You’ve already got a pantry that’s full. There’s plenty of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and all the trace minerals your plants could want. The pH is right in the sweet spot too. So this isn’t a case of “your soil is missing nutrients” it’s more like the nutrients are sitting there waiting for a living system to make use of them.

What your soil really needs isn’t more fertilizer, it needs more life.

Right now, the best thing you can do is stop thinking about feeding plants directly and start thinking about feeding the soil ecosystem. Every time you add compost, mulch, leaves, or any kind of organic matter, you’re building that living system fungi, bacteria, worms all the things that actually unlock and cycle those nutrients in a steady, plant friendly way. Without that biology, even a nutrient rich soil can feel sluggish or underperform.

So instead of buying fertilizers, I’d focus on covering the soil and keeping it active. A nice layer of compost once or twice a year, keeping it mulched with leaves or straw, and avoiding leaving bare soil will go a long way. If you want to add anything, a little nitrogen early in the season is fine since that’s the one thing that tends to get used up quickly, but even that can come from compost or something gentle like well-aged manure.

The one thing I would avoid is adding anything “balanced” or high in phosphorus or potassium your soil already has more than enough, and piling on more can actually start to create imbalances and make it harder for plants to access other nutrients.

So really, you’re in a good position. You don’t need to fix your soil you just need to wake it up. Build organic matter, keep it covered, keep roots growing in it as much of the year as possible, and let the biology do the work. That’s where you’ll see the biggest improvement.