Want to be organic...

[gimmiegators]

Just looking for some organic gardening helpful hints. I live in Southern Alabama, zone 8, it's hot most of the summer, with lots of sun and then theres the dreaded hurricaine season when we get lots of rain. I planted a raised bed garden in planting mixture I bought from our local feed store. I planted yellow squash, zuc's, cuc's, tom's, basil, cilantro, carrots and peppers. So far it seems like we are off to a slow start. I have not nourished the soil at all yet. Should I? If so, with what? Thanks for any help. ~S~

[pharmerphil]

Yes, as long as your plants have shown their first :true" leaves, nourish them with a good Fish emulsion fertilizer now, and every 7 to 14 days there after...Good Luck, thanks for being organic, the wife and I do well over 7000 sq. foot of organic gardens, well worth the effort!
what type of "mixture" did you use?

[BrianSkilton]

For organic fertilizer buy some bone meal, chicken manure and some sea weed (kelp is good so many minerals) and combined the ingredients and whenever you plant something sprinkle in a teaspoon of that mixture, that will really get your plants growing. Even sprinkling some on top where you plant is a good idea. Even bonemeal or bloodmeal alone is a good fertilizer.

[gimmiegators]

OK, thanks!!

By the way, I do have some compost piles and one bin is about ready to use. I have read much on "compost tea" ... could I use this instead of your recommendations ? I ask for financial reasons... trying to save money, so if homemade fertilizers could work as well, that would help. Thanks for your help. ~Susanne~

[BrianSkilton]

That would work great, that would be of great benefit to your plants. It even helps prevent diseases. Yes, if it saves money by all means go that method. If your still intrested in bone meal you can pick up a 4 lb package at ACE hardware of bone meal for under 8 dollars I think it was 7.49 or so.

[cynthia_h]

Re. bone meal: These instructions are from "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats" (p. 38):

"Wash the eggshells right after cracking and let them dry until you have accumulated a dozen or so. (Each whole eggshell makes about a teaspoon of powder, which equals about 1,800 milligrams of calcium.) Then bake at 300 deg. F for about ten minutes. This removes a mineral-oil coating sometimes added to keep eggs from drying out....Grind to a fine powder with a... blender...[so] that there are no sharp, gritty pieces."

I originally adopted this method because Mad Cow Disease reduced the amount of bonemeal available in the edibles market and spiked the price way up. We always have eggshells around here (we eat eggs), and until then had only crushed the shells for the compost bin. Now we bake them, powder them, and put them in the bonemeal jar for our dogs (some meals need to be supplemented with calcium). When it's full, the compost gets the powdered shells, not baked.

This will provide calcium for your plants.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9