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How to Fertilize Your Garden Plants

Plants make most of their food out of sunlight, but they need minerals sunlight can't provide, and they get those from the soil. If your garden soil is low in those minerals, you need to add them. Kick the chemicals out of your garden and use a natural fertilizer to help plants grow.

A list of things you need

A garden plot
Plants that need fertilizing
Compost, aged manure or commercial organic plant food
A cheesecloth bag
A plastic bucket
A large rubber band

Step-by-step run-through

Take a double layer of cheesecloth and spread it on your lawn or a bare patch of soil.
Place one or two cups of compost, aged manure or slow-release organic fertilizer in a pile on the cloth.
Grab the four corners of the cheesecloth and bring them together, then twist and apply the rubber band to make a "tea bag" of fertilizer.
Place the tea bag in the bucket, and fill with water.
Let the "tea" steep for a day or so. (Don't have a day to wait? Put the bucket in a bright sunny spot.)
Remove the tea bag, and fill the bucket the rest of the way with clear water to dilute the tea.
Treat each of your plants to a cup or two of tea.

A helpful green hint
Remember, quick-release inorganic fertilizers dissolve readily in water, and tea made of such plant foods can injure or kill your plants. Easy does it! Underfeeding is better than overfeeding. You can also use dilute organicliquid fertilizers, such as fish emulsion, in much the same way--just skip the cheesecloth step and dilute right in the bucket.

Recommended reading

Rodale's Organic Gardening Basics: Soil
available from Rodale.