I am going to try something really different…a standard article of mine and also a video from the same article.

Why? I really don’t know. I just wanted to try something different.

I will post the video link first, then the regular article will appear below that.

Article…

There’s a huge amount of gardening noise out there on the Internet. Miracle products, trendy methods, secret hacks, endless debates, and people insisting their way is the only right way to garden.

This is not one of those articles.

This is a practical, down-to-earth look at what it really takes to grow a healthy and productive garden.

What makes me an “expert”? Well, honestly…I’m not. I’ve had more than my share of gardening failures over the years…mostly here in the desert southwest. This environment and climate can be tough to garden in unless you learn the “how-to” art of it.

Growing up, we always had a garden. Dad had a green thumb with vegetables, and Mom always had a flower garden. Dad had a David Brown walk-behind tractor that he used to plow and till with; even a trailer of sorts that us neighbor kids could take a ride in. I remember sitting in the sweet cherry tree eating cherries until I was busting. Then there were the half-rotten apples that had fallen from the tree that I was responsible for picking up before Dad mowed.

So I pretty much grew up gardening whether I wanted to or not. And for the most part, it was the same for most families in our community. I think it was a holdover from the WWII “Victory Garden” era. Plenty of canned fruits and vegetables lined our basement shelves every year.

As an adult living in the Midwest, I enjoyed plenty of gardening success. Honestly, with that soil and rainfall, it was virtually impossible to fail.

The problems started with our move to the desert southwest…oh boy. With the intense sun, sandy — pretty much dead — soil, and dry climate, I quickly realized I was out of my element. Gardening here was completely different.

Now, 20 years later…I think I finally got it. Well, let’s put it this way: for the last couple of years we’ve produced far more than we can consume or preserve, so friends, family, and neighbors have enjoyed plenty from our garden too. That’s a nice feeling, to be sure.

So here I am…no expert…but successful at growing a very productive garden. Now it’s time for me to share some of the basics I’ve learned along the way.

Healthy soil –

Good soil is the foundation of it all. If you are lucky enough to live in parts of the US you really don’t have to worry about this too much…that rich aroma from dark black soil soothes the soul. Here is the sandy dead soil of the desert southwest you gotta bring it alive again.

Let me get just a bit technical for a minute…Soil structure, biology, organic matter, drainage, aeration, and microbial life all matter…A LOT! Healthy soil acts like the plant’s digestive system and water reservoir. Kinda like a person’s digestive system pumping nutrients and water into the plants veins.

Soil is a living ecosystem. Sure, soil has dirt, compost, nutrients, and kind of texture to it. But there is more, so much more…stuff like bacteria, fungi, worms, microbes, organic matter, and all kinds of life underground. All of this turns into a functioning ecosystem.

Some of that “functioning” part is:

• microbes break down organic matter

• fungi transport nutrients and water

• bacteria convert nutrients into plant-available forms

• worms improve structure and aeration

• microbes help suppress disease organisms

So you gotta build the soil if you aren’t already blessed with it.

Quality seeds & starter plants –

Even perfect soil cannot fully compensate for weak plants or poor quality seeds. Even more important is the right “variety” of plant. That is a lesson I learned the hard way! I hit on the:

• wrong strawberry
• wrong tomato
• wrong cucumber
• wrong bean
• list could go on…

What I did learn…there are varieties of plants that can handle harsh conditions such as intense UV sunlight, wind, watering issues, etc. Beefsteak tomatoes are my perfect example. My wife loves that tomato…makes fantastic tomato sandwiches. But DANG…they are hard to grow here. Well, more appropriately…to start here. Once going they do okay as long as the weather is decent.

Strawberries were another “learning experience” for me. I started with Sequoia…ah, wrong! They are popular here…at the higher & cooler elevations. At our elevation, wind, etc…they suck! I tried for several years with no luck other than great looking plants…and not a berry to be found. A little research later and now I have 5 raised beds with Albion and Eversweet strawberries doing well and now they are producing berries like crazy in their second year.

Bottom line…pick the right varieties, buy quality plants and seeds. Here’s why:

• some plants handle heat better

• some tolerate drought

• some handle intense UV

• some need cooler nights

• some are bred for commercial shipping instead of flavor

• some simply aren’t adapted to certain climates

There is little more disappointing to trying your best to have a productive garden just to fail because you are trying to grow the wrong plants for your area.

Correct nutrients at the right time –

Plants are not powered by hope and garden-center marketing. Plants need actual nutrients to build stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and fruit. Many gardeners think fertilizer itself magically grows plants. Wrong! Fertilizer is really nutrients which are plant food ingredients, not magic.

Timing and amount examples:

• right amount of nitrogen = right-sized plants
• too much nitrogen early = huge plants
• too much nitrogen late = fewer fruit
• right amount of phosphorus matters more during rooting/flowering
• right amount of potassium helps vigor and fruiting
• overfeeding can hurt production

Here is something to consider…seriously consider…organic matter is fantastic, compost is important, and healthy soil biology certainly matters. At the same time nutrient deficiencies are real and sometimes plants need help with nutrition. Remember this…growing and producing plants remove nutrients from your garden soil.

Think about this…what would happen to you is you quit eating and kept up your daily activity? You would slowly starve to death…and be miserable along the way. Same thing with plants…they need food. Healthy soil help move nutrients to the plants. A plant can no more grow healthy without nutrients than a person can live healthy on water alone. The plants need fed…and that means fertilizer in usable forms.

Okay, come on…you wanna debate me on organic vs synthetic fertilizer. Ah, no. I am a huge fan of organics, but I am not above using synthetics when & where needed.

Over-Fertilizing…Many beginning gardeners think if a little fertilizer is good, then a lot must be better. Wrong! Too much fertilizer can burn roots, create huge leafy plants with poor fruit production, and throw the entire nutrient balance of the plant out of whack. Over-feeding plants can sometimes create more problems than it solves. Plants need balanced nutrition, not a nonstop fertilizer buffet. Think o fit this way…fertilizer misuse causes problems.

Water –

This issue is a pain in the butt for me. On our glamstead we have no municipal water supply…thankfully. If we did, well, we wouldn’t have an orchard, little (if any) yard, and a much smaller garden. Thankfully we have our own well drilled into a very large and high-quality aquifer. No, the water isn’t free. It costs to drill a well. It costs to put in a pump and storage tanks. It costs to maintain a well. But…it is amazing to have your own water supply.

Here’s what I’m not going to do…I am not going to drift into “water paranoia” territory. Okay?

Back to our well…it isn’t the best water for gardens. What water is? You probably already guessed it…rain. If you let it sit around too long in barrels…well, it could start having issues such as bacteria growth. Rain water…collect it, use it. If you are going to store it a cistern is probably the best way to go.

Well water is almost always fine unless it contains high mineral content and/or salts, or the pH is way off. Luckily, that can be dealt with but at a cost since you are probably talking “volume”. Fortunately for us our well water is really excellent! I do have a 50 micron filter just to handle any scale that might come into the system.

Look at it this way…millions of productive gardens use municipal water successfully. Why? Compost and organic matter buffer a lot of problems. Inconsistent watering is usually a much bigger issue than any treated water itself. In other words…the bigger issue is usually not municipal water itself…it’s poor watering practices. For our climate mulch, deep watering, consistent moisture, and soil organic really helps watering our garden correctly.

Having enough water consistently available is the key for all gardens.

And that brings us to the debate on what time of day is best for watering. Generally speaking:

• early morning is usually best (deep morning watering)
• evening is usually second best (second watering in addition to morning, often necessary in hot climates like ours)
• midday watering is not ideal, but not the disaster people sometimes claim

Now, let’s touch on mid-day watering for a minute…the main downside risk to watering during intense heat is less efficient because of evaporation. Heat-stressed plants may actually benefit from emergency watering during mid-day. And to dispel a common Internet myth…in real-world outdoor gardening ordinary water droplets do not “magnify sunlight” enough to burn plant leaves.

Appropriate sunshine –

Sunlight is plant energy. No sunlight = no garden. It really is that simple. Through photosynthesis plants convert sunlight into the energy needed to grow stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and fruit.

Most vegetables and fruit-producing plants generally want “full sun”. That usually means around 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Some plants want even more.

Now, here in the desert southwest there is another issue…too much intense sun and heat. Garden books written for other parts of the country often don’t really prepare you for what intense high-desert sunlight can do to plants. Sunscald, heat stress, leaf burn, bolting, and rapid drying can become very real problems.

I learned pretty quickly that some plants absolutely love our intense sunlight and heat…while others struggle badly once summer temperatures start climbing. Some problems that show up:

• tomatoes often love the intense sunlight, but extreme heat can reduce pollination and fruit set
• lettuce usually bolts quickly once heat arrives
• strawberries can struggle in extreme afternoon heat

And, for the most part, plants will usually tell you pretty clearly when they are unhappy:

• wilted leaves
• leaf curl
• sunscald
• slowed growth
• blossom drop
• bitter greens
• bolting

On a good note…our chili peppers generally tolerate heat pretty well; and, melons and squash often thrive in hot sunny conditions. We have plenty of both.

In our climate afternoon shade can sometimes help certain plants more than people realize. Shade cloth can also make a huge difference during periods of extreme heat. I found that to be true last year when I used shade cloth over strawberries and tomatoes. A little awkward to implement but worth it.

Bottom line…plants need sunlight, but they also need balance. More sun is not always better. The goal is healthy productive plants…not seeing how much punishment they can survive. Treat your plants well and they will produce amazing fruit for you!

Summary –

Build healthy soil, pick the right plants, give them the right food at the right time, give them right amount of water at the right time, and let them bask in the right amount of sunshine. You do that and your plants will do their part…bless you with some of the best tasting food you’ve ever eaten.

Related Articles –

• GARDEN: Fertilizer N-P-K Numbers and What It Means…
• GARDEN : Seedling & Potting Soil
• GARDEN : Soil Amendments…Better & Healthier Soil & Plants!
• GARDEN : Replenishing Raised Beds
• GARDEN : Let’s talk mulch…ah, compost…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
See Content Use Policy for more information.</p

I’m going to avoid the usual “organic good / synthetic bad” trench warfare.

This is a fact…Plants don’t care where nutrients come from. A tomato plant does not know whether Nitrogen came from composted chicken manure, blood meal, fish emulsion, or synthetic fertilizer. Once broken down and available, the plant takes up chemical ions and molecules…that is science.

Bottom line… nutrient = nutrient

Overview of Synthetic Fertilizer –

Synthetic fertilizer strengths:

• • • Fast nutrient availability
    • Precise and predictable amounts
    • Easier to correct deficiencies quickly
    • Usually cheaper per pound of nutrient
    • Easier to store long-term
    • Valuable when immediate production matters

Synthetic weaknesses:

• • • Adds little or no organic matter
    • Doesn’t feed soil biology directly
    • Easier to over-apply (i.e. burn roots)
    • Long-term overuse and/or improper use without soil building can eventually degrade soil quality

Overview of Organic Fertilizer –

Organic fertilizer strengths:

• • • Builds soil structure over time
    • Feeds microbes, fungi, worms, and other beneficial soil life
    • Usually releases nutrients more slowly (i.e. does not burn roots)
    • Adds organic matter
    • Can improve water-holding capacity
    • Often provides a wider range of trace nutrients and trace minerals

Organic weaknesses:

• • • Nutrient amounts can vary
    • Slower response
    • Large gardens may need a lot of material
    • Can be more expensive

On balance –

Organic fertilizers often feed the soil while synthetic fertilizers primarily feed the plant. Healthy gardens usually benefit from both ways of thinking. Don’t treat organic and synthetic like opposing teams. The goal isn’t to win a fertilizer debate…the goal is healthy soil and productive plants.

Organic fertilizers have advantages and can contribute to healthier soil over time. Synthetic fertilizers are not inherently bad and can still play an important role in maintaining productive gardens. Synthetic fertilizers are not inherently bad and can still play an important role in maintaining productive gardens. And let me expand on productivity…

Survival garden thought –

If food production becomes the priority, think “survival garden”…yield matters. You have to feed your family…that becomes the priority. If a garden is nutrient-deficient and the family needs calories, vegetables, and fruit production now, a bag of synthetic fertilizer can absolutely be a practical tool…a totally acceptable tool.

If a gardener has compost, worm castings, manure, cover crops, and an existing soil biology…GREAT! That being said…plants need nutrition…feed it to them.

Summary –

Organics help feed soil biology and improve soil structure over time. Synthetic fertilizers can provide nutrients quickly and efficiently when needed. Neither approach is inherently good or bad…both are tools.

The goal is not ideology or winning a fertilizer debate. The goal is healthy soil, productive plants, and food on the table.

NOTE: Whichever fertilizer you use…make sure you are feeding your plants the right combination of N-P-K ! !

Related Articles –

• GARDEN: Fertilizer N-P-K Numbers and What It Means…
• GARDEN : Secondary Nutrients & Micronutrients
• GARDEN : Soil Amendments…Better & Healthier Soil & Plants!

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
See Content Use Policy for more information.</p

In the last article I covered N-P-K as the primary nutrients.

< click here to read that article >

Now I’ll cover calcium, magnesium, and sulfur as secondary nutrients. And I’ll include iron and micronutrients which are needed in much smaller amounts. I won’t be covering synthetic vs organic fertilizers just yet…that’s coming, be patient.

Many basic fertilizers (like 10-10-10, 20-20-20, etc.) focus mainly on N-P-K and may contain little or no Calcium, Magnesium, or Sulfur. There are some “complete” or “specialty” fertilizers that add secondary nutrients and micronutrients. We won’t talk about that directly…I’ll just cover what secondary nutrients and micronutrients are and do.

And for the record…organic does not automatically mean “more complete,” and synthetic does not automatically mean “missing nutrients.”

Secondary Nutrients: Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur –

Let’s make this simple and easy.

Simple: Calcium builds, Magnesium powers, and Sulfur supports.

Easy…

Calcium (Ca)

• • • Helps build strong cell walls
    • Supports healthy root development
    • Important for fruit quality and growth
    • Deficiency can contribute to problems like blossom-end rot in tomatoes and peppers

Magnesium (Mg)

• • • Essential part of chlorophyll
    • Helps plants capture energy from sunlight
    • Supports healthy green growth
    • Deficiency often shows as yellowing between leaf veins

Sulfur (S)

• • • Helps form proteins and enzymes
    • Supports vigorous growth
    • Important for flavor and aroma in crops like onions and garlic
    • Deficiency can cause pale or yellow leaves

Iron & Micronutrients –

Unlike secondary nutrients (Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur), which plants need in moderate amounts, micronutrients are needed only in tiny amounts…but tiny does not mean unimportant. A small deficiency can still create major plant problems.

Iron (Fe)

• • • Helps plants produce chlorophyll
    • Supports healthy green growth
    • Helps plants use energy efficiently
    • Deficiency often shows as yellow leaves with green veins

Common micronutrients include:

• • • Zinc (Zn) – promotes plant growth and development
    • Manganese (Mn) – provides photosynthesis support
    • Boron (B) – encourages flowering and fruit set
    • Copper (Cu) – boosts enzyme activity
    • Molybdenum (Mo) – aids in nutrient processing

Look at micronutrients as vitamins for plants…they are needed in very small amounts, but essential for healthy growth and fruit production.

Summary –

Remember this: N-P-K may be the headliners, they may do the heavy lifting, but they don’t work alone. Calcium builds, Magnesium powers, Sulfur supports, and micronutrients quietly handle the details behind the scenes. Healthy plants come from balanced nutrition, not just bigger numbers on a fertilizer bag.

Buy more than numbers…look beyond N-P-K. When shopping for fertilizer, don’t just look at the big N-P-K numbers on the front of the bag. Check the label to see if it also contains Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), and Sulfur (S). These secondary nutrients help build strong plants, power photosynthesis, and support healthy growth.

In the end, healthy plants need more than just the big N-P-K numbers on the front of the fertilizer bag. Calcium helps build strong plants, Magnesium powers photosynthesis, and Sulfur supports the many functions plants need to thrive. When choosing fertilizer, don’t just buy numbers…look for the nutrients that help turn good plants into healthy, productive plants.

If you remember nothing but this you will be in great shape…Strong plants need more than N-P-K, look beyond the numbers.

Related Articles –

• GARDEN: Fertilizer N-P-K Numbers and What It Means…
• GARDEN : Soil Amendments…Better & Healthier Soil & Plants!

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
See Content Use Policy for more information.</p

Walk into any garden center and you’ll see fertilizer bags with numbers such as 10-10-10, 20-5-10, 5-10-10, etc. To many gardeners, those numbers look like some kind of secret code…they’re not.

Those three numbers represent the three primary nutrients that every one of your vegetable plants and fruit trees needs to grow and produce, with a few rare exceptions.

The nutrients represented by those numbers are N-P-K…and that translates to:

• N = Nitrogen
• P = Phosphorus
• K = Potassium

Plants need many other nutrients too — calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, zinc, and others — but N-P-K forms the basic foundation that most fertilizers are built around. For now, think of N-P-K as the three primary nutrients plants use for growth. Regardless of where they originate, plants absorb them as chemical nutrients dissolved in the soil.

Look at a plant this way…

What they do –

Nitrogen (N): Builds leaves and overall plant growth. Nitrogen mainly provides green leafy & stem growth, overall plant vigor, and chlorophyll production.

Chlorophyll is essentially the plant’s solar panel system. It’s the green pigment inside plant cells that captures sunlight and converts that light energy into usable energy. Chlorophyll is why most plants are green. It reflects green light and absorbs much of the red and blue light.

If you want lush green plants, nitrogen is heavily involved.

Phosphorus (P): The root builder and flower & fruit motivator. Phosphorus helps support root development, flower formation, fruit development, and the transfer of energy inside the plant.

Young transplants especially benefit from (i.e. need) adequate phosphorus because roots are being established.

Potassium (K): Kinda like the overall plant health manager. Potassium helps regulate a whole bunch of internal plant functions such as water movement, disease resistance, stress tolerance, fruit quality, and overall plant strength.

Think of potassium as the plant’s maintenance and support system. Plants with adequate potassium often show better tolerance to heat and drought stress, greater disease resistance, and improved tolerance to temperature swings.

Fertilizer Numbers –

Suppose a fertilizer bag says 10-10-10, that means it contains:

• 10% Nitrogen
• 10% Phosphorus
• 10% Potassium

If a fertilizer bag says 20-5-10, that means it contains higher nitrogen, lower phosphorus, and moderate potassium. For you number obsessed folks:

• 20% Nitrogen
• 5% Phosphorus
• 10% Potassium

How the numbers lay out –

The N-P-K numbers are percentages by weight. So a fertilizer labeled “10-10-10” means:

• 10% Nitrogen by weight
• 10% Phosphorus by weight
• 10% Potassium by weight
• 70% is other material (carriers, fillers, secondary nutrients, trace minerals, coatings, etc.)

Real-life example…a 10-lb bag of 10-10-10 contains approximately:

• 1 lb Nitrogen
• 1 lb Phosphorus
• 1 lb Potassium
• 7 lbs other ingredients

How fertilizer is used –

Leafy vegetables often benefit from more nitrogen. Tomatoes and peppers usually benefit from somewhat less nitrogen once flowering and fruiting begin. Fruit trees like/need balanced nutrition, but excessive nitrogen can produce leaves and branches at the expense of fruit.

Generally speaking…

The big mistake many gardeners, like myself, make or have made is…More fertilizer does not automatically mean healthier & stronger plants and more fruit production.

Too much fertilizer can:

• Burn roots
• Cause excessive leaf growth
• Reduce flowering
• Reduce fruit production
• Create nutrient imbalances

Plants are a little like people…more food isn’t always better. The right food at the right time for the right reason matters more than the volume of food.

Side Note –

Are you wondering why I am not promoting organic fertilizers? Well, that wasn’t the point to this article. I am simply trying to explain the N-P-K fertilizer concept and what each chemical element provides to plants and fruit trees.

Plants absorb nutrients as dissolved chemical elements in soil water. Once nutrients become available for uptake, the plant generally does not distinguish whether those nutrients originally came from an organic source or a synthetic source. Small differences can exist in how fast nutrients become available, how long they last, or what other compounds come along with them, but the nutrient itself that crosses into the root is the same absorbable form.

Let me restate that…The plant does not care whether the nutrient originally came from an organic source or a synthetic source once the nutrient reaches the form the plant can absorb.

The plant does not have a mechanism that says, “This nitrogen came from compost, I like that one.” Or, “This potassium came from a factory, reject it.” The plant only sees the absorbable nutrient in the soil solution.

Relax…I will get to the organic vs synthetic fertilizers in the next article. And yes, I advocate organic fertilizers over synthetic fertilizers…more on that later.

Related Articles –

• GARDEN : Fertilizer…synthetic vs organic
• GARDEN : Secondary Nutrients & Micronutrients

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
See Content Use Policy for more information.</p