How to Know When To Fertilize Your Flowers

If you’re interested in adding a beautiful new garden to your property, or are a seasoned gardener simply looking to revamp your landscaping this year, understanding how to know when to fertilize your flowers is a key piece of the puzzle. With so much information available, getting started can feel quite overwhelming, especially as you balance fertilizer recommendations alongside local ordinances and restrictions against the use of certain chemicals during the summer. Today, we’re parsing through all of the major information you should know about flower fertilization so that you can correctly and efficiently. “>set your garden up for success this summer–and beyond. Let’s get started.

Fertilizer Explained

Fertilizer is an umbrella term for a substance that is added to soil in order to increase its fertility and promote plant growth. Just as humans, dogs, sharks, and eagles require different diets in order to thrive, different plants do best with different kinds of fertilizer (or, rather, different chemical concentrations and combinations in their fertilizer).

Basic Nutritional Value

Most fertilizers that you can buy at a gardening center are broken down according to the amount of three key ingredients they contain:

Phosphorus, which enables nutrients to move between plant cells.

Nitrogen, which is the building block of plant DNA and chlorophyll.

Potassium, which stimulates photosynthesis.

These three compounds are the building blocks of plant nutrition. The amounts of these nutrients that you’ll need in your fertilizer depend on a few factors, the most important of which are the state of your soil and the types of plants you’re trying to grow.

Slow vs. Fast Release

You may be asking yourself: is it better to go with an organic fertilizer? The general answer is yes, organic fertilizer is typically more beneficial for your flowers. This is because organic fertilizers contain slow-release nutrients, which become available to the plants gradually over time, enabling them to be exposed to nutrients in a balanced and consistent manner, promoting steady long-term growth. Organic fertilizers may also contain small amounts of other minerals and nutrients that can aid in nourishing your plants.

The Truth About Florida Soil

Unfortunately, Florida soil (at least, while you’re north of the Everglades) is not known for its fertility. Due to the high concentrations of sand in Florida soil, plus the heavy rains that the Sunshine State sees in the summertime, it can be difficult to know when to fertilize your flowers. It is good to note that fertilizer often has to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to getting nutrients to your plants.

This makes it that much more important to ensure that you’re using a high-quality fertilizer. To learn more about what type of fertilizer is best for your landscape, we highly recommend speaking to an experienced professionalabout the specifics of your space and the plants you’re trying to grow there.

When To Fertilize (and Not)

Once in the early Spring (late March to mid-April)

Once in the summer

Once in the early fall (on or before mid-September)

If you’ve planted your flowers in raised beds or planters, you should be free to use any fertilizer you see fit year-round. However, if your flowers are planted directly into your lawn, legal limitations may apply to the fertilizer you’re able to use.

Certain counties in Florida, including Hillsborough and Pinellas County, prohibit the use of fertilizer that contains nitrogen or phosphorus between June 1st and September 30th in order to prevent these chemicals from entering the public water supply.

Fertilizer should also not be applied whenever more than two inches of rainfall are expected in the area, and especially not when there is a tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning in effect.

Keeping Your Flowers Happy

Maintaining a beautiful garden can feel complicated, but it doesn’t have to be difficult–especially if you do it under the guidance of a skilled professional with the experience to bring about the best, healthiest results for your property. To learn more about when to fertilize your flowers and how best to care for them year-round, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.