Kitchen Garden Forum

I've just been given a large packet of Bonemeal. I've not previously used this as a soil conditioner/fertiliser, tending to use either manure or chicken manure pellets and wonder if anybody can tell me when's the best time to use it? Do you sprinkle it in Springtime before planting, or can it be used any time of year in areas which are intensively grown and need a little extra nutrition topping up?

We sprinkle fish blood and bone in spring before planting.

You could pop some round plants later on to give them a boost too.

It is supposed to be a slow release type of fertiliser

I have never used it myself but Geoff Hamilton always used to sprinkle a little underneath any new veggies he was putting in the ground as he said it helped them get established quicker and grow strongly.

It's a slow release fertilizer fairly high in phosphorous which helps plants to form a good root system. Best used as a base dressing before you sow or plant out any crops so early spring is the ideal time to apply it. Not much point applying it late in the season.

I always sprinkle a good handful into the planting hole when planting new fruit trees/bushes as SC says it encourages a good root system.

Beryl.

If you use bonemeal, or blood, fish and bone fertilizers, be aware that foxes can smell this out and are known to dig looking up plants looking for the source of the smell. Also, please always wear gloves when handling these fertilizers and wash hands thouroughly.

Yes - I can fully endorse what Adam-Alexander says re foxes. At our previous, very rural address we used both bone meal and blood, fish and bone as slow release fertilisers over many years. Very successful. Now we've become townies we have to put up with urban foxes (fed by a neighbour - grrrr) and it is true that they have a go at digging up any thing that has had a dressing of these organic fertilisers. It gets worse: once I twigged what the problem was, I assumed that it was restricted to bone meal type products, i.e. that the fox was looking for the corpse. However, I made the mistake of giving my leeks a top dressing of commercially bought composted farm manure as a boost, and within a couple of days found that the fox had had a serious go at digging them up. They also seem to attack sacks of some brands of compost/soil conditioner, suggesting that there is some bone meal, manure or similar in them.

Right! Looks as if I'll have to use it in early Spring when my vegetable patch is newly dug but nothing is yet planted or sown. Hopefully that way most of the odours will be washed out by rain & wind before I start sowing.