Saturday, August 16, 2008

Garden Questions Answered :: Feed Your Plants

Hello there,

I am from Richmond and I came across your blog. I am allergic to chemical fertilizers. I was wondering if you know of any great organic fertilizers. Thank you so much!

J. C.
Richmond, Virginia

******

Hi J. C.,

Absolutely!

1. Merrill's Compost Tea (my new favorite - made from poultry manure)
2. Plant-tone
3. Neptune's Harvest Organic Fertilizer (made with fish, sea weed and/or sea kelp)

But I should warn you, if you have cats or dogs - #s 2 and 3 can make them go beserk-er and rifle through the soil and uproot your plants. The smell of dead stuff (Plant-tone contains things like crab meat and, um, dried blood) causes our little woofers to dig and dig and dig until they have found the source of the smell. I learned that the hard way.

I just finished reading Helen Nearing's Loving and Leaving the Good Life, after totally loving the book she co-authored with her husband about homesteading, The Good Life. Helen and Scott Nearing's amazing Maine gardens were fed heavily with sea weed. Neptune's Harvest has it right.

You can order the compost tea directly from Merrill's. You just throw the tea bag into a gallon of water, let it steep for about 10 minutes and then feed your plants! They will gulp it down happily.

Very best . . . Tracey

2 comments:

Ann said...

I'm from Richmond as well -- Sneed's on Hugenot and the Great Big Green house on Robious carry Plant Tone. And yes, beware the digging dogs and rolling cats ...

Tracey said...

Oh, yes. Thank you Ann!

And for those of you in C-ville - visit Ivy Nursery, Southern States and Countryside for your organic plant needs . . .