Some veggies doing well, however, some not so well. Need advice

[jemagsy]

Okay my garden is actually not completely dying this year!! Yay! Knock on wood.

I am trying to use as few chemicals as possible even though people keep pushing miracle grow on me and wanting me to put 10-10-10 in the soil. We did burn some wood this year, as we're trying to thin the woods, and make fire breaks (we live in a heavily wooded area and our forest hasn't been managed in quite some time). Where we burned our plants are doing wonderfully. My pumpkin vines are gigantic, the watermelon vines are growing well too, and the one set of corn and beans is doing quite fabulously.

I tested the soil yesterday where things aren't doing so well this year though and the results were that my soil is EXTREMELY acidic. The test kit was reading less than 5.0, but not quite sure how low as it didn't go any lower than that. There's virtually no nitrogen or potash in the soil and phosphorous is okay. The soil kit gave recommendations of what to add, but now I need to choose a fertilizer that is organic. I need help and suggestions please. I'm trying to increase the number of bees in my garden (am growing bee balm to help with this) and using companion gardening techniques in some areas. Below are the recommendations - any help is MOST appreciated thank you.

Oh yes this area of garden is quite different from my upper (mostly clay) garden. It appears to have been part of an actual field a number of years ago and is mostly loam, more sand than clay.

Lime - 4 lbs/ 100 sq ft (instructions specifically state no more than 5 lbs / sq ft) With this I can just use regular old lime correct?

Nitrogen (recommended 21%) - 22 oz / 100 sq ft
Potash (rec. 48% K2O) - 11 oz / 100 sq ft
Phosphorous (rec 17.5% P2O5) - 6 oz / 100 sq ft

Thanks again everyone.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

Hi,
Do you have any of the Rodale organic gardening books? Like the encyclopedia and others. They probably have them at your local library. They will have lots more advice than I can give, but I use lots of fish emulsion, bone meal and lots of leaves piled on as mulch. I pick up grass clippings and leaves that people put out for collection in front of their houses to put in my compost pile and to use as mulch. Build a compost pile, because you are going to need that also. I have heard that dolomitic lime is best. I have not used lime much because with all the compost, the soil seems to be just about right. Don't use pickling lime. Good luck. It takes a little time to build up your soil. It will get better and better every year.

 

[jemagsy]

Thanks I've got a compost pile going right now, but it has fresh chicken litter in it and is just from since the beginning of the year (not done yet). My compost from last year I tilled into my "upper" garden where everything had issues last year. (Tomato blight, wilt, powdery mildew, pests galore, etc).

I don't have those books - I have Carla Emery's Country Living encyclopedia which is kind of generalized and a few permaculture books which are more long term strategies. The only Rodale book at my local library is this one

Title Your organic garden with Jeff Cox
Author Cox, Jeff
ISBN 0875966241

Are you familiar with it? There are no reviews on Amazon, but the "official" reviews pen it as something to do with his PBS show??? I don't really watch TV and the only things I watched on PBS in the past was that pioneer & pilgrim show and yes "Painting with Bob Ross." I assume this is a decent book? I will pick it up tomorrow and see... *fingers crossed* I will also go by the feed store and tell them what I need or call County Extension. Thanks

 

[digitS']

Jemagsy, there are things that come with various materials such as those that influence pH, for instance. But, just in general . . .

Your requirements are:
Nitrogen: 22 oz
Phosphorous: 6 oz
Potash: 11 oz

Or an NPK ratio of about:
N: 4
P: 1
K: 2

My OG encyclopedia doesn't provide a specific formula for that much N relative to the other elements. I find that disappointing since often garden vegetables require a healthy amount of nitrogen to grow well, my soil (and many) has adequate potassium, and organic forms of phosphorus often break down slowly and don't make the P available quickly, anyway.

I use Whitney Farms fertilizers in my veggie garden. I thought I'd see how those products test. Whitney Farms All Natural Lawn Food is 8-2-4. How about that?!?

It is just double the amount in the same ratio.

Steve

 

[wifezilla]

I would plant blueberries all over that acidic soil!!!

 

[jemagsy]

Thanks ya'll I had no idea how to convert.

I know - seriously if I loved blueberries as much as I did blackberries I would be all over that with a huge blueberry garden!