Too late to add compost to garden?

[stephenabney]

When I planted my garden, I didn't have a lot of compost, so the plants got just a little mixed in with the dirt as I planted. Now, I've got a lot of compost ready to go (about 3 wheelbarrows full) For my small garden of 15 x 20, I am kinda excited to really lay it on thick.

Do you think I will get good results from this, just piling it on top of the soil? right now I am having to use the miracle grow a lot, to keep them growing. My soil is heavy very with clay. I was hoping the compost layer on top would keep me from having to use the miracle grow so much.

Here's my garden.

[url]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=400977&id=1784682894[/url]

[gixxerific]

It's never too late to add compost to the garden.

Just add some as a top dressing around plants.

[stella1751]

Last summer, I experimented with using partially finished compost as a mulch on some of my beds. A few weeks later, I added a fine layer of soil. A few weeks later, I added another layer of partially finished compost. And so on and so forth. This year, when I turned the beds, most of the compost was finished. All I had to do was to break up the compost chunks with my hands and work 'em into the soil. I am pretty excited about the soil mix I have in those beds. It's black and rich, with a satiny tilth. I'm gonna do it again!

I won't know until August whether this worked or not, whether I wound up growing the plants in those beds in TOO much compost and too little soil. I do know I had many more centipedes and millipedes than I did the year before, but I can live with that if my garden produces bountifully

[2cents]

heavy, heavy layers of uncomposted vegitation is sometimes an issue in the garden.
I've never known any amount of compost to be a problem, of course don't bury the plants, we all love sun.LOL

No go ahead and add it now, I just put a layer on some of mine and will many more times this summer, it helps keep weeds down.

[rainbowgardener]

I just today added more compost as a top dressing around my tomato plants. Go for it!

[Lupinus]

Top dressing around the plants.

My only suggestion is to not put it right up against the stem's of the plants.

[Toil]

if you top dress compost, have your mulch ready and with you and cover it as you go. Especially if you have a slope.

You could also mix it with water an molasses and use the slurry to water your bed, leaving the dregs on the soil. Don't make the slurry ahead of time. Just mix and pour.

[2cents]

Lup,

Why don't you let the compost touch your plants?
Is it slugs, bugs, mold, or why should we be cautious?

2 cents

[stephenabney]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I did add the compost this weekend. I'll be keeping the Facebook album (link above) updated for those who want to know the results.

[Garden Gal]

I tried to view your facebook link. It said it wasn't available or I'm not authorized to view it. I am a facebook member. I have trouble posting photos here too. It seems complicated. I would like to show everyone how my lasagna garden is doing.

[Rotating Compost Bin]

Of course not. You can add finished compost anytime you like. I'm not so sure about the unfinished compost. That sounds like a major pest magnet to me.

[Garden Gal]

I hope you can view this link to my garden photos

[url]https://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4d5463794d7a55794d6a413d0d0a&blogview=true[/url]

[rainbowgardener]

Very cute picture presentation, wonderful lush healthy garden!

[Garden Gal]

Thanks Mod! It's my first attempt at Lasagna style gardening. Not sure why the collards are looking weak, and not very deeply rooted. I'm wondering if being against the wall has anything to do with it.

[Joyfirst]

Garden Gal, that is such a wonderful presentation. Nice garden. I would stop these butterflies though, because they really detract attention off the pictures.
I think in Facebook, just your friends can see the pictures, unless you specifically set the album on the setting, that everyone can see it.

[Garden Gal]

Oh ok, I understand about the FB thing. Cant do anything about the butterflies, lol. They just keep swarming. Glad you enjoyed the photos! Thank you.

Oh a question if anyone can help. . . The leaves on my Cucumber plant are starting to turn white and die. They have little white spots on them, and a couple of the leaves turned all white-gray looking and died What does that mean??? Do I need to post a photo?

[The Helpful Gardener]

No dear you don't; that's powdery mildew, right on schedule...

Milk to water, one part to three for curative, untill it fades away, then like one to five to make sure it doesn't come back. A little fish hydrolysate in the milk is very helpful as well...

Lup, great avatar; mine looked just like that (just finishing up). But I think you are being a little overly cautious with your compost. You too, toil; I have mulched with naught but compost and found it very effective; I just action hoe the weeds once a week (5 minutes tops for my front borders) and it works great... (although on my veggies I like hay mulch over the compost to keep soil disturbance to a minimum, so there is that).

HG

[Garden Gal]

Hi Scott, thanks for the update on the mildew. I can do the milk but the fishy stuff??? Have no clue what that is, and can't get it anyway till next weekend. How often do I treat? And do I just pour all over with a watering can?

[Garden Gal]

PS: what is the best way to apply NEEM? I have creatures eating my cabbage and collards like crazy. I'm sure the tomatoes will be next.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Okay Margot, here we go...

Fish hydrolysate is easily found at most garden centers; bet you know Homestead or Behnke's, right? I like Neptunes Harvest... this is good organic fertilizer as well. I use a gallon or so every year... It'[s even good for compost piles to get things cooking really hot...

You are a wee bit off topic with the neem thing, and we haven't even determined what is eating things yet, so maybe a post to the [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=39&sid=629f7e6671f6ac7cc1b0ee324b73eea7]Organic Pest Control Forum[/url]? I'll catch you there...

HG

[Garden Gal]

ok thanks scott.

[sustainlife]

Yes. I recommend sprinkling a layer of humates first then the compost on top. Water in and you should be good to go. I love Medina's Granular Fertilizer.

I also recommend that you stop using the miracle grow to feed your plants when trying to build up your soil quality and ecosystem. The miracle grow will aid in the build up of salts in your soil. Synthetic fertilizers do not contains carbon. The carbon-hydrogen bond is what makes a compound organic. You are going the right route just look for other minerals (liquid seaweed, fish emulsion etc.)to give to your soil to help establish your plant's root system without taking two steps back.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Humates, SL?

Why would we need to add a mined, non-renewable resource that takes mineralized, stable carbon and moves it back into the atmospheric cycle?

I thought [url=https://www.350.org/]too much carbon in the atmosphere was a bad thing[/url]...

Plus we are already adding humus as we add the compost. Just seems a poor way to put carbon back in the soil; I would rather use carbon ALREADY in the atmospheric cycle or close to it (any biology qualifies) or even better, char (that WAS close to the atmospheric cycle but by being made into charcoal can now be sequestered for hundreds, even thousands of years...)

Please feel free to release me from any delusions I may be under (ALWAYS a possibility ), but mining brown coal (humate is C8, as I understand it) to fertiliize gardens just seems like poor planet care to me...

HG

[sustainlife]

The product I recommended does contain organic material and successfully achieves its purpose towards application. Though after your comment, I decided to do further research to find that it is not good for the environment in the account of sustainability. My main concern has been to rid my lifestyle of as many synthetic ingredients as I can to preserve my families health. This has reminded me that though the ingredients may be organic, not all are eco-friendly in the aspect of harvesting.

My current move to a more sustainable practice is a newly acquired perspective, so I appreciate the heads up.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Cool, Jared; glad to see you took my point in the manner it was intended, of good spirit and better planet...

If we begin to look to self sufficiency as a halmark of how we garden, not only do we begin to adopt practices that are truly sustainable, but we increasse not just our own health, but the health of the biota around us. As we begin to mmove away from practices that impact other places on the planet to benefit our own spaces, we not only green our own space but every other one at the same time...

Organics is a realization of the interconnectedness of all life from the microbial to our exalted place as masters of all we survey. When we recognize that our control is ALWAYS a double edged sword, doing damage whenever we wield it, we will eventually learn to put that sword down, and exist as a cohabitant, truly one with the earth...

I can't wait; it gets a little better every day...

HG