Lesson 7: Vegetable Gardening
Preparing Your Soil
Good soil that is properly prepared can make all the difference in a home vegetable garden. Adjusting the pH, breaking up clay and adding just the right amendments can make almost any garden a success. But, be realistic: if you have hard pan clay, or other unworkable soils, go to containers or raised beds. Gardening is supposed to be enjoyable, and always fighting against bad soil can dim anyone’s enthusiasm for gardening.
If you don’t have the time or confidence to mix your own soil blends, there are excellent pre-mixed soils out there. Kelloggs makes several very good bagged soils, which I use all the time. They are a well balanced blend of nutrients and produce great results.
If you want to make your own blend, start with well rotted compost, manure, bone meal, superphosphate, and soybean or cottonseed meal. If you mix these together and age them for a week or so before planting, it get most young vegetable plants off to a good start. Bat or seabird guano offer excellent alternatives to steer manure. They are widely available and don’t cause the burning that steer manure can.
Once you have dug the soil amendments in, water them well to help them to break down. These will give your plants a gentle sustained lift right up to midseason. High nitrogen amendments increase the risk of burning your young plants and only promote excessive greening. You want the energy going into fruit production, not greenery.
A weekly boost with liquid kelp, fish emulsion, or MiracleGro, will help keep them growing strong and healthy. Once the fruit starts setting, stop all feeding until after the first harvest. Before you know it you will be biting into that first sun-warmed tomato or crisp, sweet cucumber.
Topic of Discussion: What are the benefits of growing your own vegetables?
