Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Where to Find Fertilizers
Some fertilizers can be difficult to find. You won't find all of the ones I recommend at
your local garden center. You'll do a little better if you go to a farm supply store or a store
that supplies the landscaping industry. You may also need to take your search online. Many
of the liquid products are economical to buy online and ship, but this isn't the case with the
mineral fertilizers. For them, you can still use the Internet to locate a local source.
Many mineral fertilizers will have come from a quarry on the other side of the country,
or occasionally from another continent. Many of us question the sustainability and environ-
mental consequences both of transporting these materials and in digging up the earth to get
the minerals. I certainly don't feel 100% comfortable with it, but I don't know of a better
option.
Some rocks such as limestone are mined all over the world, so we should obviously go
for a source that is relatively close to us. Other minerals will have to come from further
away. We need to mine these minerals thoughtfully. Some say we can even restore the
quarries to be more environmentally beneficial than they were when we started.
Yet a good argument can be made that some of this won't be sustainable. Neither is our
health if we keep eating nutrient-poor food. Certainly, the goal is not to keep using these
fertilizers indefinitely in such large amounts, but rather as an interim measure to transition
to a more balanced ecosystem that largely takes care of itself. Still, perhaps the long-term
solution is to use more concentrated liquid fertilizers and homeopathic doses of nutrients.
This is not only more sustainable, but more affordable. We're on our way and as you'll see,
people are already doing it successfully.
