Confused Newbie

13 years ago

Hello all! Just joined, though I've been referring to these forums for all my garden questions for a while now. :)

OK, so here's the thing: I am completely obsessed with my small raised bed garden that I have next to my townhouse. In one bed I have corn, broccoli, cauliflower, and red onions. In the other, I have cukes, pole beans, tomatoes, and peppers. All of these plants are still basically seedlings, some of which were direct sown (beans and corn) while the rest were transplanted about 3 weeks ago. The seedlings seem to be doing alright, though I think the tomatoes suffered a bit of shock when I transplanted them (they are finally catching up, though).

I am completely overwhelmed by all the various types of plant food and fertilizers. I am attempting to go as organic as possible, and fed a small amount of blood meal and bone meal to both beds when I planted. I also raked in some Miracle Gro Organics Plant Food once since then. I'm a bit afraid that the little sprouts have been getting too much nitrogen. :/ How do you avoid this when the contents of plant food and fertilizers always have nitrogen as the highest content?

I've also started composting this year and can't wait until I've got some ready in a couple of months. What should I be feeding, if anything, until then and should I continue to feed after composting? Should I use tomato feed in addition to the regular stuff on the tomatoes? AHHH! I'm totally exasperated (especially after the slugs and aphids that have cozied up in my straw mulch... ugh).

Am I just over-thinking it and worrying too much?

Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful and helpful site! Everyone I know is so tired of seeing the pictures of my garden that I show around like pictures of my kids. Its nice to have people that relate to the craziness! :D

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Comments (7)

jimster
13 years ago
"Am I just over-thinking it and worrying too much?"

Yes. :-)

Start as simply as possible. Then, based on your own observations and experience, change as necessary. Don't try to do everything you read or hear about right away. Don't try to anticipate every possible problem. Gardening doesn't need to be complicated.

Jim
IAmSupernova
13 years ago
I'd say you're overthinking/worrying. Not really uncommon for the beginner, I was the same way. As time goes on you will learn lessons that will change how you approach gardening in the future. Gardening is a constant learning experience, treat it as such and it's a great hobby. If you expect to just throw some seeds in the ground and start producing mass quantities of (great quality) food, you're most likely going to end up disappointed. However if you expect some failures and are prepared to learn from them, it's very rewarding when you fix your technique for the next time and everything goes much smoother.

I'd guess you're over-fertilizing, but without exact amounts and dates it's impossible to say. When it comes to fertilizer, less is more. Plants IMO do much, much better when they lack certain nutrients, than when you over-fertilize and shock/burn them. So it's safer to under-fertilize than over. At least IMO.

I gave my beds blood meal a few months ago. Right now all I'm fertilizing with is compost tea. My plants are doing fine, although one of my tomatoes did develop BER, so it might be time for me to step up my fertilizing regimen a bit. Cucumbers and green beans are doing just fine without anything beyond the compost tea though.

As for your whens and how much, I can't honestly tell you. I'm not experienced enough to know what is generally required like some of the veterans here seem to. I know after I gave my plants nitrogen burn I'm being very cautious about how I approach fertilizing. I'm basically just letting things go more or less naturally and keeping a sharp eye for the first sign of any problems. When a problem pops up (like the BER) then I'll consider increasing my fertilizing. I'm going to use this process for at least the next year or two, until I become better at judging what the plants need before a problem develops.

Oh and all fertilizer definitely does not have higher nitrogen content than the other ingredients. This seems to be the case at like Lowes and Home Depot though.. Their selection, at least at my stores, are total crap. It's basically limited to about 3-4 different kinds and that's it. And that's counting miracle grow original and miracle grow tomato as two separate fertilizers.

This post was edited by IAmSupernova on Mon, May 20, 13 at 11:48
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Garden.Geek
Original Author
13 years ago
jimster, you hit the nail on the head. I think I've been reading WAY too many books and articles. :) I guess it should be a tip off when you sit out on your porch for hours before bed staring at your plants and wondering how to prevent/treat this and that. I guess I'm a bit of a hypochondriac when it comes to my garden. *blush*
Deborah-SC
13 years ago
You'll chill out after the first year (most likely)! Remember to have fun .... :)
zzackey
13 years ago
I used Tomato Tone. It's made by Garden Tone. It's organic. Tomatoes don't want alot of nitrogen. They like to be watered deeply instead of often. There's a BER spray. I bought it and never used it. How am I supposed to remember which ones I sprayed and which ones I didn't? If you water correctly you shouldn't get BER. Unless of course it rains. We have been getting alot of rain this month. One weekend we got 5 inches of rain.
jimster
13 years ago
"I think I've been reading WAY too many books and articles. :) "

I do that too, but I don't act on everything I read. It's more of a pleasant way to spend time in the recliner. In the garden my approach is "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

Jim
Garden.Geek
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks to everyone for your feedback. I'm going to back off a bit and just let them be for a while. :) This is my third year at it, but the first time I've tried raised beds rather than containers, which I live so much more! :D Also, I live in a small town and only have a Lowes and a Walmart to choose from for gardening supplies, which definitely limits me, especially in the organic category. I think I'm going to turn my attention more towards my compost bin for my main source of fertilizer. Thanks! :)