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Best fertiliser for soil in spring?

James7682James7682 Posts: 12
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: 82,143
    Fish, Blood & Bone ... either powder form or pellets. A slow acting organic fertiliser providing a balance of essential nutrients. 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • madpenguinmadpenguin Isle of WightPosts: 2,448
    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: 82,143
    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. 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • punkdocpunkdoc Sheffield, Derbyshire border.Posts: 13,025
    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.
    There are ashtrays of emulsion,
    for the fag ends of the aristocracy.
  • PurplerainPurplerain Posts: 1,053
    edited March 2018
    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 Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,554
    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.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • James7682James7682 Posts: 12
    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: 1,653
    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 Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,554
    If you have freshly turned or bare soil, the cats will dig with or without FBB!
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,143
    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. 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







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