Do You NEED Fertilizer?
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2020
- You are told you need fertilizer, but that gardening advice might be wrong. Plants need nutrients and fertilizers have nutrients, but plants may not need fertilizers if you care for your garden soil. Feed your soil and you will feed your plants. Gardener Scott discusses when to fertilize, how to fertilize, and how to determine if you need to fertilize. (Video #204)
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I have never used " fertilizer " in my garden. Lots of cardboard, grass clippings and shredded leaves are all I use and lots of worms doing their work. Always get a good return on my investment. Thanks for the input.
Rry by ca I CD dïul BBC ??!,, B B VO
Listening to you talk about your garden feels almost like a sermon.
And I mean that in a good way.
Raised beds seem to be key too. Last year was rainy and cool. Gardeners more experienced than me, that only grow in ground, lost everything. We didn't and it made people think I am this incredible gardener, but it's really just the raised beds. Those that lost everything have reputations for having beautiful gardens, but they don't understand the need to have good drainage at all times. Hugelkulture provides that drainage while containing enough wood to hold water in times of drought too. I love my beds.
Thanks for sharing your story. I agree that raised beds can make a big difference in achieving success.
I couldn't agree with you more Scott. Build the soil quality and this increases the soil life. In turn, this will supply all the nutrients your plants require. Without harmful chemicals and unnecessary feeds. Love this episode. So close to my whole gardening philosophy. Great video :)
fertilizer chemicals are not harmful they have been used for many years now.
Instablaster
@@roccoconte2960 Humans created the Dust Bowl. You do you.
Started gardening for the first time in 30 years and that garden wasn't much of a garden 30 years ago. I bought a house last year that had some broken down weedy raised beds that looked like they hadn't been used in 10 or 15 years. I used cardboard to kill the weeds and added soil on top. I made the mistake of thinking the new soil would have all it needed to grow plants. It was NEW soil. Plants should grow great, right? Wrong! Well I'm learning that not all soil is created equal by watching your videos. (I've watched a lot of them). I'm going to add another raised bed this fall and try to do it the right way from scratch this time. Thanks for all the content you've put out!
You are the best Gardener out there... Thank you for sharing
Bob Cooney
Salt Lake City Utah
Thanks, Bob.
Your pop-up "its soil!" made me laugh! Good use of humor, Gardener Scott!
Thanks! That's exactly why I did it.
Fantasic gardens 😊
Something I've started to do is use card boxes, flattened & tape removed for weed suppression on pathways.
Can use also as a mulch, but set slugs & snail beer traps.
Old carpet works too.
Torn up cardboard in compost works well.
Leafs bagged up in fall, tye bags & leave for 6 -9 mths under a hedge. Open & you have soil. 😊
Thank you for your videos
From New Zealand
This has made very clear, some really basic principles, where the difference between understanding/ not understanding is like night and day!
I try not to fertilize, too. I basically rely on compost and natural mulches, much like you. great tips
OAK, i do the same
Compost and mulch in the fall and i walk away. So much easier than the neighbors braking their backs digging hoeing covering potatoes etc
I think alot of people have been led to think fertilizer is only factory made. The truth is, compost and other natural sources are in fact fertilizer. I know seasoned gardeners know that, but there area many people that don't realize it.
Thanks Scott, another great video. I got piles of leaves, grass clippings, composted wood chips and regular kitchen scraps (we are whole plant based eaters and have lots of good compost feed from the kitchen). Our first year, we added our compost (included composted cow manure from local farm that grass feeds only for non food cattle) and some azimite, coco noir, humic acid, and vermiculite to purchased garden soil (1/2 compost and top soil). most plants did very well, except for brassicas, which most likely means, need more N!. Your approach is sound and most ecological in impact. Thanks again.
Great video. I came across your channel via 'Simplify Gardening', and my philosophy is the same - feed the soil. I'm very fortunate to live near the sea so seaweed is freely available to me. Simply chop it up and spread on the beds in Autumn (fall). By Spring, it's been taken down into the soil by soil organisms (spring tails, worms, woodlice etc) so no need to add fertilizer.
I agree! You explain it so well! The soil is the crown jewel of the garden! I try and explain the forest floor and how it’s all natural. Great video! Most important too. It’s easy to plant a plant or seeds. But it’s the right prep work that counts! 👍. GREAT ADVICE! As always great vid!! I think you are my favorite gardening channel!
I like simple answers. Thank you!
Another great video!! I love how you help debunk and clarify gardening information!! There are so many variables and me personally I am no till except for the buckets and I have two 50 gal composters so I just add that and other things to the top and like you said let the micro biology do it’s part!!!
Feed the soil and the plant’s needs will be fulfilled. Thank you Scott!
This is my new favorite way of thinking about gardening lately, thanks to all the information on you tube from you and others, it makes so much sense, I have been experimenting with making little lunch bag snacks so to speak, by taking kitchen scraps that would usually go on the compost pile, put in a paper lunch bag, roll it up and just burying them around the garden, hoping to attract worms etc. do you think it will work? Thanks for all your videos, Clive.
Thank you for all your videos.
As usual enlightening content. Totally agree. Focus on the soil takes discipline and a change of philosophy--which is easier said than done. My journey and evolution continues. Thank you Scott!
Thank you so much. I have been using your excellent info. You explain very well, youre a great teacher. 😍
Thank you for sharing all your wonderful information on gardening. Like you said, listening to too many opinions can get very confusing. Thank you for simplifying this topic of soil and fertilizing.
I appreciate the perspective sir, thank you for the informative content on this channel. 🙂
What an amazing garden you have. !!
Best, most sensible video I have seen regarding building the soil and lessening the need for fertiliser. Your saved me some work, thanks Scott.
June, he saves you a lot of money as well!
Svetla Nikolova yes. I think fertilising is a scam once you have your soil conditioned properly. Best wishes.
I think many in their busy lives saw chemicals as a quick fix if you well. Then they grow the giant pumpkins and the like and they thought they have really accomplished something. The point is we need to honor or appreciate the land as it sustains us. There are no healthy shortcuts.
Thank you for your videos. I'm learning much.
I was raised opposite of this and using round up and pesticides but since having a family of my own I don't do any of those. I have been adding manure and cover crop now and like it lots better.
Pesticides suck, indoor grows with 360 degree pest prevention is the best.
cover crops is really the best. Let one part of your soil to rest and sow cover crops to cut and drop
Thank you 🙏🏾. Soil is the foundation ❤
This video was spot on. I grew my best harvest to date in 2019 without any fertilizer. Last year I finally tried fertilizer what a mistake. Had the worst harvest ever. And it's good to go back and review videos like this one after such a disappointing garden year. Going back to the basics. Thanks, Gardner Scott.
I remember years ago I planted a garden in my backyard. I dug up the yard made rows and I planted the seeds and everything grew, I even planted corn and it grew. Had beautiful tomatoes, green beans, lettuce etc and I didn't do anything except water and pull the green worms off my tomato plants. In the house I am in now I planted a green bean seeds and a tomato plant, just in the ground and I had tons of beans and tomatoes just from those 2 plants I didn't do anything except water. There was no Neem oil, worm casting tea, aspirin, eggs shells, fertilizer and all the other stuff I see on the garden channels. I am going to grow in containers now because my trees have grown and I have limited sunny areas in my yard but I have spent a ton of money just on all the additives, sprays, fertilizer etc. This is 20 years later. It's all overwhelming kinda takes the fun out of it.
Thank you Gardner Scott, very informative...Your a good teacher... I am someone that just started gardening and I have a small yard but do container gardening because I have hard clay soil that grows weeds quite well but I won't be digging it up to plant in it. I bought a lot of packaged soil such as miracle grow to get the ball rolling but most of my plants did not do that well or they didn't produce much or the veggies/fruits were smaller than they should be. So I figured there must be something wrong with the bagged soil and I decided to buy some organic fertilizers and start composting to ammend the bagged soil in hopes of makeing it better. I got all caught up in what kinds of fertilizer do I need and what ones are best...I went around in circles....Your advice made me realize I don't have to feel so pressured to use fertilizer but some can be benificial of course. I'm also realizing more and more that compost and mulching is key.
Outstanding advice! I use mulches no only to feed the soul web below but to conserve water as well. I love Mosanbu Fuyoka's tip on this... "Nature works - if you let it"
Scott - Keep doing what you are doing. I have learned such a lot from your videos. Your explanations are so educational and down to earth! Pun intended...
This was super useful. Thank you!
I always add manure in the fall and compost in the spring...it works well for me.
Good stuff Scott. Cheers
I grew up near the Red River Valley in ND and I remember the soil was black, we never did use fertilizer for our garden and we had good yields with everything we planted over the summer
I am Organic Gardening is another great channel for learning about building soil health. He also provides the science behind it, with visual demonstrations. I cannot recommend enough.
I watched this video again . So thorough! As i spend more time in my garden, i am understanding more about soil. It's so exciting. Thank you for such a great review. I'm going to top off my bed with my finished compost after i sift out the twigs. I hear about "depleted " soil. How can you tell if your soil is depleted? Thank you! Definitely a thumbs up video, CZcams viewers!
Thanks, Scott. Without a soil test, your plants will tell you when soil is depleted. Increased weed growth and less productive vegetable plants will usually result. It takes as long to get depleted soil as it does to get improved soil, so regular amending is still the best solution.
I got really lucky. My soil is dark, rich, and absolutely wonderful. Glad to know I just need to encourage what is already there. Thanks.
You are godsent. Thank you, sir.
The weather broke for the week so we spent all morning putting strawberry plants from the window into the ground, then the clouds lifted and we had to scramble to find a good shade to put over them. Luckily we have a trellis panel that goes over them perfectly, and the fence shades them from the afternoon sun, so they should root in nicely. Hopefully there's enough light for strawberries in that spot, it's the most protected spot in the garden so they should overwinter there safely~
Very interesting. Thanks
Best tip ever
Beautiful garden!
The soil on my new property is so dead it has taken me 4 years of amendments of compost and putting back in plant material just to grow weeds. I did an experiment and put fertilizer on half a row of corn to see if it might help and that half row has corn that is twice as tall as the others and it is tasseling and the rest isn't. I do not like to use fertilizer unless I can find as natural as I can. I am hoping that the soil will improve before I pass. I do have a wonderful crop of weeds this year.
Lynda, give your weeds a cut and cover with compost and mulch
Compost is great. But for an intensive intervention as you need, go and get some cartloads of horse or cow manure and dig it in or place it on top and let it rot. Cartloads. You'll have your soil amended in just one season. I speak from experience.
@@svetlanikolova7673 Already doing that. I keep it up every year and it is getting better every year but my old body is getting tired of the fight.
One good thing with weeds, at least for me, is that you can throw them in a barrel of water, put a lid on, and then wait a week or two. Then rake out the decomposed weeds and put them on the compost. I use the "water" that's left to water my garden beds. Good luck with your property, with all your work it will get fertile. Cheers
Cover crops? Just yesterday I learned that if you grow buckwheat and then turn it back into the soil it will help with phosphorus. You turn it right back into your soil. You don’t pull them and put them in the compost.Peas and beans can help with nitrogen. Comfrey helps with nutrients but it’s invasive? I think borage also helps but invasive as it reseeds easily .
I ordered beautiful buckwheat seeds from Baker Creek to grow in my raised beds. I think red clover is also good for building nitrogen. Cover crops just sound like a really good idea to me.
I also have 2 55 gallon tubs of worms. I feed them everything I can get my hands on. Kitchen scraps, coffee grounds from Starbucks, dumpster stuff lol. Worm castings are great soil amendment.
You are really the best👍🏻👍🏻
Feed the soil and the soil feeds the plants!!!! Thanks for affirming this. 7 years ago I took over this home and have had to build up soil that has been impoverished and doused in toxic sprays. So i've added some fertiliser along with compost, aged manure, seaweed. My new raised beds are filled with imported garden mix and mushroom compost, quite different from the rest of the garden. You have motivated me to have the soil tested, but will need to do two lots I would think - the original soil, and the new raised bed soil? Also, I do spray the plants with a seaweed mix I make - would it be better to drench the compost heap with this liquid?
True, very good and so important point.
i suggest installation of fertirrigation system in the automatic one by desviation of the water into 5 l bottles (DIY, may be less than 1$) filled with liqiud org. fertilizer (guano, or filtered burning nettle infusion) through 6mm hoses such as shown by lander, el guardian de la tierra, yt. the watering intervals we can chosse to pass irrigation by a bypass through the fertilizer mix before entering into the garden beds through the usual 16mm valve hoses.
I’ve taken this approach on the recommendation of Gardener Scott and others and it works very well.
When I setup a raised bed all but the top 8-12” consists of woody refuse collected for this purpose - logs, branches, wood chips, even the remnants of the last garden bed (I don’t build them with treated lumber). I then layer soil and compost over top. When a plant has come to the end of its productive life, I cut it off at ground level and leave the roots in the soil. In the fall, I heap on leaf mulch that was made using leaves raked up the fall prior.
I also make sure that the soil is always covered with something - either a crop, mulch, or cardboard in a pinch. The soil goes south pretty quickly when left exposed to the elements.
It’s a lot of work up front but very easy to keep going by just adding organic material to the top.
I don’t fertilize or spray for bugs. Seen a few Japanese beetles but my garden is beside the chicken run so they must have taken care of them. Take care of the soil! Have a great evening.
I didn't fertilize my summer crops. But I've been amending the soil as I pull up the old and plant the new.
I find the same principles apply to lawns as well. I've been topdressing my lawn with compost once a year rather than fertilizing and it works wonders.
Amen Scott!🙏
thanks so much for clarifying this confusing topic! my dad mentioned i needed a lot of fertilisers to grow crops and had been wondering if my ‘micro greens’ were due to insufficient fertilisers 😄
Amazing information on each & every video Gardener Scott thank you! I'm just starting a compost pile in preparation for a veg garden but don't know much about no till gardening. Why is this important?
Thanks. No-till gardening is a basic philosophy of reduced labor and letting nature work for you. It is not necessary, but can be an option if you want to focus on organic gardening.
Thank you I kinda jumped onto gardening and forgot about fertilizer but every video I’ve seen never really mentioned it .
Once, by accident, I forgot to put fertilizer in a potted tomato plant. I didn't get any tomatoes. Long ago, my dad said that he put fertilizer on potatoes he planted. He and his brother were wondering what they were digging up. Thanks for sharing this. Cheers!
I only fertilize as I plant out and when soil is new. Even then it's worm castings, blood and bone meal, seaweed. All the things that attract life to the soil overall. When folks add compost, they are fertilizing between seasons, even if that's all they add. I compost everything, even meat. I bury dead chickens and other birds when we have them and the plants love it. I keep bones and make my own bonemeal. I tend to garden without digging up my soil all over the garden. I'd rather layer compost in the off season.
Thats what I did with my tall raised beds I put wood and logs and bark in the bottom then filled it with a mix of composted horse manure and soil .... I need to top off the tops in the spring as it already sunk down after it rained...
I have worms , in my wormery, in my soil , in my pots, and everywhere I garden . I have gotten into worm farming for the castings. I feed them lots of organic materials periodically . So I don't use any fertilizer if I don't have to because I have to be careful what I use and how,. I am allergic to a lot of things so I have to use a lot of personal protection if I do.
I just got into the worm growing. What kind of worms do you have?
Amen. Nature knows the best 👍
I want to start adding stuff directly to my soil. I have thought about this for awhile. Like I do for my compost pile which is small. Veggie scraps. I have no leaves. Cardboard or paper bags. Yes I have had confusion regarding how to fertilize. What you are stating here is exactly how I’ve been thinking lately. There is such big money in gardening. What I mean is you can buy fertilizers, expensive trellis, worm compost. It gets expensive.
I really appreciate your videos and time you take to make them.
Questions:
1. How to mulch and mix leaves and grass clippings? Lawn mower?
2. My lawn has a lot of bad weeds. I'm concerned about using these clippings in mulch and my composter. Ideas?
Maybe you have videos you could direct me to.
Thanks
A lawn mower is a good way to combine leaves and grass. When I have separate bags I just spread them alternately. Weeds aren't an issue unless they have gone to seed. Cut them before they flower and you can use the clippings.
It's 2020. I fertilize with brawndo
it's got what plants crave
It’s got electrolytes.
Mulch is another form of fertiliser. Father was farmer he didn't even do that. All he said to let soil rest.
I never fertilize, only compost and crop rotation with strategic legume plantings/co-plantings. I've got a friend who relies completely on bagged soil and chemical fertilizers. Per plant, I uniformly produce more higher quality produce and the gap increases every year.
I didn't this season and now believe it was a problem.
You mentioned comfrey in The perennial that Scott. Those leaves are some of the best nutrient rich organic fertilizer you can use in the garden. Comfrey leaves decomposed pretty quickly. I cut off comfrey leaves at the end of the season, don't even bother cutting them up, and lay them down on top of the soil. Working them and when they turn to brown decomposed matter.
I pile comfrey and nettles in my compost. all the time .thanks Harvey Ussery
Hi, great video, thank you. I just started gardening this June so I am very new to this. When you say you added "organic material" to your soil, what organic material are you referring to specifically? And what is "amending"?
I have other videos that discuss the materials and how I amend. Organic materials include manure, peat moss, compost, leaves, grass, straw, and food scraps. When you mix it into the soil, you are amending the soil.
I agree with this approach,, but I am doing 100% container gardening and this creates some challenges. I hope to get back to raised beds when we move to a new house in a couple of years!
I just borrow compost from people who have got compost heaps and use that for my container gardens. It is great!
Hi G.S. Thanks for the videos. I tried looking through your old videos and I couldn't find any about gardening on a hill. Could you link me to one please?
I don't have a specific video about gardening on a hill, but my videos on "How to Plant Garlic", "How to Collect Carrot Seeds", "How to Harvest Garlic", "How to Trellis Tomatoes" and "How to Prune Tomatoes" all show my earlier garden and how set up my beds on a hill. czcams.com/video/HocNHKhdgls/video.html
Best teaching video yet! I'm a fellow Master Gardener from NC and I stress this concept in all my programs.
BRAVO!
Where did you purchase your galvanized sheeting used on the raised beds.
I bought mine from Home Depot
Thanks! I got mine at Lowe's. They are for roofing.
@@GardenerScott thank you. I have been looking at this for raised beds and after seeing your video on the soil temperature in beds with various materials I have decided to try.
You can also add green manure. As the plant grows it will fix nitrogen and then you just turn it over into the soil
Thank for at yours great videos
It is my first time gardening, I'm trying find all I can on CZcams, so I can make less mistakes and you are one of the best to explain and understand the basics
I hope it okay I ask you a question!
I plant in pots raspberry, strawberry and pepper and so on
How is the best way to make sure that the soil is good with nutrition, now when it doesn't get automatically?
You can add compost and other organic material to you pots each year as a mulch on top of the soil.
Great informative video! Thanks for sharing your expertise. I moved into a new house recently and plan to move my container asparagus to a bed in the spring. I'm amending now with manure, compost and coffee grounds. I have a worm tower in the bed. Any other suggestions to get it ready for the asparagus?
Thanks! You're right on track. I have a video that shows how I prepared my asparagus bed. Lots of organic matter amending the soil deeply.
@@GardenerScott Thank you, I will look for that video.
Hi there from Greece, I really like your videos they are full of information and ideas! I have a question: In Greece we don't use raised beds, is this a method that could be used for bigger than home/amateur production?
Thanks! While raised beds can be used for good production, for bigger gardens and farms, in-ground beds tend to work better. Raised beds tend to work best for gardeners with smaller space.
Hey Gardener Scott, can you please make a video explaining the full life-cycle of the raised beds? I understand you "add organics" while you are setting up the raised beds ... on winter you are suggesting that we retain the raised-beds "as-is" ... next year what? The second, third, fourth year? How would you enrich the soil of a raised-bed in the follow-up years? Do you empty the beds and refill them?
Thank you very much for all your videos, they have been very educational, informative and guide me in my garden!
Good suggestion and I am planning those videos. One on amending the soil at the end of season is coming soon. Another on preparing and mulching beds for winter next month. In a few months I'll have one to discuss planning your garden activities for multiple years.
The dirt in my beds (flower and veg) looks like DIRT, it does not look like soil. So I keep adding amendments- compost, fertilizer, manure, shredded fall leaves. I’m considering in the spring pulling out the straggly plants I’ve put in so far and mixing in more fresh quality soil and replanting.
You have the right idea. I amend until it all looks like soil.
I have my fall garden started, and now I am waiting for the leaves to change color, and drop to the ground. My neighbors will rake them to the street and I will go out and gab up as many compressed bags of leaves as I can, just like last year. Then next year when I mow my grass and cut down the weeds I will make a lot of free organic material (compost) for my garden. Is it work? Well yes. But not to much. Everything in this life has a cost, either money or work.
I don't use fertilizer. All I use is worm and compost teas. If you take care of your soil by not tilling, not using chemical fertilizer, and using a mulch and cover crops you will never have to use fertilizer. Mother nature doesn't till or use fertilizer.
I am so new to this, unfortunately i started my garden with bags of soil from the store, should i test every bed separately? I have to watch more of your videos and learn more about feeding the soil. Thank you for the info.
If all of the beds have similar soil you don't need to test each one separately. Most soil tests suggest you take samples from multiple sites and combine the soil for sampling. You could do the same in your beds.
I use fertilizer at the beginning of March. Thats it. That’s it just to boost what the snow wash away that winter. It’s better to under fertilize then to over fertilize.
So if I understand correctly from this video and the other soil videos of yours I've watched. I can soil test the native soil I'm using to fill my beds and add the recommended fertilizer based on that report in addition to the large amounts of organic material I'm adding to help ammend the high clay content. With no/minimal risk of having an excess amount of one of the nutrients.
Yes, that's the idea. It is possible at some point, maybe five years, to have too much organic matter and excess nutrients, so I suggest a follow-up soil test at that time.
Wonderful video.
QUESTION: Did you transplant your fall leafy veggies under your cattle panel tunnel with the plastic on the side so you can cover those crops if a fall frost threatens?
Thanks. I direct sow most of my fall veggies outside. I do put them under the cattle panel so I can easily cover them with plastic.
What is that branching variety of sunflower behind you in this video? It's gorgeous. 🙂
Thanks. I really don't know. It just appeared in my garden and I left it to see what grew. I kept it once I saw the result.
Fertilizer is a quick-fix
This man should run for President.
Thank you for this video and the one on no till versus no dig gardening. I am a bit unclear-if it is still in the first three years of creating the good soil, should we work in the compost each time we add it? It seems that after we reach equilibrium at 3 to 5 years, then we don’t need to add inorganic fertilizer and we only add compost to the TOP, but in the meantime building the soil, do we work it in each time we add it? Thank you so much for this clarification. You are such a gifted teacher helping thousands, including me, to become better gardeners.👩🌾
You have a good understanding. It takes time to increase the organic matter in soil and develop soil life. Amending the soil by working it in is needed for poor soils. After 3-5 years of that, compost and organic mulch on top can often maintain the healthy soil.
Hi Scott, isnt it better to use compost and mulch in the fall and skip the inorganic fertilizer all together?
As I said in the video, that's the way I prefer to do it. Because I'm starting with very poor soil it may be necessary to add some fertilizer in the first year or two.
So you don't have to turn or mix up the bed at end of season? Just add a layer of compost on top of the old mulch then mulch again? I'm new to this concept so just needed clarification. I just put in new perennial borders using this method on top of grass. Planted right down thru the layers and now I pray 😁 that I understood correctly. I was never so excited to see a worm after just 3 days of my layers sitting there.
Hi. If you havent seen his video on lasagna gardening (sheet composting) may help. I asked Garden Scott about turning the lasagna beds during one of his live chat on Monday and he said it can he done in the early stages. And then add top layers over time. I am doing this in my newly built raised beds to hopefully use next spring and its going well. czcams.com/video/lWV-XlwEI70/video.html
I will turn and mix my beds because the soil is new and I'm still building it. After a few years it doesn't need mixing and compost on top should be enough. Mulch on top of mulch will work after that.
@@GardenerScott ok thank you. 🌼🌻
Howdy, I a very green gardener☺️...just wondering why the greenhouse for the green garden? Just wondering why you have to close it in? Thank you for sharing the wealth👍🏽
In my area with very cold winters and short summers, a greenhouse helps extend the growing season by providing warm conditions in spring and fall.
I am hoping to start a garden at least by the end of the year. I am pretty sure i will need fertilizers at least starting off. I live on an arid islind that jas soil always exposed to the sun with little organic matter. In fact most dirt you see around here is white or greyish and very base. You can find a few inches of better stuff under the handful of trees that have enough surrounding plants that stop the leaves from blowing away but even that may not have much life as most of the year we have little rain.
The fertilizers i plan to use are organic like fish emulsion and the like and i am hoping to eventually stop and just use ompst and worm castings.
When you mention adding organic material to the soil, what specifically do you mean? What kind of organic material? I have compost bins and figured that to be the organic material I can work into the soil. But you mention compost separately so I wondered what you might use. Thank you for the video btw.
Compost, peat, coir, leaves, manure, grass, food scraps, straw, and similar matters are all organic materials that can be used as amendments. I use all of it depending on what I have available. Thanks!
Can I put worm manure in grow bags to help with amendments
Definitely. That's a good source of nutrients.
I really don't know what I'm doing. What I actually do is to add a lot of aged compost to my beds, and when I plant my vegetables I add a good helping of organic fertilizer, which is dried and pelletized chicken manure. I haven't used inorganic fertilizer in almost 15 years. It seems that the only nutrients leaving the soil is what is in the harvested vegetables. If I chop up the plant after harvest and turn it in into the soil, it seems that most of the nutrients are returned to the soil. Right? And my top dressings add what the harvest removed. At least that's what I figure.
You have the right idea. Adding organic material is important and returns nutrients to soil. With the compost and chicken manure you may find you no longer need the fertilizer.
It can get confusing though. I can have lush growth...But, are they producing fruit, bulbs..produce in general vs. Leaves which means too much nitrogen. Temperature swings in my location seems to prevent some plants from getting up to speed and then I wonder, do I no need fertilizer? I did notice this year I didn't put as much compost under some squash plants and tgey seem a bit slower and smaller. Of course the deer are not helping. Up last night at midnight to wrap maple trees with bird netting after auto light came on and caught deer in act. Then i noticed my husband left the garden gate open---ugh! Between the insects wildlife and the man I'm not sure if there will be anything left to fertilize.🤣
My compost is ALMOST ready but not yet. My cucumbers have been more vibrant since i have just added the water i rinse my gloves with after i dig around my compost bin! Any other ideas about what i can amend my soil with until the compost is ready? Is it better to add compost or compost tea to the soil? Worm castings or worm tea? Thank you! You are a teacher.
If you have access to aged manure that can be a good amendment. I think compost and worm castings are far better to use as soil amendments rather than as teas. Put almost-ready compost on the bed as a mulch and every time you water or it rains you will have a natural equivalent of compost tea.