Organic gardener totally baffled by fertilisers, manures, minerals....?

Question

Me and my dad have had an allotment for just over a year now. We do not know much about gardening, except basics. Last year was a bit of disaster with very little crop- carrots got carrot fly, potatoes got blight, slugs ate the rest! I realise now that we dug too much. The soil is quite light and dries out quick. At the moment we are only really knowledgeable enough to do a simple spring mass-planting, because I get very confused when it comes to inter cropping, and all the different things that some gardeners have going on all at once. I have worked out a ground plan for our plot which includes carrots, parsnips, peas and beans (runner and broad), potatoes, cabbages, brocolli, sweet corn and squashes. I am planning on trying out crimson clover as an attractive green mulch.
At present th plot is covered in a good layer of horse manure which I haven't dug in. I am planning to rake it in a bit come planting time. I'd be grateful if people could advise on fertilisers for the veg I want?

I have got books but they are so complicated. I'd really like the information in a 'if this happens, then do this...' kind of format. I have come to some conclusions such as: Potatoes like potassium so use potash and good quality wood ash if you have it, plus lots of manure and compost. I also read bracken has potassium so could I use this as a surface mulch to rot down?
We are going to put netting over the carrots next year, and I am growing them in the area of the garden where the soil is lightest but it is also not very good quality soil. So shall I feed them as they grow perhaps with a seaweed fertiliser? Mulch?
I don't know the PH of my soil but would an application of lime anywhere be necessary to make sure it is not too high or low?

I get even more confused when I read about all the different types of for example pot ash there are, and how some are good and some are rubbish , e.g a light or liquid form in a sandy soil as it will just wash away.
And I've also read that providing a mineral in a sudden glut can prevent other minerals being used, and some minerals bind to other things preventing them being taken up. Then you read that one plant needs both these things!?!

I am not digging the earth much, I want to preserve water and nutrients.

The whole point of a green mulch is stop our sandy soil drying out too quick, to fix nutrients into the soil and I can dig it in once it's had it's day- providing nutrition to the earth.
The person in charge of the allotments is quite fussy about plots which have weeds in and look messy. So I picked crimson clover as an alternative to other types since it will not look so bad. It has lovely flowers.
The last thing I am interested in doing is having exposed earth which will cause nutrients to quickly be blown and washed away, or destroyed. In hot weather nutrients will be baked, and if your soil is regularly dug over and weeded, more nutrients are being turned over to be destroyed or are removed. It just makes it look neater.

Answer 1

Gardening is supposed to be fun. So take a deep breath. I have farmed sandy land all my life. Sand needs organic matter to prevent running together. I like to use cotton burrs or cotton seed hulls. Work the existing manure into the soil. Never apply manure after January as this could result in salmonella in your produce. Use wheat straw or grass clippings around and in between your plants during the growing season to prevent weed emergence and hold soil moisture. If you are worried about other nutrients then apply bone meal to the soil. Blight in plants is directly related to wetting the foliage of the plants especially late in the evening. So if you are using a sprinkler type irrigation system water early in the morning and not in the evening. The only way to control blight is to prevent it. In commercial potatoes we use fungicides applied every seven days to prevent blight. If you going organic I know you don't want to hear that. Soil borne diseases can only be controlled with crop rotation. I plant half of my garden in sweet corn and the other half in everything else. Then the next year I switch the plots. Sweet corn is the best rotation crop in a garden to prevent soil borne diseases. The clover is a great idea. I personally plant vetch for a green manure treatment. The main thing is to have fun. God bless you.

Answer 2

You didn't say what country you live in. If the US, you have an excellent helper in the Cooperative Extension Service, an outreach from your state university sytem. Each county...or sometimes combined counties have an extension agent who from the beginning was designated to help farmers, later gardeners, with their ag questions. Today they are aided by Master Gardeners, specially trained gardeners who help others.

Anyway, I fear manure. Too much can raise the salt level in the soil to where little grows. Leaving manure on the surface may invite extra critters. Personally I prefer to dig it in roughly. For your sandy soil you will need to make regular organic amendments; in addition to the manure, compost (start making your own) and I love the green manure crop you are growing. When turned in that will add OM. Your sandy soil needs these little sponges to hold moisture and provide docking stations for the soil nutrients to hold on to. Otherwise they are washed thru the soil.

Other mulches to retard moisture loss can run from shredded newspaper, dry grass clippings, straw......whatever you can get your hands on. I prefer organic stuff since it can be turned into the soil afterwards.

Since you are going organic, cottonseed meal and bone meal are fertilizers. The manure won't be enough by itsself, neither would compost.

I'd worry less about nutrient additions than getting a nice soil. Remember there are various parts to a good soil: the mineral matter, organic matter, air spaces (no problem with sandy soil), water........and the little microorganisms that help run the chemical factory underground. The organic matter has the little guys plus helps feed those already there.

Answer 3

OK.....wow....that's a lot of information, but I'll try to help you as best I can. First of all, if you live in the U.S. go to your County Courthouse and find the Extension agent (if it's under a different name, just ask for the Agricultural/4-H office they are usually one and the same). They should be able to tell you who to have come out and test the soil for the best price (if you have a local Farmer's Co-op they are generally the cheapest, but you should still ask to be certain). This test should be done before planting season EVERY year for best results.

I also realize you said that you are farming "organic" but here's a secret that you might not have known....the fertilizers that the co-op sells have no harmful additives, you just choose the specific thing you need (i.e. Phosphorus, etc.) This is much more tailorable than "hoping for the best" by using compost. Not that compost is bad, it's just not as easy to get EXACTLY what your soil needs using that method.

Worms are great, ladybugs are good too. I wish I knew what to tell you to do for "organic" pesticide/fungicide/herbicide, but I don't....you might ask your extension agent about that as well--they are generally very knowledgeable, and you don't always have to talk to the one from your county, even though they might know the most about the soil/conditions/etc. in your area.

My family has been advocates of "no till" for a long time--I'm just not sure how well it would translate to vegetables, especially since I'm not positive about your method of planting (which I'm guessing you are doing by hand, not with a drill of some sort). However, if you are using a drill, no till actually helps eliminate the "hard pan" that you get just under where you have tilled making a barrier that your root systems can't pass through--it also helps the soil retain moisture better. If you are doing it by hand though, that's not feasible or realistic. You might ask your agent for more ideas on this.

I would also ask your agent if the vegetables you are trying to plant are truly realistic for your region. As an example, we live in one of the "wheat states"--theoretically, we could grow corn here (and some do) but it's not overly realistic because we simply don't have the soil/rain/etc. that are required for corn. It can be done, but it's more work and less effective. I guess what I mean is, be sure that you are choosing vegetables that are ideal for your area so that you can ensure the best possible crop.

Also, I noticed that you mentioned growing crimson clover as "an attractive green mulch". I'm not exactly sure what you are going for with that, but it kind of seems like a waste to make it look pretty. I would worry more about straight rows, keeping the weeds out, and making my vegetables the best they can be--instead of attractiveness of the mulch...which really, if you have a bunch of neat rows with beautiful veggies, you are going to have an attractive garden anyway--and EVERYONE will be able to tell without coming up to the garden to see. Because from a distance, your "green mulch" is going to look mostly like a garden overrun with weeds...Of course, that's just my opinion, it's your garden, and I'm not trying to be rude.

Anyway, I can't remember if there were any other questions now, so I hope that you got something useful out of my novel that I just wrote for you! ;) Best of luck next year!!

Answer 4

Agree with Rub, gardening isn't that complicated.

If the horse manure was fresh, definitely turn it into the existing soil. Manure that hasn't had time to age will burn plants.

Carrots and potatoes need lots of water. Potatoes like to be "mounded" up...as the foliage grows, add more dirt to cover half of the stem. Plant them in a different area than the "blighted" area you had them last season.

You should plant at least 4 rows of corn for self pollenation and a successful crop.

You can't do a proper job of amending the soil unless you know what it needs. (test the soil) Indiscriminately adding nutrients without knowing deficiencies can lead to too much of a good thing resulting in failure.

Happy growing.

Answer 5

Let's take your question in reverse order.
Leaving manure on the surface is good,worms and insects will take it down and improve the soil.
One answer to the requirements of different crops-read the seed packets,the seed merchants provide all the information you should need.
An inexpensive soil testing kit from any DIY store will establish if lime is needed.
If the allotment is one which has been cultivated before,it's likely the soil is in fair condition.It might be useful to feed any crops which are flagging with Growmore or a seaweed based feed.

Answer 6

I really think you are making this too complicated. The fact that you soil is light and dries out quickly is not a bad thing. You just need to supplement it with compost by digging it in and mixing it up good. Hint: Don't supplement the entire garden, just the spots where you are going to put the plants or seeds.

Make your own compost by combining fresh grass clippings with dried leaves. You just need to stack it in a three sided enclosure and turn it every other day or so.

Check out books by Wendel Berry. Good luck and have fun!

Answer 7

Chicken manure is excellent fertilizer. It should be composted or aged because the high nitrogen content can burn some plants if it's used fresh. It does NOT contain weed seed unless the seed was mixed in after the manure exited the chicken. The salmonella and other bacterial contamination's are not inside the plant. They are on the outside of the veggies and fruit and can be washed off, so you needn't worry about the health aspect. And lastly, it will not affect the taste of your crop one way or the other.