July 3rd: 30ºC (86ºF) today.

Here’s something I wasn’t expecting... the plants in my side by side tests are reacting differently to the heatwave we have today. 

All the boxes were watered equally by me in the morning, and then got a thorough watering in the rainfall we had last night. 

The ‘water only’ plants are fine.

But the Miracle Gro plants have clearly been affected by the heat. 

The plants on Better World look as well as those in the ‘water only’ box. 

Makes me wonder if MiracleGro contains salts, or some other chemical, that leaves the plants more susceptible to heat. I’ve read somewhere that all chemical-based fertilizers contain salts in order to make them soluble in water. Will try to find that article again and link to it tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, back in Test Bed 2...

Despite yesterday’s attack by Klingons (or some other critter), the Better World bin is sprouting, while the Miracle Gro bin has nothing. 

Let’s visit the tomatoes from Test Bed One:

In the MiracleGro bin, I have the following tomatoes. Six of them in various sizes.

 These came in later than in the Better World bin.

Miracle Gro.

Miracle Gro.

Miracle Gro.

Miracle Gro.

 In the Better World bin, I have six large tomatoes coming along. 

Better World.

 This is my largest tomato, and the first one to come in. On Better World.

Better World.

Better World.

Better World.

Better World.

 In the War of the Roses, after seven days, MiracleGro is doing far better than Better World. (Compare the new shoots below.) I’m told this is because of the additional nitrogen content of MiracleGro, which produces dramatic leafing. I noticed similar results back in early June with the tomatoes. 

 MiracleGro.

Better World.

June 30th: “No comparison” comparison.

Okay, so I’m really starting to slant heavily in favour of the organic Better World Plant Food. Why? compare these tomato plants: 

In my Miracle Gro bin, I have 4 tomatoes starting to come in:

Meanwhile, in the Better World bin...

In the Better World bin, I have five tomatoes, all of them out-sizing the MiracleGro. 

Meanwhile, in Test Bed 2:

MiracleGro Tomato 11 inches high.  Better World 12 inches high. 

They started out equal 4 days ago. 

Miracle Gro rose has 3 long, new shoots. 

Better World rose is off to a slower start, with a single shoot.

They started out equal 4 days ago.

Seems I may have found a preferred use for the Miracle Gro. 

June 26th: Test Bed Two. Let’s start again!

As I mentioned in my other blog today, I under-fed the Better World plants for the past month (and still got better results than with MiracleGro).  But I want to see how well Better World can perform if I actually follow the instructions, ie: use the recommended dosages. 


Here’s my new test beds, with Better World Plant Food mixed into the soil to start with. 

I’m doing this on the ultra-cheap. I’m using trays and containers from the Dollar Store, because clay pots (I know they’re better) are expensive. And heavy! I have to haul all this stuff up 3 flights of stairs.... 

The nice ladies at East End Garden Centre recommended I use container soil, instead of Triple Mix.

 Tomatoes.

 Peas from seed.

 Discounted ‘Mister Lincoln’ variety roses from my local IGA. 

The leaves were spotty when I got these plants. Probably one reason they’re on sale?

 Carrots from seed.

Lettuce from seed.

If I can find some more strawberries, I’ll add those too. And some decent basil. I hate the taste of the Columnar Basil. 

Stay tuned! You never know how I’ll screw up next! There’s a reason I chose the moniker: The Lazy Gardener. 

June 2: Plants need food too? Who knew? I thought plants were food. I guess they’re not cannibals.

The first week results are in. 

                                   MiracleGro      gain                    Better World        gain 

• Raspberry                  16 in            +.5                        13.5 in                      +.5

• Basil                             10.5            +.5                          10.5                          +.5

• Tomato                         7.0           +1.0                            7.0                         +1.0

• Marigold                       3 blooms                             6 blooms

So far, everything seems equal, except the marigolds, which prefer Better World.  There is new growth on all the marigolds, so stay tuned. 

All plants seem to have hints of new growth. 

See May 27th posting for more feeding details. 

Both Better World and Miracle-Gro suggest weekly feedings.  Miracle-Gro says you can go 14 days between feedings. 

           According to Eric Rosenkrantz of Matchboxgarden.ca , he uses a lot less than the recommended amount of Better World, because he has a huge greenhouse. Quote:“I basically gave the soil a dusting of the product. Still got great results!”

          So I might try using Better World in lesser amounts than directed.  I think I’ve been adding more Better World than I actually need.   According to instructions “Better World Plant Food is highly concentrated; a little goes a long way.... over-application will not harm your plants.” So it doesn’t scare me the way Miracle-Gro does , which states “ can burn plants. ” 

Anyway, now that they’re all fed, I can go back to being Lazy! 

Till next week, anyway.

June 1: The plot thickens.

I’ve had several requests for a control plot, to properly compare plant feeding to not feeding at all. It’s been a week since started the Miracle-Gro versus Better World Plant Food in matching bins; so it seems only fair to the “dirt and water” contingent to start new beds from scratch.

Here they are:

Each bed contains, from left to right: 

strawberry, eggplant, jalapeno pepper (what was I thinking?!), 

and romaine lettuce. 

The two pots in the foreground contain radishes and green beans, which I’ll grow from seed. I’ve been told it’s too late to start growing from seed. We shall see. 

Or is that “We shall seed” ? 

Ibid with Miracle-Gro.

Ibid with Better World Plant Food. I managed to wedge a rosemary herb beside the lettuce. 

NOT part of this comparative study, but just to see if I can get it to bear fruit, I've set aside another plot bed: 

A fig tree. And some other assorted herbs and veggies. Consider this a stress test. How much can you reasonably jam into a container and still get results? 

Oh, and I’ve chosen to gamble the harvest from this lot on Better World.  

Why? Because I prefer the idea that organic supplements can actually grow food just as well petro-chemicals.  

(I also think the moon is made of cheese, but American dairy farmers won’t let  NASA harvest it.)

Here's what the farm looks like:

May 30th: It’s been 4 days! Can we harvest yet?!

Jeez... this growing stuff takes forever. Pass the cheesepuffs please.

A couple of observations:  MIracleGro raspberry and basil looks equal to BetterWorld.  

Tomatoes look slightly happier on MiracleGro. 

Marigolds are not happy with MiracleGro at all, but doing nicely with BetterWorld. 

Marigolds are not happy with MiracleGro.

Marigolds are shiny happy people on Better World. 

When I first planted this stuff, I , being such a klutz, 

managed to damage the stalks of a couple of the marigolds on the BetterWorld side.  

I’m not sure if you can see it clearly, but the blossom on the left has a kink in the stem. 

This is one of the plants I damaged.  The bloom was clearly hanging south, with a 95º  bend to the stem. In 3 days, this flower has revived and ‘straightened’ to a 15º  bend.  

On Better World. 

All without expensive physio-therapy or chiropractic treatment. 

One other comment: I might have purchased the wrong basil. It’s kind of bitter-tasting, rather than the sweet stuff I prefer. I’m not sure if what I’m tasting is chemical fertilizer from the original hot-house grower (Freeman Herbs  http://www.freemanherbs.com/), or if this is just what Albahaca Columnar is supposed to taste like. Will keep you posted. 

A few people have asked me to include a control sample. 

In the next few days, I’ll do that with a fresh set of herbs and strawberries.  Spread the news!