Gardening

Here is an easy formula to calculate how much fertilizer product to use to get 1 pound of nitrogen.

The three numbers on a fertilizer bag represent the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, (N, P, and K), always in the same order, that are in the product.

Divide the first number, nitrogen, on the fertilizer bag into 100, and the result will equal one pound of nitrogen. For example, if you have a 15-5-10 product, then 100 divided by 15 equals about 6 1/2. So, you would use about 6 pounds of that product per 1,000 square feet in order to apply one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.

And please, don’t guess the size of your yard. Figure out the area — length times width. You can divide your yard into several rectangles, and add each area to get total area. Write down the area and keep in a handy place so you can refer back to it.