I've talked about WHAT I am doing to feed the plants, but I haven't fully explained it. So I will lay it out here, and then I will have it for next year, and you might get ideas for your own little patch of peaceful garden. I tried really hard to make good choices for my soil blend. I mixed and blended and thought that was groovy. At this point, I suspect that the ratios were wrong, as I see more bark in the soil than dirt. The ratio was 2:1 and I blended 2:1... Oh well. I don't have time to stress on that right now. I followed the directions I was given. Next year, I will made better educated guesses on what I need to amend with. Here is the 2 types of soil I started with back on 3-10-13:
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This blend is working decently, but I should have added in 20 pounds of Rabbit or Chicken Manure. It would have really helped. Since then, I got a few more bags of various "all in 1" type soils, since I had more containers and I ran out of good dirt. One was by Miracle Grow, and the other was a moisture control blend, that helps the plants retain moisture without getting over watered. You can be sure some of that will be in next years blend too, all through!
The soils are groovy, but they do not have enough nutrients on their own. The plants would grow, but they would not THRIVE. I need an abundant garden, so I have to boost the soil with nutrients. I am actually doing this several ways. Once every 2 weeks, I take 4 batches of coffee grounds and the shells from several eggs, and I crush them up REALLY GOOD. Then I take the mixture out, and scoop it out equally onto 5 plants (4 tomatoes and 1 bell pepper). Every Monday, I crush up 5 TUMS tablets into powder, and spread that equally between the same 5 plants. Every 4 days, I give the same 5 plants a tsp of Epsom Salts. The dosage on the Epsom Salts works right now, but will increase soon because of their size. So far, I also used Miracle Grow plant fertilizer, when the 5 plants were failing to thrive a few weeks back, the one time. I will be using that about once every 2 weeks also, unless the Manure works out for me better.
Yesterday, I picked up 2 buckets of free horse Manure. Most of it is already dry, and the lady looked at me crazy when I told her I wanted the older dryer bits instead of the most fresh. I gathered it all, but really wanted the dry stuff. It had been sitting longer, and would have less "hot" time. {Ok yea, I might have been stupid, as I now have it out in compost bins and need it to get hot.} Anyways, I blogged about that yesterday. I made the Manure tea. Tomorrow, the tea will be done sitting, and I can strain, dilute, and use it on anything that doesn't produce product underground. In my planting containers, it might be hard to keep it to certain plants, but slow drip irrigation with soda bottles might make that more possible. I will be applying the tea every week on Wednesdays.
After making the Manure Tea, I realized I had a TON of manure left over, so I started researching. Soon I was scooping grass clippings out of the green waste barrel, and adding them to the poo, mixing and dampening and added a few handfuls of my soil blend in too to help add microbes. I put lids on them and set them in the sun. I will add our bucket of kitchen compost to the bins and stir them daily. within a month, I should have SUPER SOIL *grin* I am seriously considering using one of the green waste buckets for composting, those grass clippings were HOT!
I don't KNOW what I am doing, I am learning on the fly, and making adjustments often. I hope that it all works, I am actually desperate that it all work, as my grocery bill could use the break, and our dinner plates could use the variety.
Meanwhile... I need more dirt.
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