Thank you dchall for your response. Much appreciated.

So, when bone meal is listed 3-15-0 that means the nutrients listed are what will ultimately be available after the soil microbes break the bone meal down. And the rate of release of the nutrients by the microbes depends on the soil having the right microbes present, the overall soil conditions and the weather.

Organic growers should be thinking more along the lines of creating a good healthy soil and less about which fertilizers may be needed. Dave kind of heads in that direction but does not quite get there.

What kind of soil do you have? Sand? Clay? Loam? Loess?

How much organic matter is in that soil?

What kind of life do you see in that soil? The visible ones such as earthworms are an indication of what is there.

How well does the soil drain? How well does the soil retain moisture?

What does the soil smell like?

What is the pH of that soil?

My soil is very unusual. It came from along a river and is now 75% silt. The remaining 25% is organic from compost that I have added over the last 5 years. When I started it was 100% silt with no clay or sand or organic matter. As far as life in the soil, I now have many many worms of all ages, big and small. The soil drains poorly despite french drains. After the first 12 inches the silt is firmly packed together I believe. The water runs off because the garden is actually raised in that I built it using large stones and then filled it in with what I thought was good soil but turned out to be silt. The pH is 6.6.The soil smells okay until you dig down about 15 inches where it then smells like swamp and there is brush in the soil that has never broken down due to more or less being submerged in water and without oxygen. I grow in the top 15 inches of soil. The garden also is raised inside the raised garden as I have built it up with the organic matter I have added. The size is 40 feet by 50 feet. The back supporting wall is made of stones from a bridge and is 6 feet high. The front wall is nearly ground level as I built the garden on a slope.

Too much organic matter in soil can be as bad as too little. 25 percent organic matter is too much, optimal levels would be in the 6 to 8 percent range. Organic matter helps hold moisture in soils.

Drainage is poor despite French Drains indicating possibly a high water table or hardpan that would limit drainage. Have you looked for either? The odor you smell in the subsoil may be normal or a product of the lack of drainage since excess water in the soil will displace the oxygen, although at that depth there would be little anyway.

After a lot of reading I found that the only way to correct for all the silt in my garden was to add organic matter to my soil. It would have taken tons of sand and clay to correct it otherwise. It was just not possible. So, over the years I have added compost and pine bark fines and other organic matter. My plants do well enough. My questions related more toward growing organically and getting away from granular fertilizers and water soluble products for plant nutrients.

Slow release synthesized fertilizers try to mimick natural fertilizers in the way that the nutrients in natural fertilizers are available to plants gradually over a longer time period and in the way they're less likely to be quickly washed out of the soil.

From my experience if a plant shows signs of nutrient deficiency for whatever reason, a synthesized slow release fertilizer no sooner helps correct the problem than an organic fertilizer.

In fact the nutrients in organic fertilizers seem to be available quicker in my garden because it seems to me that synthetic fertilizers need more constant heat, and moisture to continually release nutrients to plants.

It takes about 10 tons of organic material per acre to raise the level of organic matter in soil 1 percent, so it is not easy to get to 24 percent OM. Perhaps these simple soil tests may be of some use.

1.Testing for organic
matter. Put about 1 cup soil (enough to fill the jar to 4 inches) in
a clear 1-quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and
replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24
hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight.
For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the
bottom. about 1 1) Soil test for organic material. From that soil sample put
enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level
inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about
1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1-foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that
with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and
time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your
soil drains’ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage
down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of
organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful
of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is
released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a
finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your
soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant
odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria
will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter
can be bad as well.

5) Life. How many
earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5,
according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that
is not healthy.

I am trying to grow organically as far as my soil goes. My beginning plan concerns soil amendments and fertilizers. There are many choices that could be made in that there are probably about 10 different commonly used amendments and over 40 different organic fertilizers available, I want to come up with a plan that will assure that my plants are sitting in porous well aerated properly watered soil with all the NPK, micronutrients and minerals they need and in the right amounts. I need help with this. I had begun by amending my soil with compost, pine bark fines and some perlite. I have completed this step for this year. Now I turn to organic fertilizers. For phosphorus I plan on adding bonemeal 3# per 100 square feet, for potassium 4# per 100 square feet of greensand, and for calcium 3# per 100 square feet of gypsum. These will all be mixed into the top 4 to 6 inches of my garden this fall. I will also add kelp meal 2# per square foot for micronutrients. I am more uncertain about what to do for nitrogen. I was going to put in feather meal 2#per 100 square foot for slower release of nitrogen in the fall and then composted chicken manure 2# per 100 square feet in the spring along with maybe some alfalfa meal 3# per 100 square feet and maybe fishmeal 2#per 100 square feet. My soil pH is 6.6 and so I felt no limestone was needed and used the gypsum instead for calcium. My garden is inside a high tunnel, a small one, and it will be covered with either straw or alfalfa hay. To you more experienced organic growers is all of this appropriate or am I way off? I am new to this and only know what I have read.

Why not do a soil test to see what nutrients your soil is lacking and then add whatever will help balance it? Too much of a good thing is bad you know.

I have done a soil test and everything is just about average. That test was done before we got over 30 inches of rain in 5 months. I figure everything is low now and have considered what I plan on adding will be pretty much an annual ritual. Do you feel that a soil test is needed every year or only the first time you begin a garden? Do you think organic fertilizers should only be added after a soil test and that one should be done every year?

Garden center home test kit or sample sent to a soils lab?

The test was done at a soil lab.

Soil tests for nutrients an soil pH levels need not be done each year, except if major problems show up and adjustments are made that may have a large impact on the plants. Once every 5 years, or so, is adequate if nutrient levels and soil pH are near optimal. However, the simple soil tests outlined above may be done as often as you like so you can take a good, in-depth, look at the soil you have.

Anyone agree or disagree with this??

I am trying to grow organically as far as my soil goes. My beginning plan concerns soil amendments and fertilizers. There are many choices that could be made in that there are probably about 10 different commonly used amendments and over 40 different organic fertilizers available, I want to come up with a plan that will assure that my plants are sitting in porous well aerated properly watered soil with all the NPK, micronutrients and minerals they need and in the right amounts. I need help with this. I had begun by amending my soil with compost, pine bark fines and some perlite. I have completed this step for this year. Now I turn to organic fertilizers. For phosphorus I plan on adding bonemeal 3# per 100 square feet, for potassium 4# per 100 square feet of greensand, and for calcium 3# per 100 square feet of gypsum. These will all be mixed into the top 4 to 6 inches of my garden this fall. I will also add kelp meal 2# per square foot for micronutrients. I am more uncertain about what to do for nitrogen. I was going to put in feather meal 2#per 100 square foot for slower release of nitrogen in the fall and then composted chicken manure 2# per 100 square feet in the spring along with maybe some alfalfa meal 3# per 100 square feet and maybe fishmeal 2#per 100 square feet. My soil pH is 6.6 and so I felt no limestone was needed and used the gypsum instead for calcium. My garden is inside a high tunnel, a small one, and it will be covered with either straw or alfalfa hay. To you more experienced organic growers is all of this appropriate or am I way off? I am new to this and only know what I have read

Sounds like you are inclined to go overboard. As was brought up earlier in the thread you don't want more than 10% of the volume of the soil in your beds to consist of organic matter.

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/soil-amendments-3.pdf

I read your article on organic matter content of the garden. I have been growing great things in my garden with 25% organic matter and have some friends that are also having success with high OM content. My question is about organic fertilizers, which to use, how much and when as stated in the post above the one above this one. I am trying to switch away from nonorganic fertilizers. My OM content is what it is. Couldn't change it even if I wanted to.

As I wrote earlier think less about fertilizers and more about making the soil into a good healthy soil. If nutrient levels are in the range they should be adding more will not help and could well create problems. You want the nutrients in the soil to be balanced, not overabundant.

I agree with kimmq if your soil is already high in these nutrients then all more is going to do is help support mildew, algea, an overabundance of millipedes, grubs, etc. You may even end up with less gaseous exchange in the soil and more anerobic bacteria .

Okay. I am learning. I have talked to people who add their organic fertilizers in the Spring and others in the fall. Some say only lime, if it is needed, should be applied in the fall. Also slow release organic fertilizers such as bone meal can be added in the fall or early spring. Quick release like bat guano would be added to the planting hole in the spring if the soil has not yet warmed up. Is this the majority opinion?

Because the soil I have here tested at a pH of 5.7 initially I did spread lime, with organic material, one fall on some of the area. However, other areas only received organic material and by the next year the pH of those areas tested at 6.7 and eventually settled at 7.2. As long as I maintained the level of organic matter at about 6 to 8 percent the soil pH held at 7.2.

"Conventional" growers need to add fertilizers because the soil they grow in is dead. If organic growers maintain adequate levels of organic matter in the soil there is seldom any need to add fertilizers because nutrient levels will be adequate. Back in the 1960's, there was a theory about "banking nutrients" until research showed that excess nutrients could create plants more susceptible to insect pests and plant diseases, as well as adding to the pollution of the water as those excess nutrients leached out of the soil. Adding fertilizers just to add fertilizers is not a good idea.