"Nonya" wrote in message ...
I have a neighbor who is into organic foods and she has seen me
fertilizing my stuff with fertilizer. Just your typical Miracle grow
stuff. From what I know, all it is is proportions of
nitrogen/phosphorus/potatsium (I.E. 10-45-10). I explained to her that it is
basically like giving the plants vitamins, and that there should be no cause
for concern when using it. Am I correct?
Thanks,
Scott

The plants don't know the difference between nitrogen synthesized from
natural gas and nitrogen from horse ****. The same applies to
phosphorus and potassium
If nutrients were the only thing going on in the soil it really
wouldn't matter at all.
What does know the difference are all the soil organisms from bacteria
and fungi to worms. By maintaining a wide diversity of soil organisms
you end up with a healthier garden requiring less intervention for
problems and providing a reserve of nutrients in their bodies and in
undecayed materials.
A lot of the chemical fertilizers bring other things along with them
besides the stated N-P-K these can be everything from salt to heavy
metals like lead and cadmium.
Both you and your organic neighbor should start with a soil test and
then feed based on the results.
Most Cooperative Extension centers offer reasonably priced tests.
Every county in the USA has an extension as a result of the Morrill
act and land grant colleges.
In CT where everything is expensive and the Governer is an idiot a
soil test is still only 5$ which is quite a bargain.