If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Intro To Fertilizer Myths And Truths 1:14 2 Reasons Gardeners Avoid Using Fertilizer 1:52 Do Gardens Need Fertilizer? Is Permaculture Real? 4:46 Why Vegetable Gardens Are Often NOT Sustainable 8:15 Can I Use Just Compost & No Fertilizer In A Garden? 9:25 Why Compost Is An Inefficient Way To Fertilize 12:46 How To Fertilize A Garden For Free (Almost) 14:49 Why You Must Fertilize A Container Garden 17:07 Adventures With Dale

“Folk wisdom has it that a poor gardener grows weeds, a good gardener grows vegetables, and a very good gardener grows soil.” - S.Stein Great video! Thanks.

I think the best gardener's use both fertilizers and compost. You get the best of both worlds

I can't count how many times I have had to argue the difference between fertilizer and compost. Some people are adamant about permaculture, but don't know there is a difference between fertilizing and composting, and that I have to fertilize the veggies as well as compost the garden each year. Thank you for educating!

Fertilizer absolutely is necessary in many gardens. My garden started off with the most infertile soil I could I could imagine. Rock and hard pan. After years of amending with organic matter and compost it's improved alot, but organic fertilizer helped too

Man, you nailed it! I agree with you 100% on the fertilizer. I’m reluctant to use “free” mulch and compost because I don’t know what I’m getting. I make my own compost because i have access to all the leaves i can handle. Great video!

You are spot on, sir! While I am an organic Gardner, I still use fertilizer! Thanks for your explanations and the wisdom! Blessings ❤

Absolutely fantastic points. I think it is sometimes easy to forget that we are borrowing nutrients in our backyard gardens, and in most cases, borrowing those nutrients at an alarmingly unsustainable rate. We absolutely should work to provide organic material and nutrients from compost and other inputs whenever possible, that includes organic and soluble fertilizers. It is as equally important to not solely rely on soluble fertilizers as the this is essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul. Quick result, not long lasting and not soil building. As in everything in life, it's all about balance. This is why I really resonant with this channel. A no-nonsense, data, and science-based approach that also has the ability to make us think! Kudos to you and Dale!

I am an old man. I have always used compost and manure. I never use chemical fertilizers. Nature's way is best

I agree! But still I wonder: how did people grow vegetables 100 or 200 years ago before packaged fertilizers? It may be that they had animals, and used the manure.

The only problem with collection point waste products is that you do not know what pesticides and herbicides may be in it. Although I do not grow organic, I still am very conscious of keeping pesticides out of my biosphere, so as not to kill beneficial insects. Monarch butterflies, for example. VERY sensitive to pesticides.

I bought my current house in 2000, all clay soil. It took years of adding compost and organic fertilizer to get to were we are today. I now grow veg and herbs easily and use mostly home made compost and some organic fertilizer. I have a good friend arborist who delivers to my driveway for free lots of shredded tree mulch, cant beat that. Good video, bro.

Right on Point. I use both compost and organic fertilizer. I was still picking tomatoes and making sauce in the begining of November last year and I am in zone 6b.

I really appreciate your scientific approach to husbandry & gardening. You bring up ideas that I just never thought of, such as veg plots are NOT found in nature. I'd rather eat tomatoes than lambs quarters and domestic lettuce rather than purslane any meal of the week.

When I moved into my house five years ago, The yard was spotty and mostly consisted of sand with zero value to the plants. Last year, I spred a six inch layer of compost over my entire eight thousand square foot yard, and by the end of the summer, I had one of the most vibrant lawns in the entire neighborhood. Small towns with free compost make life much easier

Thanks for your hard work and research on this. Very much appreciate your easy to follow advice and ideas. After 2 years of watching lots of videos, I do as much composting as my kitchen scraps allow and supliment with fertilizer. This weekend I planted some broccoli and couldn't believe how many worms I had. Looking forward to a great season!

I use a combination of both every year. I pour on truckloads of gin trash from my local cotton gin and compost it in during the winter with a tarp. I use natural pre plant fertilizer and use synthetic thru my drip tape. Seems to work out pretty good 😊

Good discussion. I believe in the concept I’ve heard some agricultural science speakers explain is that average soil has a good quantity of N, P, K , but what the plants need is the ability to take up those nutrients reliably. That’s where compost comes in. The fungi and other microbes that compost introduces to the soil break down the nutrients so the plants can take them up. So healthy soil is a bigger contributor than synthetic fertilizer to your garden producing a good crop. Your videos do a great job of motivating would-be gardeners to get going!

THANK YOU for the clarification! This is my FAV garden channel not just for the additional info you provide, the cost saving tips and GREAT analysis, but you're not too far from us, Myrtle Beach here.

I think many people dont realize that vegetables have been bred to produce more and better fruit, most dont occur like that naturally. They are expecting some help along the way to be able to produce the amount and size that they do.

I don't do any supplemental fertilizing at all but I make my own very diverse compost in large quantities as well as biochar, leaf mould, worm castings. I mix them and apply an inch or two before planting and I have great results. I will say, this is not possible for many people for a multitude of reasons and there's nothing wrong with fertilizers if they're needed. Charles Dowding does amazing market gardens and I'm pretty sure he only top dresses with compost once a year as well. It's really about making a well rounded compost with a plethora of inputs but I've got 50 acres of different greens, browns, potash and manures etc to give me a very well balanced compost. At the same time, you'll always have variance in the content whereas you know exactly what you're getting in a labeled bag of store bought fertilizer.

I agree with everything you said . When I don’t use fertilizer I certainly notice a difference, even with compost. Thank you for being so detailed.

The amount of work and research that went into this video is huge. Thank you for teaching me about fertilisation.

The Millennial Gardener is spot on here. The latest university studies show the highest yields are produced from a combination of organic and synthetic fertilizers. And he has a bunch of videos about adding organic matter to one’s garden.

You can get a good yielding garden by just using compost or preference means. However, like you said in your tomato fertilizing guide, you grow to maximize production, which means fertilizing. You can be as whichever and back to nature as you want, but you're not going to produce the same yields as a person following similar means, but it's also consistently account extra nutrition in the form of fertilizer.

As I’ve watched a lot of your videos, this one is one of the ones I agree with 100%. Trying to grow without fertilizing is so hard. I’ve done it before and most plants suffered so much. A good mix of fertilizer and compost does so well here. Gwinnett county in GA has free mulch on fridays and it’s great stuff!

Hi neighbor, I live in the same county. I've been watching you getting inspired. I just bought a new home this past December, and I'm pushing my yard to be 100% edible.

As a first time backyard gardener, this video is a godsend. Most of what I need to know about this subject. New subscriber. Thank you.

Thanks for breaking it all down! That was informative and very helpful.

Thanks for this video. I agree with this content. I make compost but I also buy and use organic fertilizer on newly planted fruit trees and in my vegetable garden. I mulch my fruit trees heavily with organic matter and the leaves from said trees and depending on what is going on with my mature fruit trees will determine if I fertilize them or not.

I try to keep costs down and follow organic growing as much as possible. I make my own compost. I also make my own fertiliser. Some of my plants thrive on the composts alone. I use grass, leaves, woodchip, cow manure and wood ash if I have it. I also make worm tea, cow manure tea, Comfrey tea and about to try JMS. Even with all this I just bought some organic lifter and Searles 5 in 1 liquid feed. This garden is a little over a year old. It's built on sandy/ silt soil. I've only just started seeing lots of small worms in the beds. I will get away from the bought fertilisers. Once I understand the plant requirements more. Pests and poor soil have got me buying fertiliser. I believe healthy plants have a better chance. So I'm doing what I need to. A helping hand from some fertiliser will hopefully give me an idea of how good my compost is..what might be missing from it. Good video. I think the answer lies in what you want to achieve. I want to grow food by only using what's on my property. Everyone to their own thing I guess.

Great topic to discuss. Many times, buying veggies at the store can be cheaper. However, you don't know how it's grown and not earth/people friendly fertilizer is used. I enjoy gardening just to see if I can grow food, enjoy the outdoors, and when my G-babies come over, they can pick carrots, wipe dirt off on my shirt, and eat right then. I make my own compost that I mix in with my soil to help with soil biology. I now make my own bonemeal as well. I use many different organic fertilizers as needed for my garden cause I want to grow food bottom line.

Our city mulch is stuff picked up from neighborhoods, as well. So you don’t know how much of it is contaminated with pesticides or herbicides. Also, we find micro plastics and other garbage debris in it. It’s a bummer. Thank you for this information and for doing the math for us!

I look forward to your videos and thank you so much for all the research and time you put in them. I live in Georgia and I'm in zone 8, so your input on growing helps me immensely. Keep up the great work.

Thank you. I agree with you totally. I have tried to grow organically multiple times. I have nutrient rich soil. I do soil tests, but the yields drop tremendously relying on organic fertilizer. I have been adding 4 inches of compost or organic potting soil when I can't get good compost a year. However, I have recently had to stop doing that because my soil test showed that the phosphorus had risen to 2300. The only fertilizer I add to the garden is sulfate of ammonia for about 10 years. The only other source has been the compost and organic potting soil which has fertilizer in it. My soil organic matter is more than 5% so I have backed off on the organic matter and when I use it again I will only add about 0.5-1 inch instead. I had a problems growing cucumbers organically in containers. The plants had severe nutrient deficiencies, poorer yields, and more pest problems than the same variety planted with conventional fertilizer. Part of the problem was that no one organic fertilizer was complete. At least the ones I have access to and I could not figure out how to mix them to not fix one problem without causing another. Synthetic fertilizers with their guaranteed analysis are not only cheaper to use, but I can add only what I need and nothing else and that saves me $ on fertilizers I don't need. I do believe in feeding the soil, but as you said an intensively planted vegetable garden is a freak of nature. Nature cannot support it and still get high yields. However, adding organic matter does support healthy soil life. I don't expect the soil to feed my plants, but I do want a healthy soil to support what I grow. About food forests. It is true that mature forests are self supporting, but they can only do that by extending their roots to seek more sustenance. Other plants like vegetables don't fare well planted near trees. Not only do the trees block the light, but their roots will out compete the smaller plants and may be aleopathic and be hostile to other plants under them. That is why you can only plant temporary crops under very young trees. Once the trees mature, you have to have enough land to move the garden or you have to find plants that can survive with the trees.

Let’s go!! Come on last frost!!! My attempt at rooting figs is working!

This is your best video so far. Thank you. What about making a compost tea for containers? Dale is so spoiled. He is one lucky baby to have you guys. ❤️

I totally agree. There's no way to grow a successful garden without using some type of fertilizer. And I do compost my kitchen scraps and make leaf mold for the worms. Every year I mulch the leaves and grass clippings to cover my garden beds also. In the spring I just push whatever didn't break down aside to plant and the beds are filled with worms.

Have you ever done a video on how to use Miracle Grow in the garden? Every 2 weeks? You are one of few that approve of it.

Brother I love your channel. I’m a new subscriber and have watched probably all of your fig videos. I’ve planted all 5 of your top 5 for humid locations and I’m even rooting some cuttings using your lessons learned info. Now I’m learning from your other videos and look forward to gardening. Thank you for taking the time to do this for the internet lol.

How about a video on what to do if you get invasive tree roots in your raised beds? I just discovered tree roots in our raised beds and am wondering what I should do, so I can transplant my tomato and pepper plants ASAP. Cheers!

I agree that compost isn't really plant fertilizer, however, compost feeds the soil and the soil feeds the plants. I think the best approach is to enrich the soil with compost AND modestly feed plants with organic fertilizer. I'm experimenting this year with Agrothrive. 🙂

So "self-sufficiency" is new to me. Last year I bought chickens. And I have watched a TON of chicken videos to help me. And then I bought fruit trees and utilized the Ellen White Blue Print Method that I found in KZfaq videos to plant those trees. And now I'm am watching just a TON of gardening videos as I try to get my raised garden beds producing. I wish I could have latched onto these videos BEFORE I just threw things together. You know an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure and all that. Anyway, thank you for all the content. I have watched a TON of very good videos from a lot of different content creators. And although I have found that I do like a lot of different content creators... I keep coming back to your videos first and foremost to expand my knowledge. Your videos are very well done and packed with excellent information. So thank you for all the great videos and keep up the great work. And I have to say that you are an exception to the "Millennial Memes". :) And for what it is worth demographically speaking, I'm a 57 year old male who lives just southwest of St. Louis, MO.

I think many people who say negative things about fertilizer haven't actually used it themselves

Great job explaining the necessity of fertilizer. I really appreciate your help.

This is one of the best and most useful videos I've ever watched about a core principle of gardening - compost or fertilizer? It explains why nature doesn't need added fertilizer. At the same time tacitly explaining why there are no vegetable gardens in nature. It implicitly explains why when you start a new garden with truckloads of mixed compost and soil there is very little fertility. We may think we got delivered a load of poor soil but in fact it is just that right off the truck the first year there is no developed microbiome yet. It will need a lot more fertilizer that first year to eighteen months.

I’m studying permaculture and one of the things that I come across are vegetables that can be permaculture respectively. Your onions and garlic are permaculture only if you’re using the tops. Some fruit bushes, vines, and trees, the leaves can be used for salads and replace lettuce. There are versions of vegetables that we are used to that grow back every year, they might just look different but technically they can be used for the same purpose.

I'm big on fertilizer. The cost is irrelevant given that grocery stores sell junk. On a totally different topic, I'm building another raised bed garden. Can't decide on depth; either 12 inches deep or 24 inches deep. What do you recommend?

So, one part of the problem is your usage of the word "fertilizer", as I'm listening to you. There is one thing that chemical or man-made fertilizers do for sure, and that's kill the soil's natural biome. And this is where no-till, not permaculture farmers are the best source of information, and no-till is not the same thing as no-dig. The object is to disturb the soil as little as possible. This is a complex topic, because you can't plant anything you want wherever you want and people who watch some videos will often get an impression that initial soil quality doesn't matter with no-till/no-dig and that's not the case. I see videos showing how to start a garden using cardboard, but this makes a LOT of assumptions about the plot of land being used. In fact before you ever start you have to analyze your soil. This requires digging down to depth in different locations, to see how consistent the soil is, understand what different plants might need for additives, drainage, etc........... Oftentimes a plot of land that's going to be used for gardening, especially crops that need well-drained soil needs an initial dig and conditioning, and this needs to be deep, and extend out past the garden by at least a few feet so you don't create a bowl for water to collect, defeating your purpose of trying to create well-drained soil. Oftentimes you'll need to raise the soil level. People who practice no-till correctly don't have to ever use chemicals. They WILL need to use natural additives which do the same thing, WITHOUT killing the biome in the soil. THIS is the part that can be confusing because of the debate that nature can do blah blah blah. Well, a garden isn't natural, go ask anyone who makes money growing crops, even no-till farmers or permaculture farmers who grow crops for income successfully. They use additives of different types. This cycle is very important not to disturb, and anyone who is successful at no-till will say the same thing. Plants pull in energy from the sun. If the plant has the right conditions, it will be very successful at creating sugars. Plants will store this in the soil. This feeds the biome in the soil. The biome in turn produce elements the plants needs. They balance each other out. If a plant needs to it can pull some of this energy back out of the soil. But a garden can't do this without any inputs whatsoever, even when you're adding compost to the top for the biome to use to make food for the plants. You will still have to monitor plants for diseases and insects and then give the plants what they need. As long as the soil and climate is right, it's going to be some kind of deficiency. These can often be trace elements that's easy to get into the plant with additives. If the plant has what it needs, THEN no-dig is effective and you never have to add chemicals in the way of insecticides or fungicides or fertilizers. You add compost to the top, not mulch, and once you understand your plants you can add compost which will help them get the trace elements they need most of the time. Compost is added to the top. BUT, if you end a season and don't plant something in the ground so there is nothing growing there during the off season, you're setting up the situation to where you can lose part of the natural biome because they have nothing that's feeding them, so part of learning no-till/no-dig is ALSO learning how to use cover crops that work well with the plants you're growing in the garden, and you kill off those cover crops at an appropriate time for the needs of your garden. You do not dig the cover crops out of the ground. This defeats the purpose. You use an appropriate, chemical free method of killing the crop. This cover crop then becomes part of the food system for the crops you grow. So, THIS is most of the story. If a person doesn't have the wherewithal to learn this process, and it takes time since you have to learn about the plants you're growing, then using chemicals tends to be the only way of managing a garden system. As is said by proper no-till gardeners, the soil needs to have something growing in it almost all the time.

That was about as educational as one can get and at the same time get the point across. Thank you!

thank you for being honest about vegetable gardens not being able to behave like nature. theres so much pressure online to somehow make everything work like permaculture and also grow food all while consuming/buying absolutely nothing. cute but impossible ideals.

Be careful when buying compost from the local refuse locations. I have seen the piles of yard waste, professional tree trimming waste along with lumber scraps including chemically treated lumber waste products. I bought this soil before seeing them making it. also lots of scrap plastic bags broken into small and micro size plastics. If you are an organic gardener or just a concerned gardener, please beware.

Free manure is great fertilizer, same with sea weed and home made compost

I have taken compost and wood chip mulch from my town and it really saves me a ton of money. I use chicken and rabbit manure, worm castings for the bulk of my fertilizer but I still use a little bit of fish fertilizer.

Thank you. You communicate the truth so well. I say most vegetable gardens are over-watered and underfed. Most vegetables we eat have had their natural defenses and resistance bred out. Overworking the soils, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides kill any remnant of a natural soil environment these plants need to thrive/survive.

My biggest fear with synthetic fertilizer is my kids. Too many pediatric health issues have been linked to the food supply. I use organic fertilizer and compost. I do avoid products with ingredients I don't understand, I keep that same energy with 🧼 cleaning and hygiene products.

I basically watched the entire video for the last bit about container gardening. Thanks for including that!

Welcome to the pickup truck club. I love having a truck. I can move myself (to some extent). I've used it to camp in very remote areas. And of course I can load it up with goods from the home stores.

I live in a rainforest on lava rock. So cindesoil and compost is essential. I use blood meal and bone meal. Seems to work pretty good. Oh I also have perennial peanut as ground cover. My major problem is the heavy rains. So having a trellis and clear roof helps. This area loves cabbages, kales collards, everything else needs lots of care.

In the fall my whole garden gets plenty of horse and chicken manure worked in but I do use fertilizer on heavy feeders. I like to top dress with compost

Before getting your community compost, you may want to check with your county to find out if they use Roundup or other toxic products on the county lawns, trees, etc. I was in one of our city parks last week and to my dismay they were spraying Roundup around the base of the trees as well as on the lawn

Outstanding explanation of the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to fertilizers. Thanks for the education on growing such a huge variety of vegetables and fruit trees! Grow on!

Most gardeners on utube are too scared to divulge the fact that fertilizers (Non-organic) can be used on vegetable gardens. I used them for the first time this season and the veggies are growing a storm. Before I used the fertilizers, my plants were crying. I do add compost and mulch also, but it's not enough. In Australia I used Thrive, and what a big difference from using all organic products. It's like you said, in nature, vegetables don't grow in clumps naturally. Thank you for being truthful.

We got a soil compost mix from a local landscaping company to fill our raised beds. It was not as cheap as the county's mix, but I didn't want the biosolids from the waste plant. It was still WAY cheaper than buying bagged soil. 5 cubic feet with delivery for $400.

I make 3 kinds of compost: soiled straw, kitchen scraps topped with soiled straw, and digested leaves. Every season, I add ample amounts of compost before planting. I also add compost as a top dressing. I also allow various beds to go fallow with green manure growing, to be returned to the soil later. Yet, my produce has historically been small and deformed. For the first time ever, I used ammonium sulfate this year. I added a handful of ammonium sulfate to each pot and bed this year. The resulting produce were large and beautiful. I am an organic farmer. What is wrong with ammonium sulfate?

Love your video, I used organic fertilizer only to start the garden, now mulching with grass and compost made from grass I basically have all the fertility I need, when I notice a deficiency on a plant that is stun I use compost extract as foliar really diluted with home made with worm castings, also there but I don't have raised beds, and I live in the Caribbean where things decompose really fast and I have tons of grass to much. It's not Bermuda grass, is a mixtures of grasses and legumes that do help. So is possible to have a fertilizer free garden just needs lots of inputs, and no dig, hopefully in a few years I will mature my garden as charles the father of no dig up in london

It has been such a while but I think I stumbled upon your account after I saw you posted a comment on Gary Pilarchik's video in regards to soluble fertilizers. People really need to realize that everything is man-made and we ought to be thinking what we talk about when we use "slurs" like organic etc etc. I call it a slur because I feel it is a commercial term only serving the big companies.

You make an excellent point. Yes in nature we see fruit trees but not any type of vegetable garden. For my own trial, I did a natural garden with both flowering plants and vegetables, using minimum fertilizer, no mulch etc. No matter how much I tried, weeds kept coming back and they are quite powerful. Can take over even within one week. Container garden which is not natural, and of course man made, allows us to reduce the impact from weeds, but needs water every day. This is so unlike a fruit tree that can stand out there, whether we water them regularly or not. Those trees, even if we did not mulch, are capable of tolerating and sustain themselves. Now on to type of fertilizer - whether natural manure or with synthetic manure, NPK is important for defining fertilizer. In order to fertilize the artificial vegetable garden that we have now come to adapt, as human beings, we absolutely need fertilizer. In that way, we human beings created the need for fertilizer. With all that said, the fruits and vegetables in the garden taste so much better than those in the market shelf, since those commercial products have other visual appeals. They also must sustain long transporation cycles and shelf life - which we as gardeners do not have to bother about. There are farms that follow your thinking. They dont even sell dwarf version of fruit trees, that are the mainstay of commercial fruit industry. Instead, they sell only natural root stock that take years to grow into a tree, but can sustain well even in extreme weather conditions. Since they are natural, they are less prone to attacks by insects and less disease prone. Thanks for this excellent video - in simple terms you have explained to gardens the differences and why some things are not needed.

When I was in Florida the soil was so poor that I spent tons of money (thousands of dollars) on fertilizer and useless amendments (biochar, azomite), but they get washed away so fast, due to the sandy soil plus lots of rain. It was compost that helped improve the soil and help retain the nutrients, and lots of mulching, after that I get a lot better success. In plastic containers and my Earthbox, I use only two things: ProMix and Osmocote. Osmocote is slow release synthetic fertilizer, so I don't use fast release version. I prefer grow bags over plastic containers, the only difference here is instead of 100% ProMix, it's maybe 60/40 Promix and compost. I use Osmocote sparingly on my raised beds, which I top up with compost each year. I like organic fertilizer if I can find them on sale but I have pests like racoon, possum, vole, squirrel and I think the poultry smell from organic fertilizer attracts them more compared to Osmocote. Also Osmocote can be used indoor. I usually wait until around new year where they put Osmocote up on sale online. There is one scenario that I do use water soluble fertilizer, that is to prep straw bales for growing, but I don't have a pickup so I don't do this method often. I also intend to use water soluble fertilizer in trying to break my record of the heaviest beefsteak tomato I can grow.

In general I agree with the points made in this video. The one caveat I would add is that I would think home made compost which has food waste, coffee grounds etc. added to it is probably higher in npk than the cow manure. I have fertilized with a mix of seaweed (liquid), Neem seed meal (powder) , and grown my plants in raised beds with large volumes of compost. I also add ash into my compost piles. Have not run into any issues yet...

So glad you finally got your pickup. I can't imagine living without one! This video about fertilizers is very informative. It will be one I will revisit often.

Personally, I agree with you. I have however been trying the method of doing absolutely nothing, with a portion on my property. A list of plants , vegetable plants I let do their own thing for the past 5 years Cucumber Tomato Bell pepper Lettuce Broccoli Okra And corn I'm on my 5 th year. At the end of my season in NC I let the remaining fruit rot and drop, and the frost kills them out. Except for Lettuce of course. Then I let the plants decay over the winter. Basically leaving them alone. This year I have over 150 Cucumber plants, all producing fruit, I've already picked about 60, and more growing. Tomatoes plants I have about 50 plants, only planted 5. Same with Cucumber plants at the beginning. Lettuce has reproduced at the same amount year round with about 10 plants, and after they drop seed I get about that each season. Okra oddly enough did not reseed , which I thought it would, had tons of viable pods. That I let rot in the ground. Corn , Obviously that's a no go. All critters ate what was left. I started with heirloom varieties 5 years. I love all the fruit i get now but I know it's changed. The Cucumber is smaller , but actually better tasting and less bitter, same with tomato, more seed as you mentioned, but actually taste better. Lettuce is strange, tastes amazing but has a bit of a spice to it, which I've never noticed. Fresh Lettuce is import to my wife, as grocery are still in short supply and have extended expiration dates. Well that's what I have so far. I added black cow and garden soil 5 years ago when I started and triple 10 fertilizer. So far at this point nothing has been added. Weed pressure is insane though, bc I'm trying it as a wild change. Oh and broccoli did come back, but off of old stalks lol , birds ate all of the seed pods. However that only lasted 3 years and they died off.

I use fertilizer and compost in combination. I rotate my plants in different beds as well.

I started gardening last year and followed the square foot gardening book. They say to use a mix of organic fertilizer, peat moss and coarse Vermiculite and you don’t need fertilizer. But I disagree. I could not get zucchini or cucumbers to grow and I think it was due to lack of fertilizer. Zucchini would look good and then I’d go out one day and it was turned to much. Cucumbers would start out fine and then turn a pinkish color. So I will be using fertilizer this year. Thanks for the info! Everything makes perfect sense.

My husband started our garden years ago, it was plentiful and grew like crazy! He used Miracle Grow. At some point I took over and learned all I could about composting and thought I have what it took to grow a great garden, but after much more research I have discovered that because I am not fertilizing my veggies/herbs they are not growing like his did! They certainly grow but the boost that fertilizer gives will actually give me the great garden. I just need to do more research to find the best product as I want to be 100% organic! Right now I planted some items and used a Kelp product that had great reviews and I also purchased a organic fertilizer for the existing garden items! Also included some flowers in the mix to help with pollination!

I tried the County Landfill. I'm not eating to you All Landfills, some may be this way, but my result was horrible. It was full of trash, metal, glass, rubber, and paper trash, and was not at all compost. So just a shout-out to look it over before you have it unloaded onto your garden.

Great points! Both Compost and Fert are NEEDED!!! I would argue that you could just compost, but you will have issues going just fert!

@themillenialgardener I recommend buying 6-8 large trash cans to transport your mulch, soil, etc with your pickup truck- it’s so much easier to clean, unload, and stacks higher than a mound of mulch in the bed:) And, you can put a lid on them and simply leave them in your backyard until it stops raining if you feel like stopping the work before you’re finished due to rain

You have the ability to share important material clearly. The fertilizer purchase in fall is something I will forever use. Thanks for that one👊👍

The only fertilizers I use, if I think I need it, is organic chook poo and sea sole, otherwise, I rely on fungi-rich compost and Mycorrhizal fungi. My brother-in-law planted 2 kilometers of climbing sugar snap peas in rows of 80 to 140 meters long using calcium nitrate for his fertilizer, I planted one row 75 meters long using only a narrow strip of good compost and Mycorrhizal fungi. 60+ kilograms of sugar snaps picked compared to 35 kilograms average from the other rows. I used the same method on 8 cucumber plants and picked 60+ cucumbers. Charles Dowding, No dig: feed the soil, not the plants uses compost as his form of fertilization, his method works year in - year out. Dr. David C. Johnson explains soil biology, Dr. Christine Jones and Dr. Elaine Inghan are also soil scientists. I learn a lot from KZfaq channels on vege growing and am thoroughly enjoying it

Get that free mulch/compost but…You never know why the tree was cut down. I get it, but don’t use it for mulch or paths. It could have disease or eggs. Bury it under your soil, especially as filler when starting a new raised bed. Mine won’t load a truck for insurance reasons, but they will load a trailer for free. Great explanations!

Excellent video as usual and welcome to the pickup truck owners club. I highly recommend you purchase a LoadHandler truck bed unloader for your new ride. It will make unloading your bulk compost a breeze. I can verify LoadHandler is a quality product that will last a long time. I've had mine since 2017 and have used it to unload up to 3/4 ton of gravel in one run. I've also used it to unload multiple cubic yards of mulch, compost, and topsoil from our friends at Seaside mulch over the years. I know Harbor Freight has a version of this product, but I have no experience with it. But it may be worth checking out. The time and energy you save with a truck bed unloader will pay for the item after a use or two.

You are an answer to my prayer! I was complaining to JESUS about my failure to get veggies in my "organic" garden....I thought compost was fertilizer!!! I asked the Lord to show me what I was doing wrong and He used you to teach me. ! Thank God and your gift of gardening He gave you to bless us all! ❤😊😊

My philosophy is that I want the best plants possibly. I will do whatever it takes. Everyone’s garden soil varies from yard to yard and even within your own yard. I do not want to waste my time growing inferior plants. Your point food forest vs vegetable growing is spot on. Because I have 12 new raised beds we added organic raised bed soil, cow manure, worm castings, biochar, azomite, blood meal, bone meal, also perlite, sand and gypsum depending what I am growing. I also add some 4-4-4 organic fertilizer. My garden is lush. I don’t use cow manure as a fertilizer I use more for the soil structure. The bottom of the beds is wood chips and whatever. I get Chip Drop free or a small donation. I have set up your garbage can compost. Need a second. I also make swamp water and use fish fertilizer. Crazy right.

People constantly urge me not to use miracle gro, mainly because it kills so much in the soil, but I've not seen a single negative from using it and I've seen a massive burst of energy and yields from every plant in the garden. My fungal networks are still growing and fruiting, my worms under my mulch are happy and working round the clock, and the 2 bird families my yard harbors are still happy and feeding regularly.

I get composted horse manure for $20 dollars a load and I use 511 , coffee grounds plus compost tea in my garden.

Just something to consider when interpreting fertilizer ratios, you have to be careful when going off the NPK as the absolute ratio. For example, in the Wikipedia article you referenced, it stated the P content is based on the percent by mass of phosphorus pentaoxide. This means in the case of the NPK of 18-20-10, that you're getting 20% phosphorus pentaoxide, not 20% elemental phosphorus. In order to calculate the actual phosphorus content would have to take into account the entire chemical formula. By doing a little math and using atomic weights of phosphorus and oxygen, you find that phosphorus pentaoxide is only 44% phosphorus. So it's definitely worth checking the chemical compound of each of the nutrient to determine actual N-P-K

Regarding containers, I don't know if you were just referring to trees, but I use only granulated bone meal for my tomato and pepper plants, of which some tomato plants have 2-3 plants in them (it was a mistake). They're growing well enough that as a first time grower I should feel pretty darn good. I do use FF's Grow Big and the soil is 1/3 filtered black kow. However, as it's become a bucket jungle, I use less and less big bloom and regular bone meal alone has been great for containers.

You are right, we need both fertilizer and compost to keep our gardens growing. I would like to hear more about how fertilizer works in sandy soil. Living in nw Florida we have to contend with the sand. Keep on gardening!

Worn castings in over-wintered compost mixed with Miracle Gro garden soil works great for my container crops. Congrats on the becoming a pick up truck owner.

This was really well done. You marshaled your thoughts and presented in my opinion an unassailable argument. Thank you so much for clearly eliminating the difference between fertilizer and compost!

I have chickens and rabbits so i use their waste products in my garden along with a worm bin and a compost pile consisting of house and yard scraps. I still fertilize my plants at least once a year on top of that, because I've noticed how much better they grow with the added nutrients. I don't grow my veggies and fruit to save money though. I do it for food security and quality.

That was super informative. I now realize I've been starving my garden and containers of nutrients by relying on compost only.

Using Black Kow for the first time this year. Mixing it with Happy Frog. And some of my mixes I add in nearly finished leaf compost. SOME 'organic' fertilizers are lying. READ THE PACKAGE and verify everything. Walmart has one that says organic but on the back it says not for organic gardening. Go figure. Where I live, EVERYONE is demanding compost and wood chips. I cannot find any free ones no matter where I go. I use organic tomato fertilizer most of the time and Alaska fish fertilizer for other situations. I reserve chemical fertilizers for hanging flower containers. I also grow comfrey and use the leaves to make a tea or place them on top of the soil around some plants. On old soil I will sprinkle Azomite on the surface and water it in. For tomatoes, I use pelletized gypsum for the calcium too. I DO have lots of chemical fertilizers - some water soluble some granular. Rarely used them. And those are generally for the lawn or roses or similar.

Thanks! Dale is adorable! My dogs love figs too. This time of year the Dachshunds hang out under the fig tree when I take them outside. They look for any figs on the low branches. One of them also hopes that mommy will pick a "ball" for her off the tree. My Lab mix is taller and looks on higher branches.

Finelly somebody(You) made a big difference on how and at what stage of growth to use right fertilizer.The other pro growers would like to show the final result not the stages of growth.I asked them spesifictly,not response.It seems like it is in their heads and what you do appeals to me.I live in Canada(Ottawa),different zone but heaving access to the green room(constant temp)makes it easy to start earlier seedlings using grow lights.Now it is too hot there(up to 30C),they are big and still more time to get them in the garden.Wish me luck.Thank you,watching you all the time.A week ago i seeded the beit alfa cucs,can not wait.Regards,Vieslava.

Gardening about 50 miles SW of your location in Columbus County. Your videos are a valuable resource.

I think it is very complicated to fertilize a garden because of all the different plant species and the time when they need the fertilizer to grow and produce. I think trial and error is the best teacher. Can really mess up putting on the wrong fertilizer instead of the correct blend of compost etc. and other fertilizer. All I know to do is experiment till you hit on something that works. Oh yea, don’t forget calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. They can be deficient as well

In reality on average compost has a 1-1-1 npk. Compost is a very slow release fertilizer. The guy at "garden fundamentals" has a very eye opening perspective on fertilizers. When I learned that most people who have clay soil most likely have an over supply of phosphorous, but keep adding more. There definitely are a lot of false perceptions about compost, fertilzer, and salts versus sodium chloride.

I like natural, organic, and even sometimes synthetic ferts! For natural, I just use JADAM liquid fert, (you should look into that, I'd like to see you do a video!), For organic, I use the normal blood meal, general purpose, etc. Miracle grow and miracle grow organic (been using the organic one lately) is my go to synthetic/organic in a pinch and is NOT that bad if you use it at 1/2 strength every other week instead of full strength every other week.