Easy free outdoor soil preparation

[Corto Malteze]

I've been browsing a few gardener sites in my part of the world in order to know when manures placed in the hole are ready for planting. From what I read, the soil can be amended with (horse) manure1 month (2 to be sure) before planting (end of Fall, Winter, beg. Spring). If you amend in April, the soil will be ready in June. However, when planting, to be sure it doesn't burn, cover the manure with regular soil when planting so the small plant isn't in direct contact with the manure. It will reach the manure after on its own. You can add a thin layer of manures or rich potting soil/compost at mid level of the hole so they have nutrients quicker.

To avoid hauling too much soil, use what's there (just bring manures, meals and the peat -light-).

- If your native soil is clay (thick, pH varies):Add 50% of river sand (free) and manures, worm castings, compost. They will air out the soil. Don't add a lot of peat or Promix (they don't mix with the clay which already retains water). Clay soils (high sodium soils) benefit from gypsum (little consquence on pH) which brings Sulfur and Calcium. Add lime or ashes or eggshells if the pH is too low. Add stuff with Sulfur if the pH is too high.

- If your native soil is sandy (thin, pH varies?): It is poor in organics. So add some manures, compost and/or potting soil, w.c. , peat moss. They will thicken the soil. You can keep half of the native sand and mix it all up. If you don't use peat, add some clay instead 30% (retains water and will thicken the sand).

- If your native soil is black soil : It is very rich organically (found under trees, humic ... very acidic, a lot of Nitrogen): Add ashes (or lime) to lower and neutralize the acidity. Ashes from natural wood (no paints or toxics) work the fastest (2 months for the soil to be good approx.) Dolomite lime takes longer to work. Ashes are depleted faster though. Use ashes on top 2 months after manures placed. Don't mix ashes with fresh manures. The ashes or lime will make the nutrients accessible to the plant. Black acidic soils have many micro organisms like manures and compost. They are naturally amended with goodies but are very hot (acidic).

- The top layer (5 ") of most native soils is richer than the rest so you can use it. The deeper layers are washed out and no good.

-Cover the manures with 10 cms (3-4 inches) of mulch: grass clippings (desintegrate fast), leaves, sand (not benef. for micro-organisms but handy ), compost, cardboard (no print), shredded branches and leaves (="muching"), pine bark (stays long but acidic), linen, cereal mulch, saw dust... This will let the manures decompose without being washed away by the rains and keep the temperatures warm. Put more mulch once you've planted.

- It's best to amend every year in Fall/Winter if you can keep the same spots to have the best quality soil. The more time you give it, the more micro-organisms and worms you'll have for your plant. Thus, although the manures in the hole are ready after 1-2 months (separate them from the roots), preparing the soil at the end of Winter or early Spring (for a new hole) will give more time for the micro life and worms to develop and help your plants (3-4 months or more is best). The worms eat the manure and make wormcastings and more worms (!). Also add some good compost/potting soil with the manure to have even more micro-organisms. Choose the spots wisely (don't rush but do it before April max -here-, best when it just starts warming up) and count 1 month minimum to plant.

[OldPork]

Very useful information. I can vouch for the clay. When I began growing the ground was so clayish that the stuff rolled off the shovel in wide strips. After a few years of amending the earth is dark and loamy and great for growing. Mulch works wonders, each year it works itself down into the earth and decomposes. Then the earthworms come in and do their job. I was reading a thread from a professional nursery owner who said that perhaps the one thing that helped him succeed was to learn to put the nutes BELOW the root ball, and let the plant "find" the food source.

[cantharis]

Porky, what do you use as a mulch?? I am sure I have read it, but forgotten.

[BeachSpliff858]

corto maltese, oldpork, & cantharis.....the three wise men.....and the only reasons a lot of us have anything to show for our grows....you guys are honestly the shit, im hoping for a bunch more threads like this this season, keep it up.



later

[Corto Malteze]

Originally Posted by BeachSpliff858

corto maltese, oldpork, & cantharis.....the three wise men.....and the only reasons a lot of us have anything to show for our grows....you guys are honestly the shit, im hoping for a bunch more threads like this this season, keep it up.



later

hahaha Beachspliff. It's a "ghetto" soil mix. And it can save you risky trips hauling heavy soil. And it's fun to know how you could amend this or that type of soil. It's always a guideline when you do your mix outside. I don't know how easy it would be to mix some sand and some clay though... I never tried! But I'll be using peat and whatever is out there, I can't haul all that soil. Sand will drain the water and nutes so I won't add too much. The acidic humic stuff I won't use!!! The manure and rest will be good enough. I hope my pick ax doesn't hit too much clay or rocks. Do you guys know if sand can be mixed easily with clay (like they said on this site I saw)? Scouting is close to being finished over here. The weather is slowly warming up. I didn't want to rush before finding the spots.

[greenmeany]

sticky anyone? id plus rep you but i cant lol

[BeachSpliff858]

my (main) spot is a clearing in the woods, the ground is grass, about 1/2 inch- an inch of topsoil which is decent, and clay the rest of the way. last year i had pretty good success with digging 2x2x2 holes and filling them with straight potting soil, which was good, but expensive. this summer, im looking to have many more plants, so something that could save on cost would be great. keep this thread going




later

[Corto Malteze]

Yeah, any help with the ghetto outdoor thread is good. Thanks guys!

[cannabisblunt]

through my research i have found out that coco coir is supposedly good for clay soils. i am going to experiment with it this year. i read that it expands a lot, so this should help with carrying it to the site as well.

If you dig out the clay you can always reuse it and make pot leaves out of it for decoration, that's my plan, my soil is 90% clay, so I'm glad you put this up because I was going to use promix in my soil amendments and I'll just stick with the compost and maybe some coco coir if the local nursery has it already.

Thanks again for the great info +rep!

[Corto Malteze]

Originally Posted by cannabisblunt

through my research i have found out that coco coir is supposedly good for clay soils. i am going to experiment with it this year. i read that it expands a lot, so this should help with carrying it to the site as well.

Good news CB: thanks! I'll see if I can get some of that. Some of my spots might be clay.

Yes, Firstimah, don't mix peat and clay (OldPork's warning and experience). We'll see how the coco coir and clay mix.

Also if you have a lot of clay, just throw it most away, mound at bottom if it rains a lot, not if it doesn't, and just use sand, some peat/coco and manures before.

Feel free to help out. Digging a dozen holes is one thing, but bringing all the soil for all that is a BIG job, (+ watering) so any outdoor tips and tricks are welcome.

I have some camo spray painted bins that I pre-mixed all my outdoor soil in, well 3 bins, To get them to my plot I bought an old wagon and just upgraded the wheels to be about 3-4" thick rubber wheels so that transporting them down the railroad tracks it wasn't noisy at all. Plus it saved me some back pain, of course I did have to lug them up to my plot once I got near it, but it saved me a ton of time to do that, not to mention pre-mixing my soil at my house in bins allowed me to test the pH and get that correct before putting it into the ground. I think also putting some mulch on the top 2 inches of my hole will help out a lot when Spring comes to keep moisture in and reduce watering.

[Corto Malteze]

yeah a wheelbarrow or small wagon is great to haul dirt (and water for those spots a bit far from the water source). I just hide my wheelbarrow in some thick underbrush with a tarp. Camo paint is cool though, IK'll look into it. Thanks Firstimah.

[Afghan#1]

Would that list include cow manure?I was thinking of using horse or rabbit manure,but I found a 40 lb. bag of cow manure at the farmers coop for $1.95 and for the price I could'nt say no.

I'm planning on digging my holes at least 18" deep and filling them halfway with manure and the rest of the way with wormcastings mixed with the black soil thats there already.That will also be mixed with water absorbing crystals to reduce the amount of water I have to haul in.



Thanks.

[Corto Malteze]

Originally Posted by Afghan#1

Would that list include cow manure?I was thinking of using horse or rabbit manure,but I found a 40 lb. bag of cow manure at the farmers coop for $1.95 and for the price I could'nt say no.

I'm planning on digging my holes at least 18" deep and filling them halfway with manure and the rest of the way with wormcastings mixed with the black soil thats there already.That will also be mixed with water absorbing crystals to reduce the amount of water I have to haul in.



Thanks.

Cow manure has less nutrients than the horse but it lasts longer in the soil (several years). So I don't know. Most guys like OP, Cantharis, Oldskool etc ... use horse manure.