Proper nutrients for vegetable garden

2132 Views 29 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Cedrus, May 21, 2020

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · May 13, 2020

Good day All,

I am new to growing vegetables and thought I would give it a try this year. I have my potting mix as I am growing everything in 5 gallon containers. I will also mix some organic compost in with the potting mix that I bought at the store (next season I will make my own compost). I will also be mixing some crushed banana peels and egg shells into the mix. I will also be adding some blood and bone meal and earthworm castings. Do you think that all these ingredients will provide the proper nutrients for my vegetables to grow big and tall? I did a ton of research already and I think this covers it but I wanted to get your opinions as well.

Thanks so much,
Cedric

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Colbyt

· #2 · May 13, 2020

Well here is a tip for you. You don't want them to grow big and tall you want them to produce.

Stuff grown in containers does often need feeding but it may not be the same for all plants. You are off to a good start with what you describe but more info about the 'what' you are trying to grow will get you better answers.

Reactions: 1

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 13, 2020

Thanks so much for your reply. I am growing many types of determinate tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, hot peppers and spinach.

Colbyt

· #4 · May 13, 2020

Tomatoes like a lower nitrogen. 5-10-10 or double all. to much nitrogen and you have busy plants with few tomatoes.

Peppers are heavy feeders any balanced blend 10-10-10 or like will do.
Cukes I never feed after the initial and that was balanced one time.
Spinach I never grew.

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 13, 2020

Great! Thanks so much for your help. I'll try to balance what i have in the way of fertilizers with the numbers you provided. I appreciate your help.

Nik333

· #6 · May 13, 2020

Check what fertilizer, if any, your potting mix has and the compost. Too much Nitrogen can kill the plant or just make it grow big and tall as Colbyt said, but without flowers to produce vegetables.

Get an inexpensive soil test from a hardware store. It will test Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (Potash). It has recommended amounts but go by the plant's needs.

Read up on each. :smile:

SeniorSitizen

· #7 · May 13, 2020

cedricmeier said:
Good day All,

I am new to growing vegetables and thought I would give it a try this year. I have my potting mix as I am growing everything in 5 gallon containers. I will also mix some organic compost in with the potting mix that I bought at the store (next season I will make my own compost). I will also be mixing some crushed banana peels and egg shells into the mix. I will also be adding some blood and bone meal and earthworm castings. Do you think that all these ingredients will provide the proper nutrients for my vegetables to grow big and tall? I did a ton of research already and I think this covers it but I wanted to get your opinions as well.

Thanks so much,
Cedric

Welcome to the club. It appears I'm new to growing vegetables too, and i've been at it for 50 some years. Last year for instance. After a complete failure it appeared the potting soil i bought contained Nematodes. The only way i know to determine that is to see poor root development when the plants are pulled in the Fall.

Wishing you good gardening success and we'll be watching for your progress with your determinants.

Old Thomas

· #8 · May 14, 2020 (Edited)

I struggled with tomatoes getting blossom end rot (end away from stem turns black). My uncle told me they needed lime. I put some on and the problem stopped. I put a little liquid fertilizer on when transplanting then nothing but water. I always get heavy yields, plants can barely hold up all the vegetables. Sometimes fertilizer grows big plants with little yield.

Nik333

· #9 · May 14, 2020

Sometimes weird stuff works. I forgot to say, it depends on where you live, too.

A couple years ago I poured a whole giant container of fresh, unused coffee grounds on a pile of what appeared to be decomposing "little dog" poop. I just couldn't stand the smell anymore. One day I threw an overripe tomato on the pile. Before too long I had an 8 foot wide tomato plant that produced like crazy.

While this isn't fine gardening by any means, it worked!

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 14, 2020

Nik333 said:
Check what fertilizer, if any, your potting mix has and the compost. Too much Nitrogen can kill the plant or just make it grow big and tall as Colbyt said, but without flowers to produce vegetables.

Get an inexpensive soil test from a hardware store. It will test Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (Potash). It has recommended amounts but go by the plant's needs.

Read up on each. :smile:

The Blood & Bone meal is 7-5-0
The compost is 0.5-0.5-0.5
The potting mix is 0.21-0.11-0.16

Hopefully the nitrogen is not going to be too much. I was thinking about using 1/2 cup of blood and bone meal per container, and mixing the potting mix with the compost at a ratio of 3:1.

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 14, 2020

SeniorSitizen said:
Welcome to the club. It appears I'm new to growing vegetables too, and i've been at it for 50 some years. Last year for instance. After a complete failure it appeared the potting soil i bought contained Nematodes. The only way i know to determine that is to see poor root development when the plants are pulled in the Fall.

Wishing you good gardening success and we'll be watching for your progress with your determinants.

Thanks so much SeniorSitizen!

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 14, 2020

Old Thomas said:
I struggled with tomatoes getting blossom end rot (end away from stem turns black). My uncle told me they needed lime. I put some on and the problem stopped. I put a little liquid fertilizer on when transplanting then nothing but water. I always get heavy yields, plants can barely hold up all the vegetables. Sometimes fertilizer grows big plants with little yield.

Hi Thomas, I just looked that up. Looks like it is a calcium deficiency that causes blossom end rot. I'll get a small bag of lime for this year and make sure to use tons of egg shells in my compost bin for next year. Thanks so much for the tip.

DoomsDave

· #13 · May 14, 2020

@cedricmeier, where are you?

That could matter, possibly a whole [expletive] of a lot. The reason is that if you're in a place that's warm for a long while, you might end up with bigger plants, a longer season, etc.

As the other posters have noted, there's lots of variable, but we're here to help.

You go, wherever you're at.

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #14 · May 14, 2020

DoomsDave said:
@cedricmeier, where are you?

That could matter, possibly a whole [expletive] of a lot. The reason is that if you're in a place that's warm for a long while, you might end up with bigger plants, a longer season, etc.

As the other posters have noted, there's lots of variable, but we're here to help.

You go, wherever you're at.

Thanks Dave, I am in central Alberta. Our growing season (between frost dates) is only 106 days.

DoomsDave

· #15 · May 14, 2020

cedricmeier said:
Thanks Dave, I am in central Alberta. Our growing season (between frost dates) is only 106 days.

Okay.

I asked that, because if you were one of my neighbors, you might want to use a 15 gallon pot for your plants because of our l-o-o-n-n-g-g growing season.

On the other hand, your long, warm summer days can give awesome plants of the right type, with plenty of fruit.

Dunno if they still sell Early Girl tomatoes, but I'd get a couple of those, along with a variety of other early tomatoes. I say get a variety because: they produce at different times, different kinds of fruit over a longer season.

EG is so fast. When I was a kid they were the bees' knees . . . . .

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 14, 2020

DoomsDave said:
Okay.

I asked that, because if you were one of my neighbors, you might want to use a 15 gallon pot for your plants because of our l-o-o-n-n-g-g growing season.

On the other hand, your long, warm summer days can give awesome plants of the right type, with plenty of fruit.

Dunno if they still sell Early Girl tomatoes, but I'd get a couple of those, along with a variety of other early tomatoes. I say get a variety because: they produce at different times, different kinds of fruit over a longer season.

EG is so fast. When I was a kid they were the bees' knees . . . . .

Thanks Dave, I haven't heard of those before but i will look them up for sure. I have seeded all my plants indoors and they are getting big so i'm looking forward to getting them outdoor.

Colbyt

· #17 · May 14, 2020

cedricmeier said:
The Blood & Bone meal is 7-5-0
The compost is 0.5-0.5-0.5
The potting mix is 0.21-0.11-0.16

Bone meal is a natural fertilizer and different rules apply for that. You should be fine.

The real trick with tomatoes is to not feed them any extra after they start blooming. I sometimes feed the late in the year to get them growing again.

The early girl at 50-55 days is your best bet for your season

cedricmeier

Discussion Starter · #18 · May 14, 2020

Colbyt said:
Bone meal is a natural fertilizer and different rules apply for that. You should be fine.

The real trick with tomatoes is to not feed them any extra after they start blooming. I sometimes feed the late in the year to get them growing again.

The early girl at 50-55 days is your best bet for your season

Thanks so much! I'm gonna get some of those

Cedrus

· #19 · May 15, 2020

Drill lots of big holes in your buckets. BTW are these food grade buckets or .....? Make a wood slat bench a few inches off the ground so your buckets will not sit on the ground....ants, slugs, restricted drainage, etc. Fertilizer is food, not medicine....so frequent, diluted doses are better than infrequent heavy doses. Container plants drain your fertilizer out and away faster than if they sit in soil. If they are in direct sun, see if the bucket heats up. Soil should be around 70 degrees; over that.... may harm some roots.

DoomsDave

· #20 · May 15, 2020

Here's a link among many for Early Girl

https://www.seedsnsuch.com/product/bush-early-girl-hybrid-vffnt/

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