Compost is gold for the garden! It does wonderful things to the soil such as helps it hold water better, encourages worms and other good bugs to live in the soil and it has lots of nutrients in it which the roots suck up like a sponge. The best thing about compost is that you can make it yourself at home from the kitchen scraps, old newspapers and leaves from the garden. CLICK HERE to find out how to make compost at home.
Animal manure is also packed with nutrients that plants adore but it should always be composted so that it isn’t too strong and doesn’t contain weed seeds.
Both compost and animal manure can also be bought in bags from garden centres and hardware stores and these are fantastic for the vegie garden. Always wear waterproof gloves and protective shoes when handling manure and wash your hands and clothes straight after.
To make sure that there are enough nutrients in the soil for the plants to grow, dig lots of compost and animal manure into the top 15cm of the soil (called the topsoil) before planting the seedlings. If the soil is very rich with compost and manure, the plants might not even need any more food to help them grow all the way through the season.