Garden Fertilizer?

My garden is small, about 1000 square feet.
Just thinking ahead about where is the best place to buy cheap fertilizer? I usually buy 12-12-12 and apply Ag lime.
What do you use and where do you buy it??

I'm lazy, minimum till guy.
I want to plant, pick it and forget it type person. No weeding.

Planning on ordering plastic from Amazon, black on one side and white on the other side. Back in the 60 I went to college with a chemist that after college worked for a plastic plant in Terre Haute. His job was testing Ag plastic mulch. It works, he gave me some of the samples of the plastic mulch he tested.

Going to use plastic mulch, a few brick to hold it down the plastic then cover with straw to keep maters off the plastic. KISS, keep it simple.

What fertilizer do you use and where do you buy it>>

I use a Produce Growers 10-10-10. Has a lot of trace elements. Get it from Southern States.

I use turkey litter. One big loader bucket full will keep the garden going for several years along with ample water. I don't have to worry about stinking out the neighbors.

Get a soil test thru cooperative extension office; tell them what you are planting, and they'll give you recommendations-heck you may not need any fertilizer, or you may not be applying the correct fertilizer. Mark.

(quoted from post at 12:12:01 12/27/21) Get a soil test thru cooperative extension office; tell them what you are planting, and they'll give you recommendations-heck you may not need any fertilizer, or you may not be applying the correct fertilizer. Mark.

Click to expand...

True that.

Most types of farm fertilizer have at least doubled in price since last year. I assume 12-12-12 has also.

Might be a good year to look for a lazy horse owner that has a stall where a terramite fits?

I do not use any commercial fertilizers on my garden. I put out straw over the top during winter. Then come spring, I till it in with some horse manure and Llama beans. I also add some chicken manure and I throw some of my cracked egg shells in there. I then till all this in and plant.

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I heard chemical fertilizer costs for next spring have tripled for those farmers getting bank loans and orders in.


Check out Gabe Brown & the Regenerative Agriculture path. Instead of chemical fertilizer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfTZ0rnowcc


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This post was edited by jvin248 on 12/27/2021 at 01:00 pm.

This time of year I spread horse and chicken manure on my garden nice and thick and let the rain and snow leach it in. Then in the spring I till it all in. Seems to work well most years my garden goes nuts

Neighbor has 2500 unit beef CAFO lot. Drive up here for a few buckets for my 130 x 220 foot sweet corn patch. Plus 4-5 bucket of OG and blue stem clippings.

There is no cheap fertilizer now.

Started climbing up in mid summer, and is through the roof. At the moment it might be doubtful we get enough N for the crop we want to plant, never mind the price. P and K have doubled to tripled because they are controlled by 3 international companies, simple monopoly of the market.

Manure has gone up to match, Im waiting on the bill for the 30 acres of hog manure I got. A little scared what that will be.

As far as what to get.

Soil test will tell you what your soil has.

Crop charts will tell you what your crop needs to make a yield you are hoping for.

Add the parts that are missing from what the soil has, vs what your crop needs.

Low ph is what you fix first with lime, high ph you cant afford to fix you adjust your crops to work with high ph soils.

If you have low soil ph your crop cant get the nutrients out of the soil. Roots actually put out a weak acid into the soil to loosen up nutrients and suck them in. A low ph soil is so acidic that this reaction fails and your crop can starve, even if you have too much fertility there, it just wont be available.

After that you need to add N, P, and K to fit your crop.

Sulfur is often short these days since we dont have acid rain any more.

Boron and other micros are sometimes short. You might not probably get this detailed for your methods and goals....

Paul

You've received some advice here but most of it is for someone with a large farm. What the heck do you care about the price of fertilizer for a 1000 square foot garden? And, with your money. Most garden stores will have what you need 12-12-12, or equivalent, (10-10-10, 13-13-13) I'd stay away from 20-20-20, too hot. Put a handful of garden lime into the dirt beneath you tomato plants to prevent tail end rot if you have experienced that. I'm assuming this is not the first garden for you? Most of the things you will be planting will be legumes, (peas, beans) they like a little garden lime. Your leafy plants (lettuce, spinach) will need nitrogen to promte good leaf growth. Your root plants, potatoes, carrots, will need phosphorus. So, you're on the right track with 12-12-12. If you put a total of 7 to 10 pounds of 12-12-12 on that 1000 sq ft of garden that would be plenty. Most gardeners apply too much fertilizer to their lawns and gardens. Not good.