The Best Five Natural Fertilizers

To grow nourishing delicious vegetables (or beautiful plants) year after year, you should use one of the following natural (also known as organic) fertilizers.

When it comes to natural fertilizers, you have five options -- and all of them are good. The first option is fresh animal manure. Although this type of manure is the best form of organic matter you can use, it should be put on your garden only in the fall; however, if you want to put some on your garden in the spring, it has to be applied at least two months before planting and plowed under in order to give it plenty of time for it to break down and for the ammonia in it to be released.

Caution: Know Your manure!!! While animal manure can be a great way to improve your soil, it is essential that you check where it's coming from.z

Manure from a non-organic farm is likely to be polluted with residues of veterinary products such as antibiotics that are fed to most intensively reared farm animals on a daily basis or can be the remains of toxic worming products. Get your manure from an organic farm or a local source that can provide guarantees regarding its purity.

A second option is to use dry animal manure, the kind sold in nurseries and even in some super stores or hardware stores. Cattle and sheep manure are the most popular. This dried version can be used immediately when you plant or transplant.

Again BEWARE OF THE WORD "ORGANIC" . . .

. . .not because organic is bad but because certain people might misuse the label. Gardening items that are labeled as "organic" need only be of "living origin". So your organic manure might be from battery chickens. Only those products that are certified as organic by an official certifying body are guaranteed to have been produced under strict organic standards.

Of course if the owners of your gardening centers are pro organic, they will probably make sure their products are the real thing. Just ask.

The third option is to make and use your own compost by composting lawn clippings,leaves, food waste and other plant materials. This method is cheap but its nutrient content will depend on the materials you have used to make your backyard compost.

A fourth type of natural fertilizer, green manure, is made without using any animal waste. Green manure can be done by planting the seeds in the spring, letting it grow as a cover crop in your garden all summer, and then plowing it under in the fall. This is a great way to add organic matter to the soil. Although this is the best way to maximize this method , you would not be using the garden for one season.

Alternatively you can sow the seeds of the plant you are using for your green manure in the fall and then turn it under with a shovel by hand or a small rototiller in the early spring -- at least one month before planting. That way, you can use your garden normally while at the same time build up the soil.

One great advantage of planting green manure seeds is that it helps prevent weeds from growing. Remember though that in order for this green manure to be ready to nourish your plants, you must plow it under at least one month before you plant.

Alfalfa is the best. However, you can also use annual rye grass, rye, or wheat for doing this green manuring and covering. You can seed it in the fall and plow it under in the early spring before it comes to seed.

A fifth option, sewage sludge is another good source of organic fertilizer and comes in two forms: the digested sludge and the dried activated sludge.

Relatively low in quality, the digested sludge contains from 1 to 3 percent of nitrogen and should be applied only in the fall. But BE CAREFUL: it sometimes contain metal ions that are not good to use on vegetable gardens.

The second form of sewage sludge, the dried activated sludge, is the better version and could work well on a lawn. It has been separated from coarse solids, inoculated with microorganisms and aerated, and has been filtered, dried in kilns and screened. It contains 5 to 6 percent of nitrogen and 5 to 7 pounds can cover an area of 100 square feet. (It works very well on lawns)

Take note that these two types are different from raw sewage. NEVER USE raw sewage in your garden.

Keeping your soil nourished and able to sustain and grow lush, nourishing, delicious vegetables can only happen if you use natural organic fertilizers -- with compost and manure (animal or green) being the top best.