Hello,
This is my first time here.
I am desperate for help!
I know that we are probably crazy for doing so, but my husband and I are going to do our first-ever vegetable garden on an approx. 800 square foot plot. We also want it to be Organic.
He took the day off of work today (which he never does) so that he can get our backyard rota-tilled and cow manure tilled in.
However, we know that we will probably need more than just the manure. I bought a soil test kit and here are the results:
pH is approx 7.5
Nitrogen is between Med and High
Phosphorus is between Low and Med
Potassium is Med
Our home is a brand new home, therefore, we've no idea whether or not this soil was ever worked prior to these homes being built. There is a fair chance that it was farm land, but we're not sure.
Anyhow, we are both clueless as what to do right now. I am very stressed about it as I am also trying to get my sisters wedding cake done today for her tomorrow wedding. Nonetheless, my husband wants to get this done and just left to go to Lowe's and asked me to call him to tell him what fertilizer to buy once I get it figured out.
Yikes!!! I'm confused.
We have about a truckload and 1/4 of manure thus far.
With our results the way they are, what would you recommend that he buy???
Thank you so much in advance!
We'll be planting:
Tomatoes
Pole Beans
Zucchini
Crookneck
A few herbs IBasil, Thyme, Oregano)
Spinach
Parsley
Green Onions
Okra
I have Marigolds and Nasturtiums to plant throughout as well.
Help!! and Thanks!
Felin
Hi, welcome! First, don't be stressed out over the garden. Though sometimes hard work, it should be fun, relaxing, & rewarding, not a source of stress.
Step 1 Take a deep breath
Step 2 Don't put too much faith in a home soil test. If you want an accurate test, look up how to take a proper sample & send it to a trusted lab for analysis.
Step 3 Fertilizer. You could ask 10 different people & get 10 different answers. You're off to a good start w/ the cow manure. You might want to get some bags of compost (and peat moss if you knew for sure your pH was that high) to work into the soil directly where your plants will go.
If you look around you should be able to find a vegetable-specific, granulated, slow release organic fertilizer. It will usually have dry manure & various meals (blood meal, seed meal, bone meal, ect) as it's main ingredients. For a beginner, this is the easiest way to go (rather than buying the ingredients seperately & mixing yourself). For 800 sq ft, you probably need about a 40-50 lb bag to start. If you're going to plant everything at once, follow the application directions on the bag & till it right in.
If you're going to plant over the course of a month or two, it's better to apply the fertilizer as you plant. Again, follow the application rate on the bag, but convert it to the area you're working with. For example, if it says to use 10 lbs/200 sq ft, break that down to 1 lb/20 sq ft, or .5 lb/10 sq ft.
Hopefully this info can get you started. Don't worry too much about it. Enjoy your successes, learn from you mistakes, but overall have fun! Best of luck to you!
Step 1 Take a deep breath
Step 2 Don't put too much faith in a home soil test. If you want an accurate test, look up how to take a proper sample & send it to a trusted lab for analysis.
Step 3 Fertilizer. You could ask 10 different people & get 10 different answers. You're off to a good start w/ the cow manure. You might want to get some bags of compost (and peat moss if you knew for sure your pH was that high) to work into the soil directly where your plants will go.
If you look around you should be able to find a vegetable-specific, granulated, slow release organic fertilizer. It will usually have dry manure & various meals (blood meal, seed meal, bone meal, ect) as it's main ingredients. For a beginner, this is the easiest way to go (rather than buying the ingredients seperately & mixing yourself). For 800 sq ft, you probably need about a 40-50 lb bag to start. If you're going to plant everything at once, follow the application directions on the bag & till it right in.
If you're going to plant over the course of a month or two, it's better to apply the fertilizer as you plant. Again, follow the application rate on the bag, but convert it to the area you're working with. For example, if it says to use 10 lbs/200 sq ft, break that down to 1 lb/20 sq ft, or .5 lb/10 sq ft.
Hopefully this info can get you started. Don't worry too much about it. Enjoy your successes, learn from you mistakes, but overall have fun! Best of luck to you!
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gixxerific
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rainbowgardener
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Well next time don't decide to till up an 800 sq foot garden the day you are doing a wedding cake for your sister's wedding the next day! 
The garden could have waited until the day AFTER the wedding!
But you are doing great and have gotten good advice above.
In central california it's actually a bit late to plant spinach which doesn't like hot weather and just goes to seed really fast. It will do a lot better if you hold on to your spinach seed and plant it late in the season for a fall crop.
Everything else will do fine.
Your pH is just a teence high, given that lots of veggies like soil a bit on the acid side of neutral (more like 6.5 than 7.5). I would suggest get a big bag or two of peat moss and add it in with the manure. It will help bring the pH down just a tad. It's good for help lighten the soil and hold moisture too.
The garden could have waited until the day AFTER the wedding!But you are doing great and have gotten good advice above.
In central california it's actually a bit late to plant spinach which doesn't like hot weather and just goes to seed really fast. It will do a lot better if you hold on to your spinach seed and plant it late in the season for a fall crop.
Everything else will do fine.
Your pH is just a teence high, given that lots of veggies like soil a bit on the acid side of neutral (more like 6.5 than 7.5). I would suggest get a big bag or two of peat moss and add it in with the manure. It will help bring the pH down just a tad. It's good for help lighten the soil and hold moisture too.
What I haven't seen any mention of is whether the manure has been composted or if it's...ah...fresh from the animals. If it's fresh from the animals, DO NOT PLANT in it for several months. The raw manure will burn young (and not-so-young) plants and will doom seeds completely.
What county are you in? The "Central Valley" goes from Redding to Mexico, depending on how one thinks about California between the mountain ranges. Kind of like our local version of the Intermountain West, just skinnier.
Many counties offer free or low-cost soil analysis. These soil analyses are much more accurate than home test kits are.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
What county are you in? The "Central Valley" goes from Redding to Mexico, depending on how one thinks about California between the mountain ranges. Kind of like our local version of the Intermountain West, just skinnier.
Many counties offer free or low-cost soil analysis. These soil analyses are much more accurate than home test kits are.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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gixxerific
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- Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
- Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B
Yes, that's right.cynthia_h wrote:Many counties offer free or low-cost soil analysis. These soil analyses are much more accurate than home test kits are.
You don't need to contact some fancy lab for a quality soil test. Simply get in touch with your local County Ag Extension office. Typically, they make it very easy to get a soil test... it's cheap, or sometimes free... and the results are detailed and accurate. Definitely worthwhile!
My only other advice is to "take it as it comes". You can't learn/do everything at once. Take your time, do what you can, learn as you go.
In my opinion, it's much better to do a little bit well, than to do a whole lot poorly.
Best of luck with the garden ... enjoy!
My SIL puts fresh manure on her garden every spring and it doesn't burn/kill her plants. Her process consists of: till; add manure; water heavily a few days; let dry; till again; water again; plant. Usually the plants and seeds are in the ground a week to two weeks after the manure is spread. And the stuff they use is FRESH right out of the barn, silage leftovers and all 
Too much work/tilling for my taste but just saying if done properly fresh manure can be workable in a short time.
Too much work/tilling for my taste but just saying if done properly fresh manure can be workable in a short time.
If your SIL also lives in Zone 4, it's probable that the cool soil temps of spring slow down the dispersal of nitrogen to the soil. In the Central Valley, soil never gets frozen solid for as long as it does in the northern prairie states, so the release of nitrogen will be *much* faster.Dixana wrote:My SIL puts fresh manure on her garden every spring and it doesn't burn/kill her plants. ... but just saying if done properly fresh manure can be workable in a short time.
Cynthia