[Denny]

Hi All, excuse my ignorance as this is all new to me and very confusing, I have been trying to find a guide list of feeds for all vegtables grown and the times when you feed them. am I on a no hope mission or is the one somewhere, I need really basic terms and not all this percentage stuff as it is really confusing,  Can any body help - Regards Denny

[Aidy]

Minefield !!!!!

Get your hard hat on coz your gonna get loads of answers.

For me...

 I suggest you go to Johns growing page and look up the veg you are growing, he gives very detailed info....
http://www.allotment-garden.org/grow-your-own/vegetables

[mumofstig]

I just give everything a handul per sq m of Blood Fish & Bone every 6 to 8 weeks.
Sometimes, specially for cabbages I use chicken manure pellets instead.

It doesn't have to be rocket science 

[JayG]

Depends largely on your soil type, but also to some extent whether you previously added manure, what you are growing, and even the weather.

My soil is sandy, so nutrients leach out easily, and crops are poor (found out the hard way!) without a feed of a fairly balanced fertiliser both before and during growth (sometimes more than once for long-season crops like parsnips.)

Heavy soils are more nutrient-retentive, so if manured you may not need any additional fertiliser, although a sprinkling every now and then does no harm, as Mum suggested (although FBB is out for me as it's a fox-magnet!) 

Don't think you need to go into it more deeply than that. 

[shokkyy]

I've been watching a few Bunty's Blog videos lately, and she seems to use an awful lot of lime for everything except plants that like acid soil. I've always thought you only needed lime if you needed to correct a ph imbalance and I've only ever used a tiny bit when planting out brassicas. Is there a real nutritional benefit of using it more?

[Aidy]

I've been watching a few Bunty's Blog videos lately, and she seems to use an awful lot of lime for everything except plants that like acid soil. I've always thought you only needed lime if you needed to correct a ph imbalance and I've only ever used a tiny bit when planting out brassicas. Is there a real nutritional benefit of using it more?

It is said to free up locked nutrients in the soil and make the ground sweet.

I use it in the winter as a covering over the brassica bed then when planting I dig a hole, line it with lime then use fresh compost for the brassica's as I have club root, this enable the brassicas to get a good root ball.

[shokkyy]

I'll give that a try this year then. The big bed where I stick the brassicas is still a work in progress as regards soil quality, so anything that might help it is worth a try. Do I remember hearing that lime shouldn't be put down at the same time as manure?

[JayG]

The main reason for not liming and manuring at the same time is that it the two react causing the release of ammonia, which being a gas is lost to the atmosphere, thereby losing some of your precious nitrogen.

The loss would be greatest if you spread manure on the soil, sprinkled lime on top and then just left it - however, if dug in the released ammonia dissolves in the soil water and will be converted back into nitrates and hence not lost.

Just digging either of them into the soil first would work nearly as well.

[shokkyy]

Thanks, Jay, I'll give that a try.