"Tim" wrote in message
FarmI wrote:
"Tim" wrote in message
George.com wrote:

Tim, I think the point Billy is making, and perhaps not a bad point
either, is think about other sorts of time release fertilisers also.
Poop based fertilisers for example are also slow release but are also
good for your soil. Don't just look at symthetic slow release, think
about natural fertilisers that deliver a managed amount of nutrients to
your plants and also do some benefit to your soils.

Hi Rob. Thanks for the well written post.
At the beginning of each growing season, I do mix in some
composted poop into my containers.

And what do you observe? Have you tried using only composted poop in one
lot, a mix of composted poopand chemicals in another lot and just
chenmicals in a third lot?

I wouldn't mind betting pounds to peanuts that the chemical lot looks fat
and huge.
First of all...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your
prior post. 8-) If I needed attention getting, I wouldn't be here.

Now, no I never did that experiment!
But you raised a good point in "taste".
Thats one area I've never even thought about..Used to be in my raised
beds my peppers seemed at least in memory hotter, I donno. They seem to
be every bit as big, and colorfull, etc...But I can't swear to the taste.

Taste is something that can also from vary season to season - yield can also
do the same thing. One of those mysteries of gardening.

Basically most organic gardners tend to think in terms of feeding the soil
rather than feeding the plants. If you have healthy soil, you'll have
healhty plants and things like taste and yield will follow from that.
That's a bit general as some plants have specific needs but it's close
enough at the moment.

Are you saying to just use the compost with NO other type of feeding?
My soil-less medium has no food of it's own, what else can be mixed in?
Remember, I barely have room for my pots, so a mulch or compost pile is
out.

Even if you can't have a compost pile, have you considered Bokashi
composting? ( http://www.bokashi.com.au/How-Bokashi-works.htm ) and you
could possibly have a worm farm in the space of one large pot. I used to
shove my worm food through the food processor before putting it in my worm
farm. Not always a pretty sight in the domestic fod processor.

Space for storage sounds like it could be a problem for you, but all
gardeners who garden organically seem to find a spot to store the more bulky
things that we all have. A pot or bag of chemicals takes up little space
but not so organics.

I don't know which country you live in so I can't be too specific on
products or suppliers but look for animal manures, blood and bone and rock
minerals. And if there is any doubt about the quality of those products
spend the extra money and buy organic. Good quality animal manures and
blood and bone have a very distinctive smell. Chemicals smell of chemicals
whereas animal products have a distinct animally/earthy smell. It's a smell
I love, but YMMV.

Any farms near you, or stables or mushroom farms?