Reply #22: You may want to get your soil

[BOSSHOG]

tested for acidity/alkaline. Your county exention agent can do that for you. Use fertilizer very sparingly. Be patient. Don't plant so much stuff that you are overwhelmed to start. Check your local papers for a garden section. The Times-Picayune has a great column every saturday about what you should be doing in your garden NOW. There are also good garden shows on HGTV. Get a calendar to be used for garden stuff only. Annotate when you plant and water and fertilize and when it rains. I got mine hanging in the garage. Don't buy every garden related item on the market. Steel yourself for the occasional failed plant or bug infestation. The greatest advice I can give is one passed to me from my Dad who did not have green thumbs he had green hands - the greatest danger to plants is human kindness. We tend to pamper and primp and love them so much that we end up killing them. I hope you have a great garden season.

Over fertilizing is worth then not fertilizing at all regardless of what the fertilizer salesman tells you.