Fertilizers

I don't know about cheap & easy, Devon -- maybe one or the other,
but it's hard to find both!  I personally think it's cheapest & easiest
to build & maintain good soil, by working the beds in Fall and Spring
with good compost, manure, leaves, and good organic fertilizers, with
only occasional summer supplements for big feeders like tomatoes, roses,
delphiniums, etc.  Since individual plants and growing environments vary
so enormously in their needs for fertilizer, it's hard to generalize.  I
maintain that if most of the effort (& money) goes into building good
soil, the plants will do well. My rule of thumb is, if there are lots of
earthworms, the soil is OK! I also include stepping stones in all my 
deeper beds so I can work the soil and work with the plants -- I can
see this might be a problem on slopes. Maybe some mulched pathways here
& there, if it's not too steep?

Some books I've found really useful include:

Improving Your Garden Soil (Ortho, softcover)
Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials (Phillips & Burrell) --
  This has an excellent chapter on organic fertilizers and how to
  identify what a plant may be lacking
Burpee's Complete Gardener -- has good general sections on soil
  maintenance and fertilizing

Grace Gershuny's book "Start with the Soil" is very detailed for
those who want to understand soil and plant processes and/or want
to create lots of their own compost.  It also provides a long list
of commercial organic fertilizers and manufacturers and sources for
purchase. C. 1993, published by Rodale.

Anne - Chicago


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