Things You'll Need:
- Garden
- Water
- Fertilizer
-
Step 1
Use compost to fertilize your garden soil. Compost is organic material mixed with soil. You can spade compost directly into the soil once it is fully developed (or straight out of the bag if bought).
-
Step 2
Fertilize your soil with a standard soil fertilizer purchased from a home and garden shop. Look for a mixture that has a good ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus and potash. These three compounds are among the most important for plant development (nitrogen especially).
-
Step 3
Use manure in your garden. Manure has an incredible amount of nutrients in it (although a lower nitrogen content than other fertilizers). Manure works particularly well because of the bacteria in it--the bacteria helps to both store and generate nutrients as it settles into the soil.
-
Step 4
Plant "cover crops" in your garden. A cover crop is a plant like alfalfa or even moss. These kinds of low growing, low volume plants can then be tilled into the soil to increase their fertility. Even if you leave them alone they will dramatically improve soil quality (but take up space in your garden).
-
Step 5
Use lime or sulfur to adjust the acidity of your soil. Use smaller amounts of each at first to see if you notice improvement in your garden. Adjusting the pH level of your soil can have a profound effect on the growth of plants in your garden.
