A Beginner’s Guide to Fertilizer: What Is Fertilizer?
What is fertilizer? A good question! Read this beginner’s guide to fertilizer to know how to best feed your lawn and plants. Happy Gardening!
What Is Fertilizer Used For?
Not all soil is created equal! Keep this in mind as you learn about using fertilizer. There are different types of soil (from sandy to silty to clay), and each soil has its pros and cons. For example, sandy soil might be easier to work with, but it’s usually low in nutrients and dries out easily. On top of this, you also need to keep in mind that every garden has its own story to tell, and that story includes its soil — which consists of the products it’s been fed, the plants it’s grown, and the environment it lives in.
In other words, your garden’s past will have an impact on how healthy your soil and plants are today. This being said, fertilizer is used to step in and help your garden and its soil tell a better story. It provides your soil with the nutrition plants need to thrive — nutrients like iron, calcium, and other minerals. As a result of fertilizer, your plants are able to grow bigger much more quickly, and remain healthy in the process.
Only Working with a Plant Container? Here’s What Goes in It
What Is Fertilizer Made Of?
As a beginner, it’s important to understand what fertilizer is made of. As mentioned previously, fertilizer contains the basic food plants need in order to live and grow. This food or “nutrients” are categorized into three groups — macronutrients, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients. But aside from all these nutrients, what is fertilizer? What exactly does fertilizer consist of?
Just as there are different types of soil, there are also different types of fertilizer. Most basic of types are either organic (like manure and seaweed) or synthetic. But what about synthetic or artificial fertilizer? What’s inside artificial fertilizer, and why would you choose it over an organic alternative?
Typically, artificial fertilizers consists of material that is derived from rock-like substances. Then these substances are heavily saturated with macronutrients that can be supplied to plants immediately. This results in immediate plant growth and what seems like amazing results! However, since synthetic fertilizers do not contain organic material, it does very little to actually nourish and improve the soil. So, synthetics are great for quick results, but don’t count on a synthetic fertilizer to sustain your soil with long-term nourishment.
Working with Hard Soil? Here’s How to Fix It
What Should You Look for in a Fertilizer?
Obviously, you want the best of both worlds — something that’s easy to apply and fast to work (like synthetic fertilizer) but also something that treats your soil right and improves it from the inside-out (like organic fertilizer). But does that even exist? It certainly does!
Here at Green As It Gets, we’ve developed a soil treatment that is the best of both worlds. Our organic garden fertilizer known as GardenMAX™, digs deep to correct a wide range of soil problems. It’s formulated with over 50 different ingredients and corrects everything from pH imbalances to nutrient deficiencies. With both macro and micronutrients, GardenMAX is guaranteed to turn your soil into a place plants love to grow.
If you want to keep learning about this innovative soil treatment, check out this article that explains it all!
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, fertilizer is used to feed your plants. It replenishes the nutrients that are pulled out by a plant, so the plant can grow big and strong. This is because, just like us, plants grow better when they are regularly fed the right quantity of nutrients.
So if you remember anything from our Beginner’s Guide to Fertilizer, remember this:
Just like there are many factors that determine if people are healthy (good diet, exercise, shelter etc.), there are also many factors that determine if plants are healthy (nutrients, water, pH, soil biology, etc.). All of these factors are important and essential, so don’t just assume that all your plants need in order to be healthy is fertilizer.
If you enjoyed this Beginner’s Guide to Fertilizer, keep reading! Take a look at these other resources:
