Now that all of the crops are out of the ground in my garden boxes, I've been debating whether or not it would be beneficial to apply some fertilizer? I'm going to be adding manure to the garden before the snow falls, but how do you feel about fertilizer? I was thinking the more nutrients in the boxes for the winter the better, but I could be wrong. I'm fairly new to this gardening thing
There'd be no point in applying fertilizer if you've already added manure. From what I know, fertilizers get absorbed by plants quickly. That's why sometimes after you apply nitrogen fertilizer in 2 weeks you can see a change in the crops. They'll be leafier, greener. With manure, it has to be broken down first by bacteria or whatever before the plants can use up the nutrients. This can take a while. So if what you want is nutrients in the soil for a longer period of time then all you need to do is add more manure.
Most in our area are tilling the soil. I think it depends what part of the harvest season you are in: beginning or end. In our current location, they are getting ready to begin growing again so they are tilling the soil, and soon will add fertilizer or manure for spreading seed. But if you are in a northern country that is preparing for the winter then I wouldn't think now would be the time to begin fertilizing. Unless you have some sort of winter vegetable that can grow.
Thanks for the info folks. I'm in the North, and we're definitely not planting anything else in the garden for this season. I appreciate the feedback and we're going to stick with the plan of just tilling in Manure and letting it rest and break that down over winter.
