Hit the Dirt; Improving Your Soil

I want to eat my own good morning. This is Sally. They hit the dirt. It's time to get the garden ready for planting. You go to the local feed store a garden center to find something to improve your saw and you're confronted with 101 choices what's best. You should find out what's best for you also oil by having your soil tested. Get a kit from your local extension office and ask for the results in organic solutions. Why organic or not chemical. Simply stated is because chemical fertilizers can destroy the life and structure of the soil and change some of the nutrient values in plants. I make them less resistant to disease. What your cell needs is a lot of organic matter as in compost and add ammonia and some basic nutrients and trace elements the N P and K and you offered ally's A stands for nitrogen phosphorus and potassium. And what do they do for your plants. Nitrogen is responsible for vegetative growth. A plant that is studied with rich

dark green foliage has a good supply of nitrogen phosphorus is essential for a strong root fruit and seed development and resistance to disease process helps make a plant structurally strong and age disease resistant and cold hardiness. There are other nutrients calcium and magnesium among them and trace elements that are essential to healthy plant growth. Where can you find these elements in organic soil amendments. No male has about 22 percent Phosphorus 4 percent nitrogen and a small amount of potassium steamed is best because the fats have been removed cottonseed meal is 7 percent nitrogen two and a half percent Phosphorus and 1 and a half percent product and is a good source of nitrogen for acid loving plants. Blood meal is 12 to 15 percent nitrogen and 3 percent Phosphorus and should be used sparingly. Rock phosphate is 30 percent Phosphorus and has more than a dozen other elements such as magnesium manganese aluminum and chromium microorganisms in the soil make this

available to plants superphosphate on the other hand the chemical hand that is rock phosphate that's been treated with South America acid and causes an imbalance of beneficial saw organisms and render some of those minor elements such as Boron and zinc useless phosphorus is often found to be deficient in the soil and can be applied at the rate of 10 past 100 square feet. It can also be sprinkled on the layers of your compost. Green sand is an undersea deposit and contains 7 percent potash and over 30 other elements that can be used by plants. It's useful in soil building and on lawns. Another good source of pot ashes wood ashes wet some of the potash is leased out but dry can be mixed with other amendments and worked into the soil. Don't use it around acid loving plants blueberries for instance. And if you are using them to slugs around your Delfin IMs and other valued perennials don't throw them on the crowns of plants seaweed contains a good amount of potash nitrogen and phosphorus in lesser amounts and many trace of the

elements. Actually in the compost heap all tilled into the soil as also a dried leaves. Some of the tougher leaves oak for instance benefit from being chopped up. A lawn mower will do that trick and my old dog had soil stained a much loved encyclopedia of organic gardening. There is a list of organic fertilizer formulas and they uses a couple of examples. 0 6 6 1 part rock phosphate three pots greens and two pots wood ashes. Use all peppers at the rate of 4 pounds per 100 square feet and for tomatoes 4 6 6 which is two pots dried blood one park rock phosphate and four pots wood ash is used at seven pounds per 100 square feet. I'm sure you will develop your own formulas as you observe your plants needs. I recommend that Encyclopedia of the essays and lists and charts about fertilizers and nutrients and their applications. If you're interested in further reading Elliot Coleman has an excellent bibliography in his book The new organic grower. I also recommend building a compost heap but that's a whole

different subject. And if you want to learn something about CVs saving on April the 20th Hancock County Mafia presents Nicholas Lind home talking on seed saving at Dennis King's King Hill Farm in Penobscot. They'll be a potluck supper at six o'clock followed by the TOC at seven o'clock. I'm Sally and this is hit the dirt.