Hi, Soeur. Microbial activity is dependent upon the presence of organic matter in soils. Most garden soils, before improvement will contain less than 5% organic matter. The addition of more organic matter supports a larger micro-herd, which in turn, breaks down organic particulates faster making the nutrients available (as long as pH is favorable). The soils that most container gardeners use are usually 100% organic. The microbes are already there. If, by some chance a decision is made to sterilize container soils, the moment you plant anything other than seeds in the soil, it is inoculated with the microbes. As long as there is a N source, they will continue to multiply, but they are not necessary for plants to be able to absorb nutrients. As long as soil pH is within a suitable range, fertilizers, organic or inorganic, can supply all the nutrients necessary for healthy plants whether microbial activity is present or not. I'm not promoting the idea that microbial activity isn't desirable, only that it is a minor factor in container culture & merits minor consideration because microbial activity is always ongoing in containers with organic media. Add N, keep moist & suitably warm = expanding microbial activity. I think the farmer's problem you attributed to the use of chemical fertilizers is more complicated than you make it seem, but that's a discussion for another day. I also don't think there is an "inherent' problem with inorganic fertilizer's use - especially in container culture; perhaps over-use? Just standing up for those of us who don't attach a stigma to the use of inorganic products. As I mentioned - plants don't care where their nutrients come from, and I've had equally satisfactory results from using both organic and inorganic fertilizer products. Al

Hey leira, You could be right, but I have a lot of rabbits here and only occasionally do they nibble on my plants. They also do not always repeat and you rarely actually see them. They do their damage mostly at night. I have never seen a city that does not have rabbits, especially if it harbors all the other wildlife you mentioned. Something is eating the plants, so unless you have another likely suspect, I would still consider the possibility of a rabbit or two. Ron The Garden Guy http://www.TheGardenGuy.org A Free Site! New May Article: Sucession Planting, plus ongoing garden journal and interactive message boards.

Newspaper I wonder about, but yeah, generally stick with the black-and-white sections and steer away from the adds. I once discovered a perfectly unpleasant stack of tied newspapers on a park cleanup day, and not wanting what seemed to be great compost go to waste, I ran back home, fetched my wheelbarrow, and a nice man helped lift the thing into there. Or should I say haul. He reckoned it was about a hundred pounds (but who knows). Anyway, I don't think I've physically ever been so worked in my life taking that home. The wheelbarrow was new and worked well, but there was just one big wheel in the front and I had to balance it. It was really heavy. People wondered what on earth I was doing with that thing, all smelly and sweaty. Turned out that a good chunk of it was adds and unusable, so my mom said. :( Oh, well. There are still little colored bits of it decomposing in our compost. I sometimes wonder about bird poo- like, domesticated bird poo. Most of our birds are pretty vegetarian...

Typically when looking at an organic fertilizer, I look at the ingredients as much as I look at the analysis. What is the source of the N, P, K?