leave the little 'pebbles' on the leaves, it will burn holes in them.
