• Choosing the right fertilizer will make your plants look their best.Flower garden image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
  
  Using the proper fertilizer for your yard or garden is one of the most important steps you can take. Without fertilizer, your grass, flowers and garden may not produce the growth and colors that you desire. Fertilizer provides your plants with a boost from within the soil, where plants receive majority of the nutrients necessary to grow. So when it comes to choosing a fertilizer for your needs, make sure you use the type of fertilizer that best fits your needs.
  
  

Granular Fertilizers

• Granular fertilizers feed plants and grass naturally through their roots. Granules slowly dissolve, sinking into the soil; however if there happens to be a heavy rain, the granules can be washed away as they dissolve. Animals may also displace the fertilizer when digging in your yard or garden.
  
  

Time-Release Fertilizers

• Time-release fertilizers slowly release the nutrients over a period of time, which reduces the number of times the gardener must fertilize. As the nutrients move into the soil at a steady pace, the plants are able to take what they need, when they need it. Your plants will grow steadily, rather than in bursts after each time they are fertilized.
  
  

Fast-Release Fertilizer

• Fast-release fertilizer makes its nutrients immediately available for your plants and grass to use. Due to the rapid release of nutrients, this type of fertilizer can be depleted quickly; therefore, more fertilization is required. If too much fertilizer is put on a plant, it can burn the plant rather than helping it to grow.
  
  

Liquid Fertilizer

• Liquid fertilizers are a fast-releasing fertilizer that allows for application even after the plants have been rooted. Solid fertilizers often release nutrients more slowly than liquid fertilizers; this makes a liquid formula the ideal choice in quickly reviving ailing plants.
  
  

Synthetic Fertilizer

• Synthetic fertilizers are not composed of only materials that will help your plants grow. Each bag contains approximately 15 percent nitrogen, 10 percent potassium and 5 percent phosphorus. The rest of the materials in synthetic fertilizers can be fillers, such as sawdust, dirt and sand.
  
  

Organic Fertilizer

• Organic fertilizers are a mixture of natural elements. Blood meal, bone meal, bat guano and fish meal are commonly used in organic fertilizers. You can also use leaves and certain leftover foods from your meals to make an organic compost, as they mix into the soil and give their nutrients.
  
  

Phosphorus Fertilizer

• Phosphorus fertilizer is necessary when growing crops. It helps the plant to build strong roots and promotes flower, fruit and vegetable growth. It also helps the plants to transfer energy to other plants around it. When searching for the right phosphorus fertilizer, it is important to make sure the fertilizer smells "earthy." If the phosphorus fertilizer has an ammonia odor, it is not a good compost.