So I've been reading about various veggie garden fertilizers for texas and seen a lot of the same ingredients as I found in John Dromgoole's rose tonic:

8 (parts) alfalfa meal
2 cottonseed meal

2 rock phosphate

2 bone meal

1 blood meal

1 epsom salt

It does say to add to fruit trees and plants as well. I'm wondering if anyone can give me a rough estimate of the npk and if I could leave off the rock phosphate (maybe have to add more bone meal?). I also have soybean meal and was thinking I could sub half the alfalfa meal with soybean meal to add more diversity to the mix. I have alkaline, clay and rock soil but haven't done a soil test. I know from my area that's what everyone has but I wouldn't know exactly what my soil is lacking (other than aeration). I've amended some beds last year with compost and expanded shale and that worked wonders but it was more expensive than I want to spend on a yearly basis. I'm wondering if I can apply this fertilizer recipe and add organic matter and compost as it becomes available over the years. I'd love it if adding this to beds that already have some compost worked in that it would supply enough nutrients for my veggies for the year. I also have a row I'm putting in along the back fence and planned on putting out yardlong beans. They took off in one of my amended beds and in a spot I just dumped compost on top of the lightly tilled ground. I'm thinking that I can till a row maybe 3-6" deep, remove most of the rocks, add this tonic and some grass clippings then after the beans get a start, cover the ground with a bit of leaves and more grass then compost the yardlongs over the winter right in the row they grew in with some leaves on top. And maybe next year that would be a good enough row that I could just add the tonic and more leaves?

I also have a large (and growing) leaf pile. I have a landscaper who drops off bags of leaves on a regular basis. I don't mind it getting bigger but I'd rather get it composting or making leaf mold. It's in a shaded spot and it doesn't get watered. I can move the new bags of leaves and have a 3ft deep by 8ft by 5ft pile of leaves that are between 6 months to a year old but what can I do (that's very low maintenance) to keep the pile working. Can I just add the leftover tonic from the mix I make and bring in some worms to get it moving? Or does anyone have any ideas for uses for the leaves? I use them as mulch over the summer heat and in winter let them compost in the beds. I also cover my compost piles with them.

Does anyone know when I throw grass/weeds onto the top of bare soil does the nitrogen evaporate or get incorporated into the soil? Should I be covering the grass and weeds with leaves to keep the nutrients from evaporating or is it not that big of a problem?

Finally, I want to get on a schedule with spraying a monthly liquid fertilizer on my garden and was wondering if anyone had a good suggestion. I have molasses, seaweed and fish emulsion and can make a compost and alfalfa tea. Can I just add all those to a bucket with some rainwater and let it stew for a few days then spray it diluted on my garden? Should I keep it aerated for the days it's stewing? Is there a good (and cheap) sprayer you could recommend?

Sorry to be such a pest! It's getting warmer out here and I feel I'm already behind schedule for my spring garden. I want to get the best start I can, the cheapest and easiest way I can. I love working in my garden but it's so big I have to keep everything simple so I can keep adding to it! :) Thank you for your time!