Blood meal.

Blood meal works for me.

Compost would be better since compost would feed the Soil Food Web that will supply your plants with the nutrients they need when they need it. Blood meal is a very quick, very soluble source of N that might help short term.

Pee. Although it may have some phosphorus IIRC.

Plant Available Nitrogen (PAN) is also an important consideration. The table shows that you should combine a couple of nitrogen sources to get a seasonal release rate.

Living in a cold climate, I dig in alfalfa pellets in the fall and use an organic fertilizer with soybean meal in the spring. Blood meal and corn gluten meal are either more expensive or may not be available in 25 kg. (55 lbs.) bags.

Corn gluten meal is a source of nitrogen but it is supposed to supress germination so you are limited to using it after plant germination has occured.

Material .................. (N-P-K) ......... % PAN after 28 days ..... % PAN after season
===============================================================
Alfalfa meal ............. (2.5-0.5-2) ............ 11 ................................. 26
Blood meal .............. (12.5-1.5-0.6) ....... 60 ................................. 75
Corn gluten meal .... (9-0-0) .................. 60 ................................. 75
Soybean meal ......... (6.5-1.5-2.4) ......... 60 .................................. 75

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU - Fertilizer Calculator

ANY organic source of nitrogen will feed the soil food web - that's just how organics work. cowgirl makes a good point, though...some nitrogen sources are just slower to release nutrients than others. If you need it fast, go with the blood meal or bat guano. If you can wait until next season, apply alfalfa or cottonseed meal in the fall.

A cover crop adds nutrients and organic matter to the soil and decreases soil erosion. If an area of the garden will not be cultivated, in spring sow a leguminous cover crop such as alfalfa, fava beans or clover. In early autumn, clover or hairy vetch can be sown once crops are harvested. Where fall crops are still growing, you can sow a cover crop a month or less before the vegetable harvest. This way the cover crop gets a good start but does not interfere with the edible crop. DO NOT LET THESE COVER CROPS SET SEED OR THEY CAN BECOME INVASIVE.

Where garden space is limited, grow vetch, alfalfa, beans or peas along yard borders or fences as a source of green manure or high nitrogen organic matter. Leguminous crops can also be grown in parts of your yard instead of a grass lawn or in a section of the garden that is not being used. Adding only phosphorus fertilizer (no nitrogen) will favor legume growth over grasses and weeds. Legumes also grow best in well-limed soil.

IMPORTANT: If you are planting legumes for the purpose of using the plant to pull nitrogen from the air and deposit it into the soil you must first inoculate the seed BEFORE you put the seed in the ground. Soils that have never grown legumes before do not have the necessary bacteria that allow legumes to take the nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil. So before you plant legumes (or if you move the location where you normally plant peas or beans) you must first inoculate the seeds. This is a one-time thing. You do not need to inoculate the seed ever again - unless you are rotating the planting location.

If you do not inoculate your seed before planting you will still get peas or beans. The plants will just not be pullng nitrogen out of the air and putting it into the soil.

I have enclosed a copy of a link that will give you a good understanding of this process.

Tom

Here is a link that might be useful: Inoculate Legume Seed for Best Results

I like blood meal for a quick boost. Be sparing because its strong.

For longer-term nitrogen enrichment you want some kind of manure. But be careful, most manures must be composted first or they will burn the plants.

Alternately, spread manure in the off season and work it into the soil to enrich it for next year.

Thanks everyone. I've thought about a cover crop but the only time the beds are empty are Nov.-Feb. and dont get any direct sun at that time. Got lots of homemade compost, made from lots of kitchen scraps and probably not enough carbon. So maybe the compost will suffice. Would anybody consider a compost pile like mine thats is low in carbon and high in kitchen scraps (fruit and veggie scraps mostly) to be high in N?

Damon

That is still 4 months and that soil should have something growing in it even then. There are legumes, wheat, rye, any number of plants that can be put in for a short time to keep your soil from eroding and to add organic matter.

As a former employee of a maker or nitrogen fertilizers why not urea or ammonium nitrate? As someone said plants don't know the difference when they are looking for N. But that is just a farmer's point of view, synthetics of course, as there isn't enough of that other stuff to go around. A lot of people would starve if life depended on blood meal, etc.

There is a lot more manure and other types of organic matter available today then there is the synthetic nutrients made from petrochemicals and they cost less both in out of pocket and long term environmental damage done.
There is so much manure available that it is more often than not a major source of nitrite and phosphorus pollution of our drinking water supply than anything else because it is not being properly utilized.