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Best fertiliser for soil in spring?

James7682James7682 Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Hello! I'd like to give my soil a boost and I was wondering what the best general ( maybe slow-release ) fertiliser there was on the market, preferably something I can get at my local garden centre or Homebase? Any recommendations would be most appreciated!
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 45,211 ✭
    Fish, Blood & Bone ... either powder form or pellets. A slow acting organic fertiliser providing a balance of essential nutrients. 
    “If you stop taking chances, you'll stay where you sit. You won't live any longer, but it'll feel like it.” 
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Isle of WightPosts: 784 ✭
    I usually buy a large tub of chicken manure pellets each year and chuck it all round the garden!!
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 45,211 ✭
    I use chicken manure pellets too, but I keep them for foliage plants and leafy vegetables, otherwise I find the high nitrogen content encourages leaf at the expense of flowers and fruit. 
    “If you stop taking chances, you'll stay where you sit. You won't live any longer, but it'll feel like it.” 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Sheffield, Derbyshire border.Posts: 5,498 ✭
    FBB. is great, unless you have foxes, who will then start to dig.
    I had to stop using it, for this reason and now use Growmore.
    Don't step on snails, don't climb in trees
    Love cliff richard but please don't tease
  • PurplerainPurplerain Posts: 302 ✭
    edited 13 March
    I use 6x (having alerted the neighbours because it stinks). It is chicken manure but very powerful. You can buy it on the Internet. I then use something like tomorite to feed plants with as the season progresses. I also use BFB when planting. I just chuck it all on in small quantities and it seems to show good results. 
    SW Scotland
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 11,445 ✭
    FBB for me when I can get it - usually find it as individual ingredients here - and always pelleted chicken/cow/horse manure which usually comes as a mix here plus well-rotted garden compost if we have any when I'm tickling some soil ready for planting new stuff or bags of cheap multi-purpose compost if we haven't.

    It's best to feed soil organisms as much as plants so I never use manufactured stuff like Growmore as it is a by-product of the oil industry and is expensive to produce, in energy terms.  However, if I had fox problems I'd probably have to think again.

    If a particular flowering or fruiting plants needs a tonic, I use liquid tomato food.
    The Vendée, France
  • James7682James7682 Posts: 4
    Thank you all very much, this is all extremely useful! Now to try and figure out a way to stop the cats digging up the FBB! :)
  • Mark56Mark56 Windsor, BerkshirePosts: 1,547 ✭
    FBB here too, local foxes & dog isn't bothered about it thankfully. Rotten horse manure fed in the winter for the worms to work down and a Spring time compost mulch. 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 11,445 ✭
    If you have freshly turned or bare soil, the cats will dig with or without FBB!
    The Vendée, France
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 45,211 ✭
    I find a solution of seaweed-based stuff used as a foliar feed is a good tonic, particularly for my bay tree and similar shrubs in containers. 
    “If you stop taking chances, you'll stay where you sit. You won't live any longer, but it'll feel like it.” 
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