How to Fix Soil After Using Miracle-Gro and Other Chemical Fertilizers
February 24, 2021
If you’re here because you’ve decided to stop using Miracle-Gro or other chemical fertilizers in your garden - Congratulations! Remediating your soil after using chemicals is not as hard as you think. Below, I’ve outlined the simple steps to “fix” your soil (that is, to make your soil a healthy, organic medium for growing food) after using chemical fertilizers.
Related: Why Synthetic Fertilizers like Miracle-Gro Are so Bad for Your Garden
First, lets briefly talk about why synthetic/chemical fertilizers are completely unnecessary. Essentially, chemical fertilizers outsource the jobs of naturally-occurring soil microorganisms. We do not need to use chemical fertilizers, ever. All of the nutrients are found in the soil already — we just have to set the Soil Food Web up for success.
Related: Fertilizing and ‘The Law of Return’
The Soil Food Web consists of trillions of insects, earthworms, and invisible bacteria, protozoa, and fungi that decompose organic matter in the soil. All of these living creatures work as a system to make nutrients and water available for plants. Believe it or not, plants cannot synthesize their own nutrients out of the soil without a healthy Soil Food Web. If your Soil Food Web is out of balance or damaged, your plants will suffer, which is why many people resort to using synthetic/chemical fertilizers. These chemically-derived fertilizers (along with herbicides and pesticides) effectively irritate and kill soil microbes, which exacerbates the original problem of low soil fertility.
Chemical fertilizers are not the answer. The answer to all of your gardening woes lies within the Soil Food Web! If you stop using these fertilizers and work to build your soil microbe population, then you and your garden will be healthier in the long run.
I’d like to recommend a few of my favorite books where I’ve gathered much of this knowledge:
steps to remediate soil after synthetic/chemical fertilizers
1) Don’t fret. Move on from the Miracle-Gro.
There’s no need to overthink this, nor do you need to dig out and replace all of your garden soil. You are simply going to stop using the fertilizers, throw them away, and move on to Step 2.
2) Mulch your garden soil with a thick layer of dead shredded leaves.
This is easy to do in the fall when leaves are abundant, but you could also do it in the spring if you have dead leaf matter hanging around. Whole leaves, when dried out, will blow away. It is best to use leaves that have been shredded/chopped up by your lawn mower or a leaf shredder. Simply apply a 3-inch layer of shredded leaves onto your garden bed and either let it sit all winter, or plant right into it! You can also add a thin layer of grass clippings if you want.
Why leaves? Dead, dried leaf matter is one of the best sources of organic matter you can use to feed your soil microbes. Think of the leaves as food for your earthworms and bacteria. Over time, those leaves will break down and add wonderful, fluffy tilth to your soil structure. This will add “pockets” to your soil to allow air and water to penetrate roots below. Lastly, all the nutrients held in the leaves will be digested and made available by the microbes that eat it down.
You will never remove these leaves. They are here to stay for good! You can repeat this mulching process every fall.
3) Refrain from tilling your soil.
Tillage is one of the most destructive things we can do in the garden and I would even go as far to say it is worse than using chemical fertilizers. Tillage not only means driving a huge tractor plow across a field or a gas-powered rototiller through our yard. In our backyard gardens, tillage can be as simple as turning all of your soil over onto itself with a shovel. Disrupting the soil means you’re disrupting the network of soil microbes and the wonderful soil structure they’ve been busy creating. You’ll want to try your hardest to leave your soil unturned. Read this blog post to better understand the concept of No-Till.
4) Apply Good Compost.
Organic compost is the absolute best soil amendment you can use in your garden. It’s important to understand why: Compost is simply plant material that has been thrown in a pile and allowed to decompose over time. Who performed all that decomposition? Beneficial soil microbes! So when you add compost to your garden beds, the compost is acting as a vehicle to get those beneficial microbes into your garden. Not only are you adding wonderful organic matter to your soil that will improve tilth and the ability of the soil to hold more water, but you are also revving your Soil Food Web up in the best way possible by adding compost!
Related: Outsourcing Compost and the Risks Involved
Add compost to your garden by simply spreading it on top of your layer of leaves. 2-3 inches of compost is a good start. Do not till it in!
Using your own homemade compost is always best; however, if you don’t have the means to make your own, you can buy it bagged at garden centers. Always be mindful that the compost you’re outsourcing is organic.
Related: How to Start a Biodiverse Compost Pile
5) use organically-derived fertilizers.
Organic fertilizers are made from once-living plant or animal materials (as opposed to chemical/synthetic fertilizers that were made using chemicals in a lab). Organic fertilizers can be used; however, like chemical fertilizers, they can be overused. It is always best practice to have a soil test performed to know what your soil actually needs. If you don’t have a soil test done, then you’re simply throwing fertilizer on blindly, not knowing whether your soil actually needs those nutrients or not.
For soil testing, I would not recommend buying a pH kit or a simple test online. You’ll want to send a sample of your soil into an actual soil testing lab to have it tested by soil scientists. You will be asked to provide a soil sample by digging or probing into your ground, mailing it into the lab with a form. Afterward, you’ll receive a full report of nutrient/mineral content, % organic matter, and some labs even suggest an amendment program. I use Logan Labs in Ohio for soil testing.
USE ALL THREE OF THESE ORGANIC FERTILIZERS IN YOUR GARDEN FOR ULTIMATE RESULTS:
Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculant is not exactly a fertilizer; it is a way to bring mycorrhizal fungi into your soil to help your plant roots increase water and nutrients uptake. Mycorrhizal fungi forms a symbiotic relationship with plant roots and it is one of the most brilliant ways nature works to provide for herself in our gardens.
Kelp Meal is a great organic source of nitrogen and phosphorous, along with many trace minerals. To apply kelp meal, follow the directions on the packaging. To “mix” kelp meal into your soil, you can do so lightly by sprinkling the fertilizer on top of your leaf/compost layer, and gently raking it in with a hard rake.
Alfalfa Meal or Pelleted Alfalfa is a great source of organic matter for microbes to decompose. I sprinkle handfuls of the alfalfa pellets on top of the soil before covering with compost.
Related: Organic Fertilizers for a Cut Flower Farm (or Vegetable Garden)
That’s it, folks! After a season or two without synthetic fertilizers and the addition of the above practices, you will notice that your soil structure has changed, the color has changed, and the LIFE in it has changed, all for the better.
I wish you the best on your journey of weaning your garden off synthetics. Leave a comment if you have any questions!
peace, love & plant magic,
Fran Parrish
