River
Senior Member
Posts: 125
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:18 pm
Location: Mobile

Need to build up the soil now

One of my plots doesn't drain to well. It's not clay but old swamp land that was filled in the late 50's. Nothing sinking just tends to hold water like clay but doesn't get hard like clay either when it dries out. I brought in some garden soil with a lit of compost last year which helped, but it wasn't enough. Now I enrich the soil with horse manure plus the required amount of lime after a soil test came back from auburn univ. Then I planted a cover crop of Crimson clover which I mowed on Tuesday, and then yesterday I tilled it under. Some areas were okay for tilling and other areas were muddy.

I plan on planting okra in a few rows and then the rest legumes southern peas. So I figured I coukd rake a lot of the shredded leaves plus some soil conditioner ( fine bark) and mix it in to build it up. Otherwise it will continue to be a problem. I have one pile of compost I made last year to add. I figured I woukd concentrate test in the areas where I am planting the okra. I woukd think the nitrogen that gets used wouldn't be a problem with the legumes.

Do u think this will help? I know finished compost is what I need, but I just don't have that amount now.

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Sand and peat moss can be used to build that up some.
Sand, gravel and concrete companies have sand and likely soil too. Look in your yellow pages for Concrete.
They are all the time moving soil, sand and gravel. They might have some good topsoil sitting around?
The local outfits here will let you toss some in a PU truck for little to nothing. If you want a dump truck full
it will cost some.

Mr green
Green Thumb
Posts: 372
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:08 pm
Location: Sweden

Plant some different greenmanure seeds and mulch them down in the soil, with this method you might hafe to offer a season for most of the plot tho. Or plant your okras and the greenmanure seeds on the rest of the field if possible. (Leaving a bit space for your foodcrop.)



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