Posted: 8/7/2007 9:32:41 AM EDT
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Hi gang, I'm in the midst of my first garden ever this year. I have about 30' x 15' (I cheat a little more room than that) and I've grown squash, zucc's, corn, and cuc's so far. My squash/zucc's were lost to borers, so I pulled them up a few weeks ago. Cuc's are starting to yellow (nitrogen deficiency?) and get some bugs and corn has a nasty looking fungus on several ears. So a few weeks ago I tilled everything but the cuc's and corn and put down 1 bag of cow manure and a good layer of composted grass clippings. I haven't put down any chemical fert and did zero to the soil when I started. I've planted bush and pole beans in most of my open areas (they're doing pretty well) and snuck a coupla rows of summer squash back in (and sprayed for borers this time). My goal is to always keep something growing back there. I don't really have the real estate where I can plant different areas every year and let part of it rest. Should I just take a week or two between plantings and put the manure/fertilizer/compost down then? I imagine in a few weeks I'll be done with the corn and cuc's and will be ready for fall plants there, but I don't want to keep sucking out the nutrients from the ground without putting some back in. I have Carla Emery's book but can't do much of the techniques because they require a symbiotic system of plants/animals and using the byproducts for each other, etc. Just wanna keep stuff growing and producing in my little plot. I know about getting soil tested -- maybe that's the right thing to do. Thanks in advance for the thoughts!    And get ready, this is gross:  
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I don't think a week or two is long enough if you're putting down a conventional fertilizer and anything but a very mature compost. You'll still burn your plants. Of course, I don't have to deal with trying to keep something growing year around. There are about 5 months here where I couldn't grow anything if I wanted to. You're gonna have to be absolutely militant about crop rotation if you're planning on keeping things going 12 months out of the year. You might want to look into carving out a piece of your plot and planting it intensively using something like the Square Foot method. (Square foot method incorporates soil building into how you utilize the space.) That would take some stress off the rest of your plot and perhaps give you some more time for soil building in the rest of your plot where you're planting conventionally. I'll be interested to see what Reeldoc has to say about your situation-- his soil conditions and growing season are much closer to yours than mine are. |
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I have a background in Enviro. Science and resource mgmt. I've done a lot of soils work over the years. there are many variables here, but one good thing to remember is this. If the pH of your soil is too high or too low, no matter how good the fertilizer or the organic content of your soil, plants can not take up these nutrients. This might explain the yellowish leaves of what I believe to be as bush beans in your photo. Looks like the nitrogen in your fertilizer is not making it to the plant. Like I said, without knowing the situation and the soil type/characteristics, these are just simple observations I'm forced to go on. Also, for management of a small plot, I would look into "Sqare Foot Gardening" I'm a huge fan of the method. Been doing it for years. |
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I don't know what part of SC you are in but my cucs started turning a week or so ago, heat! My corn had some of the mold last year so I planted in a different location and no problem this year. You need to let your garden stand for a season then rotate crops. If you keep it planted year round you won't make much cause the nutrients will be sucked out of the soil. Add compost and manure and till well let it stand for a week or so and you should be good to go, won't burn your plants that way. This is what I do and I have had a garden for the past 30 or so years. My 02 worth |
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soil test soil test soil test County ag agent, Its' like $20 here, no big deal, search google for your agricultural extension office. About the only good use of our tax money. Everyone is just guessing, you need to know. If you were in Colorado, I could tell you, but your soil and your environment is different. Get the soil test, start from there. BTW, adding compost, just to make general top soil, you need 3 yards of compost per 1000 square feet. You have 450 square feet, that's 1.5 YARDS of compost (about a full size pickup even with the top). one bag isn't doing squat. I put down probably 4 or 5 yards for 450 square feet and let it cook all winter and get the weeds out of it. But again, that's here, you need to get the soil test FIRST. |
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Yes, I suspect you have ph issues. AND Feral is absolutely right about the SFG method. It's designed for intensive, year-round cropping. If you plan to do that, this is the only practical way to go on a small plot. Whoever said soil test above, let me say it louder. SOIL TEST. You're driving blind without it. |
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+1 to the soil test I planted my first (small) garden this year. I went from lawn to a little 12'x4' plot. I didn't check out my soil because I was thinking it's just a small garden. Well after tending it for several months all my tomatos are ripening and have blossom end rot. I tried to fix with gypsum when it became apparent but the time for that was before planting or at least in the first few weeks. So I'm looking at a potential total loss on the tomatos. I'll have tons of cukes to can though, pickles and pickle relish on your pasta anyone? SoS |
LOL! I just saw this. If anybody can figure out how to do it, I bet you can. Hmmmm. Maybe a pasta topped with FISH? The salty, vinegary pickles ought to work with something on pasta. Oh, I know. Substitute pickles for capers in some Italian dishes with cream sauce. Pasta topped with butter, grated Parmesan, some lightly browned garlic and c   Necessity is the mother of invention, right? It'll be a whole new cuisine. We have California Cuisine, Key West Cuisine, now it's "Ph Issues Cuisine" No, better yet. SOS Cuisine! Oh, SOS, if you take those tomatoes out, burn the stalks, or otherwise dispose of them. Get them out of there--away from your garden. That way if there are any pests or diseases present because of the weakened plants, you won't harbor those for next season. Don't compost them. Destroy them--make them go away. Kitties |
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Oh, and I should add this: If you add the compost products that you've suggested, then wait only two weeks, you will actually be REMOVING Nitrogen from your soil. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but here's how it works: The soil microbes that break down the manure and compost into nutrients/humus USE nitrogen in their processes. So WHILE THE COMPOST IS BREAKING DOWN it is sucking nitrogen out of your soil. You MUST adjust for this. Your plan of a two-week rotation is not long enough. You need a seasonal rotation at minimum. If you decide to take up the square foot gardening method feral and others have suggested, you will get ten times the amount of produce from the same space, so you will be able to actually do a fair amount of crop rotation and give each rotation time to do its job--leaving the ground fallow while the compost breaks down. OR you can start a compost pile and make sure the compost is broken down further so that it's basically just soil-like itself. This means it will take a shorter time to break down and will require less added Nitrogen to keep the process going. In a summer like we've had this year here (It's been a heat wave plus drought--water rationing) all plants are struggling anyhow, no matter what the soil conditions. In this kind of year, you have to have everything right to get a garden to produce. But if the Ph levels are wrong no matter what you put on there, it is not available to the plants. Nitrogen and Ph levels are kind of a seesaw thing. This is just more info to add to the pile--still won't do you any good without a soil test. You have to know where you're starting before you can decide what direction to go. Kitties |
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