Organic Gardening Basics: Soil Fertilizers

When it comes to herb gardens and gardens in general, imagination is the limit regarding how you actually plant things. You can make it a visual work of art or you can just throw in a variety of seeds haphazardly and let luck do the designing. It is more important to do it than it is to do it perfectly.

After a while though you are likely to catch the gardening bug. The more you know about how to make things grow, and it's not a question of if it will grow anymore, the more creative you can get. You will also have more predictions on what you are creating. Then it is not just food that you create with the garden. It becomes much much more.

Although I am from the Garden State, NJ, and have enjoyed wonderous displays of flowers and plants, I never had the deep appreciation I do now after learning the basics. Now I look back and realize how those gorgeous displays were just manipulations of the basics.

So now I want to get into some of those basics in the hopes that you will be inspired to start your green thumb thumping.

Let's go over some terms you will run into when you start trying to learn about organic gardening.

What is the Difference Between Organic Gardening and Conventional?

Organic Gardening - gardening that puts the health of the soil first. Soil is alive. It contains microorganisms, insects and little creatures like worms that make the soil fertile for plants by breaking down dead organic matter and then plants create sugar for them in exchange. 

Non-organic farming harms this little ecosystem by disturbing it with tilling and poisoning it and provides chemical nutrients for the plants to grow. Non-Organic methods produce more and faster growth at the beginning, but this diminishes as the natural ecosystem is destroyed and gives lower and lower yields and invites the need for more and more poisons or the need to rest the soil to give the microbes a chance to grow and get things back in order.

In organic gardening nutrients are put into the soil with compost, manure, mulch, blood meal, bone meal, fish emulsion, seaweed, worm castings and other OMRI (Organic Materials Review International) approved substances. You can also make your own fermented plant juice out of leaf mold which boosts the microbial level enhancing plant growth and other homemade concoctions as long as it results in enhancement of this symbiosis. All this makes the soil better as it is used and organic gardens get better and better with age.

Organic and Natural Fertilizers

Leaf Mold (Mould outside of the USA)

Basically it is a fertilizer that mimics what happens in the forest when leaves fall. They are decomposed largely by fungus as opposed to bacteria in compost and you get a rich layer of this “dirt” carpeting the forest floor. It can either be harvested right out of the forest or made artificially with leaves in a vat or plastic bag.

Compost - is decayed organic material used as fertilizer. One usually has a pile of food scraps, leaves, yard clippings etc. The lower part of the pile gets the most decayed and so turning it over once in a while can speed the decay of the whole pile.

Manure - is the poop of livestock, chickens, cows and or horses mixed with sawdust or wood shavings and/or feed waste. It may be fresh, meaning not too decayed or aged, decomposed to various degrees.

Mulch - can be compost, wood shavings, straw or various things including plastic sheeting. It is not put into the soil but on top. The purpose of mulching is to prevent excessive evaporation or erosion, weed control, and to regulate temperature. A natural mulch also adds nutrients to the soil.

Blood Meal - is freeze dried blood. It is a by-product of the slaughter house. It has a 12% nitrogen level and is used for nitrogen hungry plants that like acidic soil. For example tomatoes, broccoli, leafy greens and spinach. It also promotes flowering and healthy root development of onions and garlic.

Bone Meal - is another slaughterhouse byproduct; it is ground up bones. It is used as a source of calcium, phosphorus and trace elements. It is a slow release fertilizer, taking about four months to totally release. It only works in acidic soil however. It makes plants create bigger flowers and better vegetables.

Fish Emulsion - is a liquid fertilizer made from the byproducts of the fish industry. It contains concentrated nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium. It can be too much for some plants, but the so-called “heavy feeders” that like a lot of nutrients do well with it. Garlic and onions develop better with fish emulsion once a week.

More Types of Natural Fertilizers

Seaweed - is available as a powder or liquid and works extremely well with fish emulsion. Fish emulsion gives the nutrients and seaweed assists the plant in eating nutrients with the complex carbohydrates it contains. These carbohydrates boost the microbial growth which helps with assimilation. Seaweed has a lot of plant growth hormones. It helps stabilize the plant from shock in transplanting, promotes root development and strengthens the cell walls, making it more resistant to pests and colder weather.

Worm Castings - I swear humans have more euphemisms for poop. Words and words until you get right down to the nitty gritty. You guessed it, it's worm poop. But it looks kind of like an extruded soil. As the worm goes through the organic material it pretty much eats its way through and what comes out is really just more broken down organic material. Worm castings contain more nutrients and microorganisms than any other fertilizer. These include calcium, magnesium, nitrates, phosphorus, potassium, copper, zinc, iron, carbon, nitrogen and more. It also contains worm eggs so you get even better soil with continuous worms.

Plant Beds - You have probably heard the word “bed” thrown around and have guessed various things. I know I did. Well a bed is a particular area of ground you prepare soil-wise specifically to grow the plants that you want. It is an area separated from other areas, or beds by space or a barrier. 

You can have the bed right in the natural soil if it is good soil or you can make a raised bed which basically means you build the ideal soil right on top of the existing soil. You can also just make a raised bed to make it easier to tend the garden by not having to bend down to the ground or for artistic design. The bed can be enclosed in a bottomless container of any height or just be like a mound, both on top of the regular dirt.

End Notes

I am realizing more and more that this is a huge subject, but a very important one. Controlling your own food source could be more important to maintaining freedom in this country than you might think, but I need to cover different important aspects in a series of blogs. 

I think this approach of defining terms will help you most in the long run because it will enable you to pick up a gardening book and learn more. And knowing the terms you can see how and why these things are used. And it will empower you to think about how you can create anything in your garden that you can imagine.

We at Herbal Roots wouldn't mind being the catalyst for our culture returning to how our more healthy ancestors ate.

*This article is intended for informational purposes. The statements above have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.