[Jimmy Splash]

Is there a good product out there that i can mix with water that benefits all my growing veg? i.e rhubarb, sweetcorn, beans. my soil isn't the best and i'm of the type that plants the seeds and prays to the lord that something grows!
thanks

[Kleftiwallah]

There is a magical stuff out there and you don't need to put your hand in your pocket.

SHEEP MUCK !  Collect it, bung it in an onion sack, tie the neck tight and hoy it in your water butt.   Easy Peasy.      Cheers,   Tony/

[Jimmy Splash]

Sheep poo? Are you being serious?

[DD.]

On this occasion, yes he is.

[Sideshoot]

Interesting, i can get my hands on lots of sheep muck, takes longer to walk around the field and pick it up mind, do you need to let it stand a while or can you add it straight to the water butt ?
Also im assuming that you wouldnt need to dilute the result, my water butt is the common blue ones you see everywhere.

[Kristen]

Normal advice is to dilute "liquid manure" to the colour of "weak tea". The brew becomes in your blue-barrel is likely to be darker than that - depending on the amount of Poo / Water of course!

If you don't fancy that then the two main liquid feeds are Miracle Grow and Phostrogen - just add, as per the instructions, to watering can when you water (see instructions, but probably only need to feed once a week or once a fortnight)

From memory Miracle Grow will boost growth more than fruit, and Phostrogen the other way round.  Check the N:P:K ratios on the packet - if "N" is highest then that will promote growth, and if "K" is highest that will promote fruit. 

If it only has N or K (or has very little of the other two) it's only going to do that job.

If all three numbers are the same-ish then its a general fertilizer (in granule form such general fertilizers are often referred to, generically, as "growmore")

N:P:K of 5:5:5 is the same as 10:10:10 - but you would only need to use half as much of the 10:10:10 (in general terms), so you can ignore the "size" of the figures, its the relative ratio between them that is important. Then just use it at the strength directed on the packet

[potatogrower]

There lots you can try but remember to dilute. i have been reading nettle tea is high on the list, which is said to be smelly.

i watched river cottage early last year and someone on there made their own brown coloured water fertilizer from rotting veggies and manure.

[Kristen]

In my normal nerdy way, I have a spreadsheet of NPK values (sadly never thought to record the Source when adding items )

I don't have a value for Nettle Tea, but have a vague recollection that it was Nitrogen rich.

Things on my spreadsheet that have more K than N or P:

Name	N%	P%	K%	N	P	K
Wood Ashes	0	0.5	10	0%	5%	95% (also very alkaline)
Comfrey	8	6	20.5	23%	17%	59%
Sheep manure	0.7	0.3	0.9	37%	16%	47%
Home made compost	0.5	0.27	0.81	32%	17%	51%

[JayG]

Agree with Kristen about Miracle Grow and Phostrogen (although both do variations on the "all-purpose" mix for specialised uses.)

Miracle Grow changed its formulation about 5 years ago and is now quite nitrogen-rich,  whereas Phostrogen is high in potassium and is really not much different from many tomato fertilisers.

On that basis Miracle Grow has got to be the choice for leafy vegetables (or an emergency boost for any plant looking stunted and starved) and Phostrogen (which really should be called Potasstrogen!) for flowering and fruiting crops.

[mumofstig]

which really should be called Potasstrogen

sounds like the stuff that was made to "fortify the over forties" 

[JayG]

which really should be called Potasstrogen

sounds like the stuff that was made to "fortify the over forties" 

My grandad ( ) told me that was Phyllosan, which in turn sounds more like something you put down the toilet!