Bone meal is a wonderful nutrient for your garden adding slow release phosphorus and some calcium. The phosphorus has many benefits to the plants, but one of the big ones is it encourages the plants to flower. If you have a tomato plant that is big and bushy and there are no signs of any fruit beginning to develop (no flowers) bone meal might be just the thing to get those flowers going! However, there are a couple of things to consider before surging ahead and using lots of bone meal in your garden.
- Balanced nutrition is key. Plants need a good mix of phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium and calcium. Don’t over do the phosphorus.
- The phosphorus in bone meal is only available to plants if the soil pH is below 7. If the soil pH is above 7 you will need to bring it down before the bone meal is added. Only do this if the plants that you are planting like a more acidic soil.
You can buy bone meal at most garden stores. However, it is not difficult to make at home. Stay tuned for a tutorial on making bone meal.