Hi Dear. I'm a bit of a newbie myself, but I do have a suggestion. I picked up a $3 soil testing kit and only recently got around to testing the garden soil I bought for my 3 raised beds. Turned out that while my phosphorus and potash were fine, my soil was quite alkaline (8.0), and it had virtually NO nitrogen in it whatsoever.

Can you pick up a testing kit and test your soil? Also, how specifically do the plants look; are leaf colors what they should be?

On the manure, I've learned that it would be best to compost it before using it in the garden. And yes, high nitrogen can cause lush, green growth with little or no flowering/fruiting... but I was surprised to learn I had extremely low nitrogen in my soil and have started adding nitrogen sources since many of plants have had rather pale leaves.

I would suggest testing your soil and going from there. I picked up my cheapy little testing kit at Lowe's in the indoor gardening section with the seeds and peat pots.

Hope this helps! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: My new blog! Simplifying in Suburbia

Thanks Jodi.........I, too bought a premix to fill my bed, which I questioned from the beginning. After a few weeks, I'm still not particularly happy with it, it seems overly silty, and doesn't take water very well. I'll get a soil testing kit, and see what shows up. I plan on ammending it this fall, and hope for better next year. My plants really just seem kind of dull, so perhaps it is a lack of nitrogen. Thanks for the info, I'll check out the link!!

Dear Tenderkat: Those kits are a waste of money. For around $25-30 you can send a soil sample to CSU's soils lab and get a very good idea what is going in your soil a far as pH, nitrogen, phosphorous, etc. is concerned. The recommendations they give back, for say nitrogen, are either in lbs per acre or 1000 sq. ft.. For instance, if they say you need 50 lbs of N per 1000 sq ft, and your plot is 500 sq ft, you would need 25 lbs of N (50x500/1000). The fun part is figuring out how much nitrogen is in what you apply, like the road apples you have. There are references out there for many different things including different manures. I once did a lab analysis for a guy in Delta CO who was raising 100s of roosters. His rooster poop composted with the dead rooster carcasses had 8% nitrogen! That is high for an organic source. Being a poultry PH D., he explained to me that rooster poop is high in N because they don't excrete the volatile form of nitrogen (urea) in their poop that hens do. Hence, rooster poop is much higher in N than hen poop. I expect your horse poop has very little N in it that will be available to your plants this year. Rain and snow can leach nitrogen out of it if left uncovered outside. Manures have lots of organic matter in them. If incorporated into the soil, they will slowly break down releasing N as they do. Yes, excess N will cause rank growth in tomatoes but I bet you won't have that problem going organic. If using synthetic fertilizers, it is very easy for the first time gardener to over-do it. Oh by the way, your biggest challenge may be trying to get enough frost-free days to grow those warm season veggies without a greenhouse, coldframe or hoop house. I wish you the best of luck in a challenging environment.
Michael

If your maters are golf balled sized, it's time for a little nitrogen. I use composed turkey manure (5-2-2)on mine to be sure I don't over do it. Any organic fertilizer will work and you won't have to worry about to much nitrogen as the plant will only take what it needs. Synthetic fertilizers force plant growth. I use synthetics but not on nightshades.

I went ahead and picked up one of those cheap soil test kits, although the results seem kind of sketchy. I plan on sending in a sample to my extension office, to get a more detailed analysis. My results from the cheap kit came back with a PH off the charts on the alkaline side, low to very low nitrogen, medium phosphorous, and low to very low potash. Of course I have no idea what this means, I'll have to do some reading, but I figure if I use some organic fertilizer it couldn't hurt.

Testing your soil is always a good idea, but since nitrogen only stays in the soil for about 3 months, it must be replaced. If you've not added it to your plants, they will definitely need some. Your best bet for a soil test is to do it in the fall and send off to the extension lab - it's only $6 in Tennessee. Then amend for phosphorus and potassium per the soil test - giving it all winter to disperse in your garden. No need to add nitrogen then as it will be gone by spring. Then in spring and summer feed nitrogen as needed for the plant you're growing. P and K don't leach out of the soil like N and only need to be added every 2-3 years. Veggies like a pH of 6-6.8 so if you're alkaline you may need to add some sulfer, but wait until you get your test results and they will tell you how much of what to add.

tenderkat If your pH is "Off the charts" your plants may not be able to absorb the fertilizers you use until the pH comes down closer to ideal level ( under 7 )

You said you are sending a sample in to get checked. They should explain how to lower your pH and maintain it.

Good Luck

I use seaweed emulsion and fish fertilizer. It is all organic and my plants have profited from it.

It is definitely possible to use organic fertilizer/amendments in a ways that are counter-productive to your crops and/or harmful to the environment. For example: ANY source of nitrate (the water soluable form of nitrogen) can be leached through soil or washed downstream in field runoff if given enough water. Manures can contain anywhere from tiny amounts to up to 8% N. Fish emulsion is great stuff with relatively high amounts of nitrate nitrogen. Ranchers and dairy operators used to pile manure near or in stream beds making it highly likely that rain would leach out the nutrients into the streams. It is now illegal for them to do so because of the pollution potential. My point is to use ANY fertilizer source responsibly.