Maybe it’s because I always struggled with math in school, but anytime I see numbers and measurements, I balk.
Unfortunately for my plants, this includes the measurement and feeding instructions on the back of a fertilizer package.
But I have learned my lesson about fertilizer.
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Two years ago when I moved into my little red house in Alaska, I planted three apple trees. For those first two summers, they bloomed and produced fruit – even after heavy pruning following a moose attack.
This year, sadly, only two of the trees bloomed. The others are alive and robust… too robust. I fertilized them with a low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus fertilizer in April without measuring the quantity.
And then I also applied a high-nitrogen grass food to the lawn around the trees.
What a scatterbrained move. The excess nitrogen from the lawn fertilizer has caused the trees to produce a lot of leafy growth, but no flowers – or fruit.
I’ll have to wait until next year to rectify the damage, and simply enjoy the green growth this year.
But since this is an article about pumpkins – which you can read more about in this growing guide – let’s talk gourds. Unlike apple trees, pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) aren’t perennials.
You’ve got one sweet summer to get the fertilization right.
Understanding FertilizerWhile there are many nutrients that plants need in various quantities in order to thrive, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the three most important macronutrients.
But just looking at the three numbers on fertilizer packets used to make me want to scream.
I am not kidding about my math aversion.
For
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