Feeding your Plants

Could you survive on water and sunshine alone?  Yes, but not for long and you would slowly wither and die.  This is the unfortunate fate of many plants who are adopted by well-meaning gardeners who don't understand how to properly cultivate plants.

As Dorothy Parker once said,  "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think!" 

 Just like people, plants cannot survive on water and sunshine alone.  Plants need the proper nutrition to grow and flourish.  Most over the counter potting soils contain nutrients for plant growth.   Beginning gardeners often think this is sufficient, but read the label carefully.  The potting soil mixes generally contain plant nutrients for the first three months only.  If you overwater your plants or they experience a heavy rainfall, the nutrients may be flushed out of the soil even sooner.  The soil manufacturer can only guess at what you might plant in the soil, as a result they have added a generic fertilizer which would apply to many plants and flowers. 

Most over the counter fertilizers contain a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.  The numbers on a bag of fertilizer tell you the percentages of available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium found in the bag. A bag of 12-8-10 fertilizer has 12-percent nitrogen, 8-percent phosphorous and 10-percent potassium.  Different plants prefer different concentrations of each of these three ingredients and like to be fed at different intervals.  If you don't know the percentages you are looking for, look for a fertilizer tailored to the type of plant you intend to grow.  You will find fertilizer for roses, orchids and many common plants in your local garden center with specific instructions about how to administer and how often to feed that type of plant. 

You will also find organic and inorganic fertilizer.  Inorganic fertilizer is produced in a lab.  They typically synthesize nitrogen from coal or natural gas.  They acquire phosphorus and potassium from mines.  Since these resources are in limited supply, many believe it is better to use organic fertilizer.  Organic fertilizer is not synthesized in a lab.  It is a blend of organically produced fertilizers with the main ingredient typically being manure or compost.  Organic fertilizer can be smelly, so it is tricky to use in a container garden in an enclosed environment.  If you are a hard-core environmentalist you can learn to make your own fertilizer, but be prepared to devote a sheltered area to stewing manure for months at a time.

I live in a condo and have no proper area for creating fertilizer.  As a beginner, I think it's best to start with over-the-counter fertilizer.  I have purchased some food for my Bougainvillea and will let you know how it goes.