Vegetables use 16 different foods. Fortunately these 16 nutrients are taken from the soil in very small quanities under normal conditions they are already present in the soil. Only three of the 16 elements are taken up by plants in large doses and those elements are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It is very important for every garden to have these three major nutrients available, if these elements are missing your garden will not do well.
Nitrogen is essential to almost all the complex chemical activities in every plant. Greens such as spinach, lettuce and chard especially like it because it gives the plants lots of healthy, tender, dark green leaves. Sweet corn, onions and potatoes all need plenty of nitrogen. So how can we supply our garden with nitrogen? Steady, slow release supply comes from decomposing organic matter in your garden soil. Commercial nitrogen fertilizer is very important in the early spring when the soil is still cool. The bacteria that breaks down organic matter and released nitrogen will not become active until the soil warms up. Providing a little nitrogen boost at planting time this will give your plants a fast start in the spring.
Most plants use more nigrogen than any other nutrient. The plants will let you know that the soil is low in nitrogen because the leaves will turn a pale yellow color. Then you will know that you need to add nitrogen fertilizer to you garden during the growing season. You must be very careful when added nitrogen to your soil. Keep the supplement 8 - 10 inches away from the plant, as it is very easy to"burn" the plant with too much fertilizer.
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