Nitrogen = Sugar!

I get very frustrated with fertilizer sales people. The emphasis is always on “greening up”, “quick green” and “super green”. At the nursery we can feed hungry looking plants and see a response in just a few days, there is no miracle in this. Add nitrogen!
Commercial citrus and lawn fertilizers are often full of Nitrogen for a quick flush of green. However just like sugar this ‘hit’ is powerful but short lived and if not carefully managed it can be very bad for plants. Too much quick, lush growth can soften plants just like too many sweets soften my belly (see photo, that's my daughter Emma she did the painting).
The other concern with too much nitrogen is that most fertilizer sources supplying nitrogen have to convert it through an ammonium stage to make the nutrient available for your plants to use. Ammonium, same stuff you clean the shower with! Not great if you get too much. That’s why nurserymen talk about poultry manure and Blood & Bone being HOT.
So what do I recommend? Have a look at my list of fertilizer sources from last week. Poultry litter (as distinct from manure), sheep and cow manure are excellent materials to add directly to garden beds. The organic fertilizers with medium to high Nitrogen contents (You can add Urea as a great source of nitrogen) are best used to fire up your compost. Use the compost to give your garden a good square meal.
One thing leads to another, I had best talk about composting soon!

Organic Fertilizers

I have had lots of ideas for posts this week including why mignonette lettuce are ‘mignonette’, but I promised more about fertilizers a few weeks back so let’s get fertilizers out of the way.
It’s funny you know, nurserymen are forever trying to simplify (dumb down?) gardening. We’re scared of frightening the inexperienced away, but I think many gardeners get a great deal of pride from managing and controlling their patch. That’s why fertilizers generate such intense interest. There you go, horticultural philosophy for the week. What do you think? Please email & let me know.
OK so… Let’s start with NPK.
This is a regularly used acronym for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (K is the chemical symbol for Potassium). These 3 chemicals along with Calcium are the ‘major’ plant nutrients. Huh? Well, plants produce their own energy through the process of photosynthesis. I won’t go into this detail (I have forgotten most of it), other than to say plants can take the sun’s energy, mix it with water and the ‘major’ nutrients to produce energy. That’s why getting the balance of nutrients right is so important!
Over time I will look at the specific attributes of each of the major nutrients and the pro’s & con’s of each of the most commonly available sources, but I think that’s enough for one day.
Some Organic fertilizer sources:
Relatively low Nitrogen content (but well balanced)
• Poultry litter
• Cow manure
• Sheep manure
• Garden compost
Medium Nitrogen content
• Blood & Bone (relatively high phosphorus, not great for native plants)
• Sewerage sludge (dried)
• Poultry manure
High Nitrogen content
• Hoof and Horn
• Blood meal
I started with the lower rates at the top of the list because I think these ones provide the best general use fertilizing options.
Info courtesy of Growing media for ornamentals and turf. K Handreck & N. Black

Melbourne Flower Show sign off

Happy Easter!
Yes it is Good Friday, but I drew the short straw and am at work, technically doing the watering.
Finalizing the Melbourne Flower Show project took up Monday and a bit of Tuesday, so in all MIFGS ran from Friday 27th March ‘til Tuesday 7th April for us.
I was reminded last week that I forgot to congratulate the Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition winners. Congratulations to you all! Follow this link for the full list of winners.
I discovered that James Wall, owner of Garden World Nursery in Keysborough keeps a blog as well. Have a look at James’ blog for some great pics and very insightful gardening info. James and his family ran Floriana for many years and his knowledge of flowers and vegetables really stands out when he writes.
It has also been a busy week at Scotsburn because the garden centres have been gearing up for a busy gardening Easter. April is the ideal time for planting Primulas, Cinerarias, Pansies, Polys and Violas. Interestingly we have sold more flower seedlings this past week than vegies. That hasn’t happened for a very long time!
Of course April is also an ideal time to plant Brassica vegetables and beets.

Melbourne Flower Show

The photos I have used today are the first snaps taken of our MIFGS display supporting the Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition. Congratulations to Deb who designed and Karen who put together this display. All this was achieved while keeping normal operations going. Just look at the detail!
We were judged in the ‘Outdoor Display’ category and I am proud to say received a Bronze award. Keep in mind, credit goes to all the 130 odd home gardeners who contributed hanging baskets to the display. Thank you to every one of them.
I have had one report from a show visitor. Robyn’s highlight was the Imagine garden which won the Gold award in the Outdoor Display. It is a stunning display put together by Swinburne University, a group of production nurseries (led I think by Humphris) and some of their suppliers. It is a monster project that took a couple of weeks and truck loads of plants to complete (ours took 4 days and 4 loads in our little truck and we still ran short of plants). Robyn also liked the Oasis garden (Silver Outdoor Display). Designed by Carolyn Blackman again, I am always thrilled to see bedding plants being used imaginatively and as an artistic palette. Plus the avenue of achievable gardens. My son Ben loves the Achievable gardens the scale is less threatening and they are genuinely inspiring.

Sadly Robyn’s disappointment was the Hanging Basket Competition. I will work on the principle that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. My thanks Robyn, genuine feedback is what I am really looking for, not just back slapping.
By the way a pdf of all the flower show award winners can be found on this page look for Downloads, 2009 Award Winners.