It can be said that most of us wouldn’t be alive here on earth without the invention and production of synthetic fertilizers. Though it has been a bit taboo in current culture, fertilizers have a significant impact on crop growth and for the normal individual an answer to the questions “why does my garden suck”.
The problem most individuals have (and I think this speaks to a more general theme in life) is that they don’t measure/monitor their soil health and pH. Test kits can be purchased for ~5$ and they measure pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash which are all vital to having your plants thrive.
I did a test for a couple of my large grow barrels that have been neglected for a bit and got very low levels across the board with low N (nitrogen), K (potash) and P (phosphorus). To boost the soil nutrients I add a general 10-10-10 fertilizer where each number refers to its N-P-K content.
