Beginner Gardening: Question about fertilizer, 1 by FertiSorb

FertiSorb wrote:
If your soil is properly amended, there should be sufficient nutrients to get them going and looking good. You should start by doing a simple soil test, and it's really not too late for that. Many garden centers will test your soil this time of year. At least you'll get a general idea of the nutrient composition of your growing environment. If you want to fertilize, a general purpose, controlled release fertilizer should be sufficient. I'm not a big fan of water soluble fertilizers (and I'm not really much of a fan of slow or controlled-release fertilizers either, but that's a discussion for another day). If your beds are in a place where they get full sun, a slow-release fertilizer will probably break down faster than the label indicates. However, plants grown directly in the ground (as opposed to containers and hanging baskets) generally don't need a major boost in nutrient. Most people tend to over-feed their plants, which does very little good.