Your garden is a personal monument that you manifest from your own two hands. How you decide to nurture and cultivate it is all up to you. Many people want things to produce as quickly and painlessly as possible, so they may use a product that promises quick fast results with materials that may be harmful and destructive when reading the fine print. There are those of us who want things to be all natural to the core, so every ingredient must be to a higher standard. Should you use a commercial plant food for your beloved plants? Well, that all depends on the results you are looking to achieve and how hard you want to work for it.
What’s the big deal?
You have the option to use strange chemicals that may be harmful to your health and the environment, or you can use organic products for your plants that are derived from nature. Basically, all of the vitamins and minerals that your garden need have been provided to us naturally. No synthetic product can do it better, although they can make things seem quicker, nicer smelling, with less mess.
Here is what nature has to offer:
A fish is quite tasty on your plate, but it contains nitrogen which will enhance your plant’s growth. You can get this in a more pliable form called fish emulsion that has been processed, in case you don’t want to use an actual whole fish. Manure is the main organic plant food that many people flock to. It can be harvested from cows, chickens, pigs, and horses, or whatever farm animal you have on hand. Your neighbor may complain about the smell, but when you share your fresh juicy veggies with them, they will forgive you. There is also bone meal from animal bones, blood meal which is a natural form of nitrogen, and cottonseed meal derived from cotton.
The synthetic way:
Miracle-Gro products do give you choices of using their regular line or organic line. They make things grow quicker and bigger, but some of the ingredients are not always derived from nature, such as ammonium phosphate and traces of metals. Read the ingredients of your fertilizers and plant foods to see exactly what you are giving your plants. Just because this has been used for plants over the years doesn’t make it right, or safe for you.
We can all live without extra metals and salts in our system. If you will be consuming these vegetables, it would be advised to make the effort to use organic or natural plant foods. If you plan to use plant food for potted plants or your lawn, it may be safer to use the synthetic products. It is all in a matter of taste. Do what you feel is right for you and your family.
