Building good soil

10 years ago

I do compost so use that in spring to add to my veggie beds.But interested in what you do each year to make your soil better before you plant your vegetables.I don't use chemicals so organic amendment suggestions greatly appreciated.

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scottcalv

10 years ago

When I built my garden, I hauled in compost and local cow manure and tilled them in. I have also used a few tractor buckets out of the bottom of my dry pond. This is supposed to have good silty nutrients in it. Who knows? But it did not seem to hurt. And was free. But mainly because it was sloped pretty bad and I needed something cheap to help make it level instead of sloped, just to slow the rainwater down. It is still sloped, but it is better now than what it was. Now, to maintain it, I mostly use chicken litter 2-3 times a year. I just sprinkle it on top. I apply it heavier on the downhill side, still trying to level it out. In the winter, I let the chickens in and they scratch it around, till it in a little, and get a few bugs. I do not rototill it anymore at all. Last summer, I had extra mulch. I put about 2 inches of mulch on it. I think a summers worth of being mulched helped more than anything. It kept it moist and provided a good environment for the beneficial soil dwelling things to flourish. I literally only watered twice last summer. The summer before that, with all the good organic matter, I think I watered 3 or 4 times. Things grow a little slower than they would with more water, but they do not grow so slow we have to wait on food to eat. I will mulch every year now, if I can. The mulch will break down and turn into soil also. Of course I will always be adding a little more on the downhill side, until its level! Also, this past fall/winter, I tried cover crops, but the chickens devoured them. They were going to be my mulch this summer. I guess I could reseed it lightly in spring, then weedeat it later. I am starting a new garden spot also. For corn, squash, and other bigger plants. It has had a couple tons of manure and chicken litter tilled into it last summer. Next fall I will try the daikon radishes for a cover crop/soil booster.

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Comments (6)

slowpoke_gardener
10 years ago
I use about any kind of organic matter I can find, and often buy a yard or two of finished compost.
leava thanked slowpoke_gardener
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AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
10 years ago
Scott, on one of my other groups there was a discussion about cannas being edible. It evolved into the fact that cannas will break up the soil like daikon radishes. If you are looking for a summer cover crop, they are also supposed to improve compost , kind of like comfrey. Personally, I will not be eating cannas, but apparently they have very starchy roots that the soil likes. Cannas for soil
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
10 years ago
Leava, Mostly I just mulch the garden heavily year-round and the mulch decomposes right there on top of the ground. Over time, the compost on the surface gets carried down into the soil, whether it is via me digging and planting, or earthworms and other burrowing critters digging their way through the soil, or even from rain or irrigation water carrying particles of compost down into the soil.

When we first built our garden, I did a lot of the stuff that Scott listed above. All that really matters is that you add organic matter to your soil, whether in the form of compost, manure, leaf mold, half-rotted hay or straw, mushroom compost, chicken coop or barn litter, etc.

I think of all the stuff I add to the soil as feeding the soil itself and the soil then feeds the plants.

If your soil seems deficient in earthworms, then lay sheets of cardboard on top of the ground and put compost on top of them and the cardboard will attract earthworms to your garden. They love cardboard and will eat it and digest it, leaving earthworm castings behind in their wake, and the earthworm castings will enrich your soil.

If your soil seems deficient in microbial activity, scatter dry molasses (generally available in big bags at feed stores) over the soil surface to increase microbial activity.

If you feel like your garden needs fertilizer added to the soil at planting time, you can find bagged organic fertilizers at some stores and nurseries. I prefer the Espoma Tomato-Tone fertilizer for all nightshade family plants, and Espoma Garden-Tone and Plant-Tone for general veggie, flower and herb plants. There's even an Espoma Holly-Tone that is higher in acid for plants like blueberries. I'll link Espoma's website below. I don't necessarily use Espoma fertilizers every year, though, because I don't think my soil or plants need them every year, but I used them every year early in our garden's life here----probably for the first decade or longer, until I felt the soil had improved to the point that I could use them less often. My favorite "fertilizer" is just grass clippings heaped on the beds and into the pathways every time we mow during the mowing season. It breaks down into compost quite easily and adds a lot of nutrients to the soil. So do autumn leaves, especially if you mow over them and chop them into small pieces before using them.

I also do use Dixondale Farm's organic onion fertilizer for my onions, though I only add it to the soil about once every 3 years, and I add it shortly before planting my onions in February of each year.

You also can use cover crops and green manure crops to put nutrition right back into the soil. I often sow clover right in there with my corn crop for example, and often grow buckwheat to replenish the soil in a bed in between crops. We have to put back nutrients in the soil to replace those used up by the crops, so it is a year-round thing for me, not just something you do at planting time.

Dawn

Espoma Organic Plant Foods
scottcalv
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
My 1st daughter and I enjoy fresh young canna shoots in the spring. I did not know they break up the soil, but cannot imagine having a garden full of cannas. My experience has been that any root left behind will make another clump of cannas in short order. I wonder if the roots are edible, like potatoes or yucca?
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
10 years ago

Here is the link. I don't think they would be like potatoes. "It can be eaten raw, or is often boiled. Best method of preparation is long baking. The roots are not peeled before or after baking. Once cooked they are slit and the soft, shiny starchy content scooped out. A lot of the starch can make you hiccup." Edible canna