Miracle Gro is one of the many fertilizers you can use.

Yes, MG is a fertilizer.

Plants need nutrients the same as people, animals and other living things.

You can use man made products like Miracle Grow which is diluted in water. You can also use granules which break down and release nutrients over a period of time like osmocote. You can also use natural products like compost (decayed plant matter). Native American Indians used to put a fish in the planting hole to feed corn.

In other words, there is more than one way to feed plants.

As time goes on I encourage you to learn about the various ways to feed plants and try out different methods and see what happens.

For example the Miracle Grow on in ground beds you may find lasts only a short while before it needs to be applied again. This is because it is water soluable and every time you water or it rains it gets flushed further and further through the soil.

Many folks would use a slow release product mixed into the garden soil in the spring and then supplement with a water soluable product every once in awhile.

Many others would skip the man made stuff altogether and incorporate compost and other natural/organic matter into the soil throughout the year to build up the fertility of the soil and then not fertilize with anything else or fertilize sparingly.

Frankly, I just keep burying dead fish! *wink*...
Seriously, friends who live "at the lake" all summer and have for years ( they have a business in the resort community) have a huge veggie garden, but only plant 1/2 every year, the unplanted part is where they bury the fish cleaning stuff....and the next year it becomes a garden. Never had garden peas nor tomatoes like they grow!
Linda C