…meal in my garden this year. Blood meal is one of those organic additives that contribute to the quality of your soil. It has a very important nutrient: Nitrogen. Nitrogen is responsible for growing the green leafy growth on your plants. Since blood meal is made form the dried blood of livestock it is an organic product and releases the nitrogen slower into the soil than synthetics. Too much nitrogen can still burn your plants so always follow the manufacturer’s directions when applying it and don’t use it on seedlings.
Blood meal is good for your green nitrogen loving plants like broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and many others. But plants don’t thrive on nitrogen alone. A good balance of the big three nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is important. Here is an interesting fact about it that I found on The-Organic-Gardener website: blood meal can repel deer when kept dry in a container.
Oh and if you were expecting me to talk about a movie because of the title…well…this site IS about gardening! 😉
Broccoli and cabbage love blood meal. Good info.
Deb
I’ve never used it and didn’t know why it was good. Why is it so popular with rose lovers or is that bone meal? Now I’m confused. I use Espoma natural products for my plants. It’s got good trace minerals in it. Like giving your plants a vitamin.
Paul James the Gardening by the Yard guy on HGTV’s only decent gardening show says to put blood meal in the compost pile to speed up the cooking. I did it so hope it works, but how would you know? My favorite use for blood meal is on the violas and pansies, it is a great bloom booster.
Frances at Faire Garden
ps, great title!
Deb,
Thanks!
Anna,
I think roses like bone meal more. It has phosphorus which helps promote good root and flower growth. Natural products feed the soil which is what everyone should try to do!
Frances,
I’ve watched Paul James for years. Probably since HGTV came on the scene. I don’t know how it’s still called HGTV when it’s all about remodeling and decorating your home. Just HTV they’ve forgotten the G! I don’t know how you would be able to tell about blood meal in the compost unless you did a controlled experiment. You would have to toss the exact same stuff into two bins and in one add blood meal but not in the other. As for me I’ll just take Paul’s word for it! He’s truly and encyclopedia of good gardening knowledge.
Dave,
Good info, I am guilty of not enough rather than too much.
(BTW, I agree about HGTV …really people believe you can have an instant garden makeovers.
Gail
hey guys! i love blood meal too. i have at times put it in the compost bin to substitute for green stuff when i have too much brown stuff. not sure if it works but the composting continues on…so i assume it does. i love paul james too, but there are other good gardening shows too. groundbreakers, landscape smart, a gardeners journal/diary. they just need to show them more and put that g back into hgtv like you said dave!
I don’t think I’m going to run out and buy any…I have a very good homegrown nitrogen additive right here, called rabbit manure and urine. The garden loves it and the compost gets steaming hot when I add it. I get fresh compost from the pile everytime I turn it, at least once a month during the warm months. Blood meal sounds kind of scary to me! lol