Feed Your Garden Right: 
Understanding Organic Fertilizers

Your guide to growing healthier plants, improving soil, and keeping chemicals out of your home.

Why Organic Fertilizers Matter

If you’re growing your own vegetables or tending to flowers you love, feeding your soil is just as important as watering your plants. Organic fertilizers are a safe, sustainable way to nourish your garden—without the synthetic chemicals that can harm your soil, your health, and your pets.

 

Unlike synthetic fertilizers, which offer a quick fix, organic fertilizers feed your garden slowly and naturally, helping to build long-term soil health. And healthier soil means stronger roots, better blooms, and tastier harvests.

What’s in Organic Fertilizer?

Organic fertilizers are made from natural plant, animal, or mineral sources. At Elm Dirt, our fertilizers are loaded with:

  • Macronutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)
  • Micronutrients like iron, calcium, and magnesium
  • Beneficial microbes that unlock nutrients and support plant immunity
  • Organic matter that improves soil texture and water retention

This gentle, slow-release approach creates an ecosystem underground, rather than a short-term spike in plant growth.

Benefits of Switching to Organic

For many gardeners—especially those who grow their own food—the shift to organic is about more than just plant health.

✅ Safer for kids and pets

✅ Reduces runoff and pollution

✅ Builds healthy, living soil

✅ Supports pollinators and beneficial insects

✅ Improves flavor in fruits and vegetables

If you’re trying to move away from synthetic chemicals in your home and garden, organic fertilizer is a powerful place to start.

How to Choose the Right Organic Fertilizer

Not all organic fertilizers are the same. Here’s what to look for:

What to Look For

Why It Matters

Diverse microbe blends

Clear ingredients

Safe for all plants

Pet-friendly

Promotes soil health and nutrient availability

No hidden chemicals or fillers

One product for your veggies, flowers, and herbs

No worries about curious dogs digging nearby

Application Tips for Beginners

Organic fertilizers are easy to use. Here’s how to get started:

  1. Shake the bottle well before each use (microbes settle!)
  2. Apply every 1–2 weeks depending on plant needs
  3. Use in the early morning or evening to avoid evaporation
  4. Water in if applying as a soil drench
  5. For best results, use consistently over time

Remember: organic fertilizers work with nature, not against it. You won’t see overnight miracles—but you’ll build lasting, resilient growth.

Ready to Feed Your Garden the Right Way?

Thousands of gardeners trust Elm Dirt’s Plant Juice to naturally nourish everything from tomatoes to tulips. With 250+ strains of beneficial microbes, it’s more than fertilizer—it’s a living ecosystem in a bottle.

Shop Plant Juice – Organic Microbial Fertilizer

Plant Juice vs Bloom Juice: When do I use each?

Plant Juice and Bloom Juice are our 2 popular liquid organic fertilizer. Both are super easy to use and diluted to 2 oz per gallon of water and fed to your plants every 2 to 4 weeks. But when should you use each one?

Plant Juice

Great all around fertilizer

Seed Starting and Seedlings

Lettuce and other leafy plants

Indoor potted plants

Bloom Juice

Specifically made for blooming plants

Annual Flowers

Tomatoes and other blooming vegetable plants

Peonies, hydrangeas, azaleas, bulbs and other perennial blooming plants

Besides Plant Juice and Bloom Juice, what other products do you have?

Our Plant Juice and Bloom Juice pair well with our soil amendments, Ancient Soil and Bloomin' Soil. These soil amendments act like slow release fertilizer as they slowly breakdown throughout a growing season with the microbes in our Juices. Ancient Soil and Bloomin' Soil can be sprinkled around the base of plants or placed in the hole when you are planting.

 

Besides the Juices and our Soils, we also have some natural pesticides and foliar sprays. Our Kelp Mist feeds plants through their leaves and our Orchid Mist is specifically made to feed Orchids in an easy spray on way. Sword and Shield are natural pesticide sprays that help create barriers for bad bugs without harming the good bugs.

 

Want to learn more? Check out our other blog posts or reach out to us at support@elmdirt.com!

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