4 practical and useful tips for fertilizing your garden

Choose healthy plants, prepare soil suited to their needs, and provide them with all the necessary care: here's how to obtain a garden that will supply you for cooking, body care and medicinal preparations.

• To be healthy, plants need a balanced supply of nutrients, supplied as fertilizer.
• The shelves of garden centres are full of fertilizers tailored to different types of plants: orchids, aromatic herbs, rose bushes, citrus fruits or houseplants.
• These fertilizers can be incorporated into the soil or sprayed onto the leaves.
• Among your plants, determine those that need fertilizer and study the composition of the products to be sure not to go wrong.

• Balanced soil ensures optimum availability of the necessary nutrients to plants. If the soil quality is poor, the addition of fertilizers generally only partially solves the problem.
• Nutrient deficiencies can occur in several ways: sickly or deformed plants, leaves that are yellowed, mottled or with blackened edges, premature appearance of fruit, and withering of the plant or weak root growth.
• Some deficiencies are specific to a type of plant. For example, fruit trees whose leaves turn yellow while the veins remain green will appreciate enjoy a one-time addition of iron chelate.
• Similarly, if you find that your gardenia leaves turn yellow or brown at the ends, you can prepare a traditional remedy consisting of dissolving magnesium and Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) in water, and then thoroughly watering the plant with it.
• Other symptoms may require further research.
• Obtain a sample and go to a garden centre for advice, join an association of amateur gardeners, read gardening books or research on the Internet.

The most effective fertilizers are those which provide all the necessary items. These complete fertilizers can be applied in several ways:

• Mixed with soil when planting;
• Sprinkled around the plants as an addition;
• Spread in a dilute solution when transplanting seedlings or to stimulate plant growth.

• There are chemical fertilizers, or synthetic, and natural fertilizers. Natural fertilizers such as bone or dried blood, are made of ingredients of animal origin (like manure and fish), vegetable (algae) or mineral.
• Their slow decomposition permits the plants to be fed for several months. Some products combine chemical and natural ingredients.
• One distinguishes solid forms such as granules, designed to dissolve slowly, and liquid forms, which act rapidly.
• Whatever your type of fertilizer, the key is to look at the NPK, which indicates the proportion of each of the three major nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
• Read labels carefully and follow the manufacturer's instructions.