I am not young by any meaning of the word but I haven't gardened a lot. When I did put vegis in the ground, the results were only so-so. I thought I was doing the best I could for my poor plants by giving them [u]lots[/u] of good old MG. So here are two of my questions: What is so bad about MG?? & What is so good about corn meal besides my cornbread??

Well, there are lots of things wrong with the water soluble fertilizers. Most, for instance, only have the NPK, no micronutrients or trace nutrients, which is what really determines the flavor and overall health of the veggies. Think of it as this...you can survive on just pure protein, calcium, and iron pills...for a while...but sooner or later you need all the vitamins and minerals supplied by real food. The chemical fertilizers are vitamins...kinda. Not only that, but they are made from soluble SALTS, which can accumulate in the soil and cause physiological drought, which is the salt in the soil sucking fluids from the plant faster than the plant can suck water from the soil...they dehydrate even when ample water is available. Their harsh makeup also kills off the bacteria and fungi which live in a healthy soil, breaking down nutrients so that they are more accessible to plants, absorbing excess nutrients, and generally providing a buffer to extremes of growing conditions.

Corn meal helps to add to the soil structure, helps to repress weed seed germination, helps to prevent fungus like downy and powdery mildew...etc... Other natural amendments, like rock phosphate, glacial rock dust, alfalfa meal, feather meal, blood meal, bone meal...etc...Help to build the soil, feeding the microscopic lives in the soil and providing a well aerated, spongy mass which holds water and drains water to provide a proper medium for root growth.

Having inherited a 1/2 lot at our new place, I can tell you what long-term dependance on water soluble fertilizers do to the soil. These gardens, except for the lawn areas, have had nothing but Miracle Gro given to them for what appears to be at least a decade.
The soil is very pale, which is odd to me as we normally have a decent sandy-loam dirt. It is devoid of worms and other ground dwelling creatures. The soil level is about three inches below the lawn surface.
There is an organic motto out there that says, 'Feed the soil, not the plants'. The previous owner did not do this. Yes, the plants are alive, but there is something sick about everyone of them, paler and weaker than my old gardening spots. Liquid fertilizers are a quick fix, like caffeine is to a tired person.
When I do need a quick remedy, its compost tea, or a seaweed/organic based fertilizer, that puts in so much more than MG. I've had all of last season to start getting compost into the earth, and thanks to the neighbourhood and my husband, piles of leaves were turned into the ground. Getting the garden off its dependance on MG is like getting an athlete off steroids!
To my thinking, gardeners who rely on inorganic, salt-based fertilizers are cheating the earth, their plants, the garden's future, and themselves. The commercials for MG are very slick - who wouldn't want to show off huge produce, big flowers and lush grass?
Just keep feeding the soil, WandaK, and the soil will provide for your plants. In the long run, its cheaper, safer, and will give you results you won't beleive!

Your sandy soil is not going to retain any nutrients to feed the plants long term. The structure of sand allows all of the nutrients to flow out with the water so you need to add lots of organic matter to fill in the pore spaces between the sand particles to hold moisture and nutrients in your soil. There is no "quick fix" since it takes time for the soil bacteria to work any OM you do put in into the soil structure. But starting now to add lots of OM as mulch will help get that process started. A good, thick mulch will help keep your soil moist and cool and create an environment that the soil bacteria and earthworms need to live and work in and in about 3 years you will see a difference in your soil and plant growth.

I like what Howard Garrett said (www.dirtdoctor.com) in one of his famous OG books about comparing natural fertilization with conventional fertilization.

Conventional fertilization like 10-10-10, Miracle-Gro, Osmocote, etc. are 100% water soluble nutrients that are designed to feed plants. Period. None of them feed the soil. Not one of them have carbon or microbes in them! Why is that so imporetant?

Carbon (carbohydrates, cellolose, starches, etc.) are essential in composting as browns, or in tea brews as sugars or humates, inm order to supply energy to the soil and to soil organisms. Plus they control odors and help buffer other nutrients like available nitrates to plant's roots and foliage.

Beneficial microbes are essential for everything from composting, mulching, green manuring, nitrogen fixation, fertilization, disease control, plant immune systems, pest control, etc.

I read once in "The Biological Farmer" book by Gary Zimmer from the Acres USA magazine book list, that every microbe that we grow in our soils from composting, etc. is equivalent to a plant's root to a 10-5-2 synthetic NPK fertilizer plus micronutrients!

Corn meal is a great balanced protein fertilizer and natural fungicide. Microbes help break down high nitrogen proteins or ammonia in composting into safer, healthy nitrates, whiuch is what plants want. Corn meal is also a great fungal food in aerobic tea brewing.

I'm working on it.

The commercials for MG are very slick - who wouldn't want to show off huge produce, big flowers and lush grass?


They are getting slicker. I saw one where MG claimed to have BOTH the sythetic and organic material in the product. So you can add something to your soil that is not good for it at the same time as organic substances(mind that they don't tell you what kind of organic material it is or where it came from).