Feeding Your Vegetable Garden: Why One Fertiliser Doesn’t Suit Every Crop

Dee Butcher
Jan 13
2 min read

Feeding your vegetable garden seems simple enough — pick an organic fertiliser, apply it regularly, and watch everything thrive. But if you’ve ever had lush plants with poor fruit, or zucchini that rot while still small, you’ll know it’s not quite that straightforward.

The truth is: different vegetables want different nutrients at different stages of growth. Understanding this can make the difference between leafy plants and productive harvests.

🌿 Understanding Nitrogen (The Key Player)

Most organic fertilisers — especially those based on chicken manure — are high in nitrogen. Nitrogen is essential, but it mainly promotes:

Leaf growth
Stem growth
Fast, lush plants

This is fantastic for leafy greens… but can cause problems for fruiting crops if applied too heavily or too late.

🥬 Vegetables That Love Nitrogen-Rich Feeding

These crops thrive with regular feeding using compost or chicken-manure-based fertilisers:

Lettuce
Kale
Broccoli
Silverbeet
Spinach
Asian greens

Why? You’re harvesting the leaves — so encouraging leafy growth is exactly what you want.

💡 Tip: Smaller, more frequent feeds work better than heavy applications.

🥕 Root Crops: Less Is More

Root vegetables need a balanced start but don’t want rich feeding once roots begin forming.

Beetroot
Carrots
Parsnips
Turnips

Too much nitrogen results in:

Huge leaves
Small, forked, or poorly formed roots

💡 Tip: Feed once early, then stop.

🍅 Fruiting Vegetables: The Most Common Mistake

Fruiting plants often look healthy even when they’re being overfed — but they quietly stop producing well.

Includes:

Zucchini
Cucumbers
Pumpkins
Tomatoes
Capsicums
Beans

Too much nitrogen causes:

Lots of leaves
Plenty of flowers
Poor pollination
Small fruit that rots or aborts

This is especially noticeable in raised beds, where nutrients act fast and moisture stays concentrated.

💡 Tip: Compost at planting time is usually enough. Stop nitrogen feeds once flowering begins.

🥒 Why Zucchini Are the First to Complain

Zucchini grow fast, flower early, and set fruit quickly — so nutrient imbalance shows up almost immediately. Rotting baby fruit is often the plant saying: