[Lesleyk]

I think I'm a fairly good gardener, but one thing confuses me year after year.  What, if anything, to feed the various different veg in my plot, when to do it and how often (if more than once).  I manage to grow most of the veg we like in sufficient quantities to eat, freeze or otherwise preserve into the winter, but wonder if the yields could be better/healthier.  In summary, I grow tatties (in containers and in the ground), roots (carrots, parsnips,beetroot), brassicas (cauli, cabbage, sprouts and broccoli), onions and garlic, peas, beans (broad and French), courgettes and, in the greenhouse, tomatoes and cucs, as well as a few fruit bushes and lots of rhubarb.  Over the winter I usually treat the ground with horse manure and/or seaweed, and throughout the season I will occasionally add chicken pellets, but I'm not sure if this is right for everything and I'm not exactly scientific about it.   I try and be organic, or at least to avoid the use of chemicals where possible.  Sorry about the length of this, but i would love some guidance about what veg likes what food and when I should be applying it. 

[3759allen]

i'm relatively new to this growing malarkey but i think i may have found the best, cheapest, most versatile and easiest to use fertiliser. i now collect a car load of rabbit bedding and manure every week.

i pick the large clumps of droppings out and use the remaining bedding to rot down or as a mulch. so far the plants seem to love this and it helps keep the weeds down.

i either dry the droppings off and bag up to add to the soil or compost to act as a slow release fertiliser or add a few handfuls to a large container of water and leave to diffuse into a liquid feed.

still a new product to me but by next year i will hopefully have a better idea of just how successful it is.

as well as being pretty organic it is also pretty much free so happy days all round.

[Robster]

I am not sure there is too much more scientifically that you can do without getting a kit and testing nitrate phosphate and so on.

My approach is broadly similar to you.  I manure and compost onto the beds when I can in the belief I am doing something to maintain soil structure.  And in truth I think I am maintaining a good soil, worm populations seem ok, it is friable with good moisture retention and quite dark and rich looking (not very scientific but there you are).  Most beds get something every year except the bed for roots.  I use blood fish and bone quite a bit to give a general fertiliser boost before I plant.  I'll use Growmore throughout the season on hungry crops.  And thats about it.  I have just started taking pH readings and have limed brassica beds before planting as a consequence.  Finally on permanent crops I mulch with rotted manure.

Like you I am generally happy with my output and quality.

[Spr0ut]

I also have access to a large quantity (about 6 -7 bin bags) of rabbit/guinea pig poo and bedding per week. The straw goes directly onto the potato bed as I grow spuds under a straw blanket rather than in the soil.  The manure goes onto the compost heap to rot down along with some of the newspaper used to line the toilet trays.

I also grow and make nettle and comfrey teas and comfrey liquor. Nettle tea for leafy veggies and comfrey for when fruiting veggies and fruiting shrubs are producing.

I also drop by a well known coffee place and pick up coffee grounds weekly, which are a great compost activator and use it when planting veggies in as a ring of direct fertilizer to each plant and the bonus is the slugs don't seem to like it, though I would never use it as a slug deterrent - oh no!

[Goosegirl]

I agree it can get very confusing, especially if you go down the really scientific route. It's bad enough getting a crop when you have to deal with the differences in the seasons every year, pests, etc. I use blood, fish and bone when planting, chicken manure pellets later on, plus a dilute liquid feed if it has rained a lot and they need a boost. Anything that produces a flower will like a higher potash feed such as Tomorite or similar. Anything else gets a general feed.

[Lesleyk]

I agree it can get very confusing, especially if you go down the really scientific route. It's bad enough getting a crop when you have to deal with the differences in the seasons every year, pests, etc. I use blood, fish and bone when planting, chicken manure pellets later on, plus a dilute liquid feed if it has rained a lot and they need a boost. Anything that produces a flower will like a higher potash feed such as Tomorite or similar. Anything else gets a general feed.

Thanks for all the advice.  I already use tomato feed for flowers (and toms, of course).  I guess my worry is that each plant needs something specific that I am not supplying due to ignorance.  For example, I planted out my French beans a couple of weeks ago and they are doing fine but the leaves are a very light green, almost yellow - does that mean they are missing something that I could be supplying?  It's nitrogen for green leaves, isn't it?  If so, is there a natural source I can use?

I haven't used blood fish and bone at all, but perhaps I should start doing that?

Decisions, decisions.  And gardening is meant to be relaxing .....

[Baldy]

Stay relaxed... seeds/plants want to grow - we try to help them... for their/our benefit. Remember to enjoy what you're doing - all well and good to try to get better at it - but, well for me at least, enjoying what you're doing is why its done...

Cheers,
Balders

[RJR_38]

Plants get a bit of BFB in their hole when planted out, I normally do some chicken pellets a couple of weeks later and then mid-season if I fancy it. Other than that I just occasionally water with nettle tea or seaweed feed and let everything do it's thing. Beds get manured every other year (can't get hold of enough manure)

[3759allen]

blood fish and bone is prob the easiest and cheapest all rounder that you can get. if the plants are already planted in their final position then just sprinkle around the base and water in.

i think sometimes we can look into things too much and try to fix problems that aren't necessarily there. it seems like sometimes plants just don't want to grow how we want them no matter how hard we try.

[Goosegirl]

blood fish and bone is prob the easiest and cheapest all rounder that you can get. if the plants are already planted in their final position then just sprinkle around the base and water in.
i think sometimes we can look into things too much and try to fix problems that aren't necessarily there. it seems like sometimes plants just don't want to grow how we want them no matter how hard we try.

I totally agree. Yellowing of the leaves (especially between the veins - are your's doing that?) sounds like nitrogen deficiency, so I would give them a dilute liquid feed as a quick pick-me-up. If you only have tom feed, use that, then do what allen says and sprinkle BFB around the plant base and lightly hand-fork in, then water in. Only other think I can thinnk of is too much water, but that's unlikely for you anyway. 

[Yorkie]

For example, I planted out my French beans a couple of weeks ago and they are doing fine but the leaves are a very light green, almost yellow - does that mean they are missing something that I could be supplying?  It's nitrogen for green leaves, isn't it?  If so, is there a natural source I can use?

I haven't used blood fish and bone at all, but perhaps I should start doing that?

Decisions, decisions.  And gardening is meant to be relaxing .....

In my experience, beans always sulk after planting for a while 

[Lesleyk]

Love the idea of beans sulking!  Thanks - I feel a lot better now.  And I will stop stressing about the right kind of food too ...