Best fertilizer for Vegetables & Flowers

ukbill69

Hello,

Im a newish gardener and im looking for the best feed for my flower and vegetables.

This year, growing, potatoes, rhubarb, beans, sweetcorn, broccoli, strawberrys, cabbage and a few flowers in pots.

Ive looked and thought richard jacksons flower power, but thought it was a bit on expensive side.

Any recommendations?

Heres_one_i_made_earlier

Well rotted horse manure mixed int o the compost :cool:

ukbill69

Already done

Heres_one_i_made_earlier

ukbill69 wrote: »

Already done

Water well. Horse manure is slow release feed

Lube

I use blood and bonemeal slow release fertilizer and also grow more plus own compost

skelly01

Organic pelleted chicken manure. B & Q have a BOGOF on it just now too. Its slow release.
The only backdraw is oncem oist it does tend to pong a but for a few days.
If you want to go totally green, then comfrey tea is sworn by some. Pick comfrey leave, put in a covered bucket covered with water. leave for a while.
Again I have heard it stinks!!!!

4li5on

I use our home-made compost out of our bin and dig that into beds and borders and use for potting on.

The only 'feed' I ever use is either Wilko / Tesco / Asda / Sainsbugs own brand liquid feed to mix in a can with water. I mix it with rainwater from the water butt and I've never had any bother, just good healthy well producing fruit, veg and flowers. I use it on everything - tomatoes, fruit bushes, the lot! Works well for me!

izzwizz_2

Tomato food is great for flowers & fruit - don't feed them with other sorts of fertiliser unless you want lots of leaves and no flowers!

ukbill69

Thanks for all your replies.

savemoney

I use Miracle grow or Wilkos own brand or granule fertiliser they sell

I just bought some Miracle grow yesterday from them it will last me all Spring/Summer for pots/baskets/raised beds

A._Badger

Contrary to what a lot of people seem to want to believe, the fertiliser value of manure is both variable and quite low - compost, ditto. They are both excellent soil improvers but, especially for hungry crops like brassicas and potatoes, they aren't likely to provide enough of the three main chemicals plants need: Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P) and Potassium (K).

You'll get those from what are known as 'balanced' compound fertilisers like blood, fish and bone or Growmore. There are alternatives (Vitax Q4 is popular commercially, but it's expensive) and chicken pellets are also very useful - especially if you like foxes (!).

Bear in mind that most decentish soils are good enough as they are for most flowering plants (roses like a special feed, high in Magnesium) so you often need to add little in the way of fertiliser to flower beds.

The cheapest compound feed, by far, is Growmore and providing you use it alongside the right quantities of compost and manure, it does a great job.

For plants in pots, my favourite is the old standby, Phostrogen. Chempak 4 is an alternative. I don't like Miracle Gro because I think the balance of N, P and K is wrong for my purposes.

Cheaper than either the main brands are the shop own-label copies but learn to read the ratios on the side of the packet, so that if you need a high Nitrogen feed, you can spot which will do the job and make sure you buy one that has all the trace elements. In pots, they matter. I note that Tesco's, this year, doesn't have them so, to my mind, is best left on the shelf.

You can get very fussy but basically, all most of us need is a good, balanced granular feed for the veg and borders (Growmore, chicken pellets or blood, fish and bone) a packet of a compound feed for your pots, maybe a rose food and possibly a tomato food, though a high potash mix like Phostrogen will do perfectly well for that job too.

Hope that's some help.