Organic fertilizer… yummm. It smells so… naturey. It’s also the reason why we’re all here, for if you think about it, the spread of agriculture was brought about by organic fertilizer which helped spawn civilization and all of the marvelous ripple effects leading to you landing on this web page!
No seriously. Stop and contemplate for a moment. The use of nasty chemical fertilizers (mainly from natural gas and other icky things) has only occurred in the last hundred years or so, whereas organic fertilizer has about, ohhh, TEN THOUSAND years more experience!! Way to go O.F.! You rock!
I digress.
It just seems that somebody needs to be a cheerleader for this stuff. It’s like the term “conventional farming” which is used to describe using toxic chemicals. When did that practice become “conventional”? Ten thousand years versus a hundred. Seems that organic fertilizer is the one that deserves to be called conventional.
I’m still digressing. But it’s my site. I can do that. Ok, I’ll stop soapboxing, you’re here to learn about…
Types of Organic Fertilizer
O.F. that occurs naturally are manure, worm castings, seaweed, humic acid, peat and guano. Guano is such a fun word. Say it with me. Guano. (It’s bird poop.) These O.F. are called “naturally occurring” because they are just kind of lying around, waiting to be used in your garden.
The second type of organic fertilizer is considered processed, because it’s been produced by humans. The most common? Compost.
Compost is usually produced from mixtures of food and plant waste and makes totally rad fertilizer. Look up, you’ll see a handy menu button. Go there to learn more about nutrient rich compost. Not only does it help grow giant zucchinis, but it saves massive amounts of landfill space too!
Another type of processed O.F. can be found in big bags at garden stores, but be careful to make sure it’s certified organic. “Natural” and organic, even though they sound the same linguistically, are not legally the same thing. Evil corporations use the word natural to make it sound good, but it’s anything but.
Fortunately there are non-evil corporations like the good folks at GeoLife who have a special formula made from plant extracts and humic acid. Whether you want to order from them or not, it’s a good place to start to see what’s out there.
That’s it for now, on my giant bow-down to organic fertilizer. The thing that helped your ancestors survive so you could sit here and Google porn organic fertilizer.
