what plant food to use ?

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Flower of the day: green alkanet

 

I recently received an email trying to sell me Vegan plant food. A couple of thoughts rapidly occured can a plant be a Vegan and how do you know? Followed by "Vegan plant food makes them sound like cannibals."

 

I'll agree with previous posters, feeding the soil when you have plants in the ground is the way to go...of course not as much money to be made by selling manure so all the usual pushers keep advertising fertilisers. Mulching with well rotten manure is the way to go, may not be sexy or instantaneous but it builds up soil health and fertility without chemical run off.

 

I never feed established plants and I was thinking the OP was mostly referring to container plants which I do feed, mostly with the chemical stuff, it seems to work ok and in the scheme of things is not overly expensive.
I'm mixing osmacote type fertiliser into composts these days as I'm not keen on the peat free stuff.
I bought a bulk bag of sterilised topsoil earlier and all my pots this year are getting roughly 50:50 of topsoil and peat free or the cheapest rubbish I can find, with extra grit if needed and the slow release fertiliser.
It seems to be working OK.

A mate brought some manure round late last summer, I'm wary of manure because of the potential residues of weedkiller.
Needless to say I've not touched it yet.

 

I buy the cheapest Tomato feed. I mix Growmore with my own compost together with Coir for the pots.
IMO it's as much to do with the weather as it is what feed you use.

 

The elephant in the room (pun intended )is the failure to recycle human waste in a positively ecological way. Of course one will need to change perceptions, presumptions of big pharma and big farmers, and generally get the act together. The production of clean foodstuffs, avoiding chemical; and pharmacutical amendments, together with the education of humanity of their unreasonable entitlement is only the start.