Like our soil and compost, we aim for the same quality and company values from our suppliers of fertilizers. We rely on trusted companies for a great lineup of natural and effective products. And depending on the time of year, we might even go down to the beach and scoop up some seaweed for your garden!
We initially put a balanced fertilizer into the soil of a new garden and assess your garden needs from there. Fertilizers might include such things as:
- Bone Meal
- Blood Meal
- Alfalfa Meal
- Fish Emulsion
- Seaweed Emulsion
- Kelp
- Various Animal Manures
A note on synthetic fertilizers:
Good:
- Often immediate effectiveness.
- Readily commercially available.
- Easy-to-use.
Bad:
- Leaches into water sources with toxic effects.
- Easily “burn” the plants or roots.
- Long-term damage to soil. In addition to creating nitrates in the soil, which are absorbed by the plants and then do damage in your intestines, the nitrates destroy the microbial activity of the soil. Damage to the soil also creates more opportunity for plant predators to attack-creating more problems with our crops!. Scientists and society as a whole is beginning to understand the significance of the “soil food web”, and the harmful nature of synthetic chemicals on it, and our environment as a whole. (The list of negative effects is significantly longer than positive reasons for using synthetic fertilizers.)
West Coast Foodscapes 