Cats_small
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Re-invigorating old garden plot?

Yay I don't have to move in July as planned. SO up until now I have not been planning on useing the garden plot left behind by someone else. So far I've just been planning on container gardening for fun.

Rumor has it the soil is low in oxygen. Should I order some earth worms? Nothing was grown in the plot last year, it's just been lying fallow.

Between waiting for paychecks/spending money and time off I'd like to get some seeds into the ground mid May or June. I've got the Seattle Tilth's guide to NW maritine gardening. I don't know exactly what I want to grow, most anything will be consumed in my house so I'll just choose from whatever is season appropriate.

internet_jen asked in Edibles & Herbs about 1 year ago | Report

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2 Answers

  • Finn3goof_small
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    Tom

    Low oxygen is not a problem. Aerating the soil is as easy as turning it over or tilling it up.

    More likely, you have soil low in nitrogen. Nitrogen leaches easily in the boggy northwest. Generally, wet areas like ours have soils that are high in organic matter but low in many vital nutrients. Arid climes tend to have soils that are nutrient rich but very low in organic matter.

    Here is my super duper not so secret formula for organic fertilizer that I ripped off from a hippie in Oregon. And modified a bit.

    2 parts blood meal
    2 parts alfalfa meal
    3 parts bone meal
    6 parts green sand

    Only use the green sand for the first few years in a garden. It last a long time so don't sweat it. To much makes the soil gummy.
    Blood meal is about as hardcore a N source as you can get without going chemo. It leaches, though, so the alfalfa meal will add a longer lasting N source.
    Bone meal rounds it all out.

    This is a pretty complete fertilizer but you can experiment as desired. I, for instance, add extra bone meal when fruits start to form on my tomato plants and stop adding any n at all.

    To maintain some added nutrients though out the growing season i use fish emulsion.

    Good luck, and everything should be available city people's garden store in bulk.

    Tom answered in Edibles & Herbs about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Poppies_small
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    It's hard to say what your plot needs without knowing what type of soil you have. Most likely, unless your soil is hard clay and does not drain, if you dig in a good amount of compost and alfalfa meal, your vegetables should grow well, and the worms will come. When you plant, put some fertilizer around your veggies according to package directions.

    Nita-Jo

    Nita-Jo answered in Edibles & Herbs about 1 year ago | Report
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