Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Health Management Program
Every soil is different, but many of our soil management practices are similar across
most soils, especially in the beginning. Later, specific micronutrients can be addressed.
Here's a program I've developed over years of working both on my own garden and the
gardens and lawns of clients. There's flexibility built into the program based on how far
you want to go and on your soil conditions.
There's no such thing as a recipe that works on all gardens. I've tried instead to give you
the procedures to find the solutions that will be best for your garden. That being said, I also
want to give you some basic recipes so you can see where to start.
All of the measurements given are per 1,000 square feet.
Fall
If you're reading this in the summer, wait until fall to do these first tasks. If you're read-
ing it in the winter, you can do these things in spring along with the “One Month Before
Planting” section.
If your organic matter is low, add good compost that you've made or purchased. To build
organic matter, I suggest at least three yards, which is about one inch over the whole area.
If you don't have or don't want to pay for that much, that's okay. We've seen how less than
½ yard is plenty to bring in the biology and nutrients. If this is a vegetable garden, you may
deeply till or double dig this into the soil the first year. Otherwise, you may lightly incor-
porate it into the top few inches of soil. On the lawn, rake it down into the grass. If you
want, you can split this in half and apply half in spring and half in fall.
You'll also want to maintain a mulch layer in the garden throughout the year. Leaves are
generally the best choice for this, but straw or even a small amount of wood chips would be
helpful, too. Sheet mulching is another great method of starting a new bed that I often use.
Send a soil sample into a good soil lab that offers Reams testing and hopefully base sat-
uration testing, too. This test is important, so it's not optional. When you get the results
back, do what they say to the best of your ability. A soil test is the best way for most of us
to know which of the mineral products to use, as we don't want to go adding minerals
without knowing we need them.
The main products you'll be looking for are liquid calcium, calcitic lime, gypsum, and
hard rock phosphate (or preferably soft rock phosphate). You may need other minerals, and
you may consider calcium nitrate and MAP at 11-52-0. Then look at molasses and other
biostimulants to help unlock soil nutrients.
One note I'll add to typical soil lab recommendations is to spread the applications out in-
to two to four times throughout the year, if it's feasible. For example, if you need to add 40
pounds of calcitic lime, you could do 20 pounds in early spring and then again in late sum-
mer. Plants and microbes prefer continual access to a small amount of nutrients rather than
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