Compost, compost, compost. In fact, if we're talking next spring, just dig in loads of any organic material, and it'll be in situ composted by spring. Leaves! Bury 'em! All of 'em! Ideally chop them up first but not really necessary if we're talking many months in the ground. If you haven't done a soil test in a while, do one now. Soil nutrient problems identified just before you plant are largely not going to be fixed organically when you do plant.

Thanks Dan, Compost is something we don't make. I have in the past tried making it directly in my beds, which I think is a great idea for me to do again. Being organic, when I use compost, I buy organic and it's really expensive, so I try to figure out ways not to need it. [g]

Every year in the fall, we put the fall leaves on the lawn and mow them up and add the grass clippings and chopped leaves to the beds, but usually as a mulch. Working them into the soil is a great idea. I won't have fall leaves for probably a month, so I'm trying to figure out what I can do in the meantime, besides kitchen scraps.

I did do a soil test in the spring of 2016 and I was high on everything but nitrogen, and they recommended I add 1/4 of a pound per 100ft. I'm not sure when I should attempt to apply any material that will provide nitrogen. If I add something now, will it still be available to the plants in the 2019 growing season? Or should I wait and add that next spring? Also I've been on the fence about what to use to raise the nitrogen. I don't want to use Bloodmeal, with the fear it will attract critters to my beds. I don't want to use soymeal. This past spring I added Alfalfa meal, but I don't think that is particularly a source of nitrogen.

My pH was 6.2. The test told me to add 10lbs of lime to bring the pH up to 6.5. I didn't get around to doing that yet, so I want to correct that this fall. They recommended I add it 5lbs at a time, per 100ft. Once in spring and once in fall.

Also, the test showed I had 12% organic matter.

Hairmetal4ever - You have my sympathies. Ground hogs are the worst. I saw a small one eating lettuce in the garden last spring, but I didn't really see him the rest of the season. He must have moved on. I didn't have full beds like I normally do.

That is another reason I'm skipping a fall garden. I thought it might encourage any groundhogs to take up residence in the area. I have two neighbors with sheds and a couple of seasons ago, one built a home under one.

Another reason I'm skipping the Fall garden, in addition to the heat, is that I don't have a full sun location for my vegetable garden. It gets between 6 and 7 hours of sun in the summer, but my property is surrounded by neighboring trees and in the fall when the angle of the sun lowers, I get less. I'd love to grow lettuces and cabbages, broccolis, bok choy and Kale, but I'll try it again next Fall.

Are you going to replant the lettuce and try to keep out the ground hog?

Planting an overwintering cover crop like crimson clover is good for enriching a dormant plot with organic material, just till it under at least a month before planting your spring crops.

Sorry you still are fighting that groundhog HM, gotta nip him in the bud, bud.

Sounds like you're doing fine. Don't pay too much attention to nitrogen in a soil test. Nitrogen is highly variable in soil. Nitrogen applied now will just help break down the organics you dig in. It won't be around in the spring. Lime is a good thing to do now, though pH of 6.2 is nothing to worry about.

I'm frankly not sure how it is that you don't use compost, but have 12% organic matter. Organic matter disappears as it decomposes. If you don't add organic matter, the percentage in the soil is going to go down. Good idea about growing a legume cover crop and digging it in early in the season as a source of both organic material and nitrogen.

Agree with Dan that any source of nitrogen you use now will help break down the leaves or whatever source of organic matter you do eventually add. However, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be added. I made the mistake a few years back of adding a copious amount of shredded leaves into my soil with only a minimal amount of grass clipping added at the same time and the leaves had depleted what nitrogen was in my soil. I had to fertilize more often the following growing season than usual (something I prefer not to do).

As for alfalfa being a nitrogen source, while not as high as something like bloodmeal, it is still a good source. It has more nitrogen than fresh manures (note that composted manure is a much lower source than fresh) and a tea made from alfalfa during the growing season is a nice little pick-me-up for plants.

Rodney

Yes, anything with seeds (protein) is going to be a good slow-release of nitrogen. Alfalfa is advantageous because it is usually harvested while the seeds are very immature. So you aren't seeding your bed with weeds when you use it. That's an important point that composted manure is much lower in nitrogen than fresh manure. So if you have a source of fresh manure, dig it in NOW, when it can't burn the plants, but can speedily decompose other organics.

Vgkg - Red clover as a cover crop…good idea and it’s pretty too and helps out the bees. I’ve used cover crops before, but not in awhile. In the past, I’ve tried a 3 seed combo from Fedco that had oats, hairy vetch and field peas. I’ve also thought about trying a tilage radish. I have 5 long raised beds, maybe I might experiment with diff cover crops in some beds.

~~~~~~

Dan - Thanks for confirming that the nitrogen gets applied in the spring if you are going to use it. I wonder if you recommend an amendment for adding nitrogen, or will the cover crop do the trick?

The 6.2pH - I think that’s why I didn’t bother adding the Lime, but I thought I’d try a little this fall.

Every season we usually mulch with grass clippings and leaves we saved from the previous fall until they run out. And I usually bury kitchen scraps along the edges or empty spaces in my bed over the summer. I didn’t do that this year though, so I need to make up for it this fall. Some seasons, I have used cover crops and turned them in, when I grow peas, I usually turn those into the soil. Sometimes I buy Coast of Maine compost and add a thin layer to the top of the beds before planting. So that is probably where I am getting the organic matter.

And I don't use fresh manure.

~~~~~~~~

Rodney, I’m wondering if the way I add organic material and turn in cover crops, and chopped leaves, might be using too much of the nitrogen in the beds. I don’t usually add a source of nitrogen with that. What would be an organic amendment for nitrogen I could add to help break down the organic material? I don’t always have enough grass clippings either, having a small lawn.

I’ve been using organic alfalfa meal around my roses, twice a season with nice results, so I did add that to the vegetable beds this spring, because I had it in the house and couldn’t make up my mind what else to use. I’ve wondered about growing it as a cover crop and using it to make alfalfa tea.

~~~~~~

I’ve really neglected the vegetable garden this year, having a lot of landscape work to get done, heavy pruning of shrubs, etc., so I’m basically trying to make up for what I didn’t do all season.

As I said, if you want to stick to organic, and don't want to use animal products (e.g. blood, fresh manure), alfalfa is a pretty good way to go, as is a legume cover crop. I wouldn't worry too much about adding "greens" to your brown leaves if we're talking over-winter composting. It'll compost fine in four of five months in the soil. Adding "greens" would just speed up the process.

Okay, thanks very much. :-)