Soil and Plant Enrichment Basics
The focus of this post is on fundamental practices for keeping your soil enriched and plants healthy when maintaining your garden and land.
When weeding your garden and land, clear out the feeder roots and bases of your plants where the trunk/main stem meets the soil. This zone should always be clear for optimal breath-ability all year, aside from the coldest most dormant winter months of January and February. When your plants are sleeping there isn't as much exchange going on in this zone.
Amend your soil with compost appropriate to the plants growing in that section of your garden and land. I recommend once a year at minimum in the late fall or early spring. It can also be done twice a year when you really want to optimize an area that has poor soil, and your plants are telling you this by their state of health.
Fertilizing with organic fertilizers is fundamental, and should be used sparingly. The rule is the same as cooking with spices, you can always add more but you can't take back. Even organic fertilizers can kick a plant too hard when too concentrated. They are not as dangerous as synthetic fertilizers, and I've seen over fertilizing and fertilizing during fruiting time boost a plant too much and blow out a crop of blueberries, making the fruit inedible. I've also seen too much organic fertilizer added when planting/transplanting fry and kill plants. Compost based soil amendments are the meaty foundation that comes first, and can be mixed with fertilizing in most cases. Fertilizers are icing on the cake and super fuel when a plant needs medicine, and when you want to add minerals and boost beneficial microbe activity in your soils.
When fertilizing you’re fruits and vegetables: do this at the end of the season when fruiting is done in the late fall, or just when your plants are waking up in the early spring to avoid blowing out your crops.
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