Fertilization is very important in organic gardens, because strong plants only grow in healthy soil. Chemical fertilizers are not used at all. However, even organic gardening is not possible without plant nutrition. Compost, manure, green manure, liquid manure, horn shavings or organic fertilizers from the garden trade allow vegetable plants to thrive and ensure thick cabbages and a rich strawberry harvest.

Compost is an excellent fertilizer

The principle of fertilization in the organic vegetable garden

If you prepare the soil well in autumn and spring, you hardly need any additional fertilizers during the growth phase. If nutrients are still missing, biological fertilizers are used, which feed bacteria and fungi in the soil. These decompose green manure, compost or mulch and release valuable substances for the plants. You can recognize a good substrate by its pleasant earthy smell, by the many worms and creatures that cavort in it and by its loose structure.

animal manure

crap from

  • beef
  • horse
  • sheep
  • goat
  • Rabbits
  • chicken

has been one of the most important fertilizers since ancient times. It contains all nutrients in a balanced and mild composition. This is applied as follows:

  • Cattle manure is spread on the surface in a very thin layer in autumn and supplies heavy feeders.
  • Horse manure is one of the "hot fertilizers" and is suitable for heating up cold frames.
  • Pig manure contains almost no lime but a relatively large amount of potash. It should be composted.
  • Sheep, goat and rabbit manure are also “hot manures” that should be composted.
  • Poultry manure has a high potash and up to 12 percent phosphorus content. It is composted mixed with soil.

Horn meal is also one of the valuable animal fertilizers. The coarser the substance, the slower this fertilizer is converted.

green manure

This is a very old method of soil improvement. In the vegetable garden it is used as a kind of shift change. Once a bed has been harvested, regenerating plant species are sown in the soil.

liquid manure

Both manure and plants can be prepared in water, fermented, and diluted accordingly and poured as fertilizer. Slurry are perfect for heavy feeders.

compost

In the organic vegetable garden, compost is not only used as fertilizer, but also as a source of humus and for soil care. A high humus content increases the water and nutrient retention capacity of the soil.

Biological fertilizers from specialist shops

You can get universal and special fertilizers that are optimally tailored to the nutrient requirements of certain vegetable plants in specialist garden shops. There are even vegetarian fertilizers made exclusively from plant-based raw materials.

tips

In the vegetable garden, pay attention to animal fertilizers from organic stocks, because traces of antibiotics and hormone feed can also be found in animal fertilizers. They have no business being in the vegetable garden.

Category:

Vegetable garden