Vegetable Garden Preparation
Return to DiscussionsI noticed last season that my vegetable garden did not do as well as the year before. I am thinking that the soil is lacking nutrients. I would like to know if any of the soil testing stuff that be bought in town is worth using especially the electronic soil testers as oppose to taking a soil sample somewhere to be tested for a high price. Plus, what would be a good fertilizer to use in the soil before planting or when the garden is about to be tilled. I have been told to use chicken manure but am concerned that the acidity level may be too high this close to planting season. I plan on growing tomatoes, peppers both hot and mild, cucumbers, maybe beans, kale, and possibly zucchini. Thank you for your help.
It is very hard to say what to do with your land without knowing what it is like and rainfall etc as some plants will want more organic matter and others less with the beans fixing nitrogen into the soil etc.
It might be worth while looking on the internet to find what plants need for their soil and to remember to rotate the plants from one plot to another each year.
It might already be a bit late to prepare the beds. A dug-over bed benefits from a late frost. When growing veg I used crop rotation. Only the potato beds needed manure. Beans and peas were planted in the bed the following year. They prefer a soil without much nitrogen - they actually add nitrogen to the soil. And the following year the nitrogen rich soil was good for most other veg. Here in the UK my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers etc had to be grown in a greenhouse. It got a complete change of soil each year using commercial compost.
Greetings,
I do greenhouse (raised bed) gardening (See Greenhouse Gardner). For the last two years, I kept a small greenhouse. This past summer, I moved into a larger home with a bigger backyard. When I had a 100 sq greenhouse, the tomatoes and squash took over and began to creep everywhere. There was a time when I harvested my plants which one was a tomato or a squash.
This year, I plan on building 4 to 5 greenhouses (10x20) and grow the tomatoes and squash in separate houses.
Basil was another plant that exploded in my raised bed.
I used nothing more than coffee grounds and bait worms to fertilize my beds.
Greetings,
A simple way to test soil.
I came across a simple test to determine which side of the pH factor the soil is on.
You will need:
2 cups of packed soil (separated into two portions)
1/2 cup of 10 acidity vinegar
1/2 cub of baking soda.
Add the vinegar to 1 cup of soil
Add the baking soda to the other cup of soil
Which ever reacts is where your soil is.
Foams on vinegar - alkiline
Foams on baking soda - acid
Cheers