If you do not make it your self, you must get it by other means. Successful composting Successful composting is the basis of our garden lifecycle. Through composting, we turn garden waste into natural plant food, with the added benefits of reducing trips to the dump and improving the soil structure. With the added fertility of the soil comes healthier, more robust, plants that can withstand the ravages of pests and disease, thus considerably reducing your chemical spraying costs. Although it is common practice to call them plant foods, this is a misnomer.
Plants produce their own food using water, carbon dioxide, and energy from the sun.
It was widely believed that soil humus was the source of carbon, which makes up the sugar and starch in plants, and that substances like saltpetre, lime and phosphates helped the humus to be more useful. It was not until 1840 that the German chemist Justus von Liebig proved that carbon came from carbon dioxide in the air and not from humus in the soil. He proved too that other nutrients were absorbed by plant roots as simple chemicals dissolved in soil water. Illustrates plant deficiency symptoms using more than 800 color photographs. Includes three volumes of detailed descriptions that teach what each nutrient does for plants and how to recognize the first and predominant symptom of deficiency.