Trying to start a vegetable garden, have a question about soil mix.

Discussion in 'Gardening' started by VeritableHypocrisy, Jan 23, 2014.

  1. I have a question, if you guys would be so kind as to answer. 
     
    I am planning on growing a nice veggie and fruit garden this spring. We've already started our tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries indoor. However, the question is not about them; it's about the soil which I've produced for them.
     
    How does this sound like it would fair? I have the following in five-gallon containers, that I've mixed together from our farm;
     
    Per 5-gallon container:
     
    1 gallon - Chicken Guano, powdered.
    2 gallons - Worm Castings, including earth worms to continue producing them.
    1 gallon - Rabbit Manure, ground into powder as well.
    1 gallon - Composted wood shavings that have been mixed with fish bones.
     
    I take this and mix it with a 30/30/40 combination of vermiculite, perlite, and peat soil.
     
    What do you guys think of this mixture? I plan to place it outside when it's warm enough, in a large garden that we have. Keep in mind that I have no intention of adding chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or anything, to the garden. I'd like to be fairly close to organic, if possible. I've never grown without fertilizers/etc before. In fact, the only plant I've ever successfully grown was alpine strawberries, which I grew in compost-rich soil, but not this rich. 

     
  2. #2 corkybuchek, Jan 30, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 30, 2014
    Sounds like a plan mr veritable hypocrisy

    It looks like your soil is mostly compost and organic material. In nature there is usually around 5-15 percent of organic material while the major bulk of soil is occupied by mineral, water, and oxygen. So consider adding any where between 25-45 percent (per volume) of minerals including light rocks (not heavy), sand and sand fines (silt), and clay. The clay in particular is a key a buidling block of soil if you're looking to make a garden soil with long term nutrition , water retention, production of soil enzymes, and resistance to pests and disease.

    It does look that you have a very good quality soil

    Wonder what you think about sand and clay?
    Corky
     
  3. The garden I grow every year I use 10-10-10 along with lime pellets and  peat moss. till it in and plant my garden.  My tomatoes I have to put cages around them because they end up being between 7 to 9 feet tall when done growing.  my sugar snap peas I plant in feb they like the cold weather.  I have to stake my pepper plants because they grow into big bushes covered in peppers.  I even crossed a big birtha bell pepper with a habanero and came out with my own strain of big bell peppers that are hot!!  Great for salsa and cooking with.  My squash usually end up over 3 ft around with heavy yields. my broccoli ends up with heads on them over a couple of pounds.  My brussel sprots produce nice large ones all summer long.  My green onions when have to many of them I smash them down as they grow and get large onions that way.  My chowder peas get real heavy in yields. my watermellons just go crazy. 
     
  4. Thats cool miss baracuta. Don't think I ever seen a hot bell pepper. Nice
     
  5. It took me 3 years of cross breeding to come up with it but its great!  Would like to eventually possibly sell the seeds down the road but for now im still just enjoying it on my own along with my family.  Picky on who I will let grow it because as said took me a long time to get to the heat I have in it now.  I can grow just about anything when it comes to a garden and have been gardening for over 40 years.  Took up the hobby with my dad when I was a kid and love doing it.   But now am trying to grow some smoke and its my first time growing but so far its not doing bad.  Only time will tell.  plan on taking my plants to the flowering stage in next 2 to 3 weeks will post pics when done to see what everyone thinks.  Am growing different then everyone else though am growing in an AeroGarden I won playing poker online.lol won another 2 nites ago so now have 2.  But am using the knowledge I know from growing a garden so they are doing good so far
     
  6. Funny, I started out growing in aero garden. It went terribly and now I only garden soils. We don't get a very good pepper season up here. Other heat loving plants are lousy unless you are quite experiences or have green house. The herbs and vegetables are a good harvest though. I am gardening those and trying to think about what to grow this summer. It is usually the accidental garden, you know I throw loads of habanero and jalepeno seeds out the window
    So it should be good
     
  7. Mine are around 15 inches high right now and I can extend my aerogarden to 3 ft.  The smell of the weed is strong to while it  is growing.  makes my mouth water.  lol  Im using 5-11-26 fert and have candy bud for the flowering stage.  Also fert 5-11-26 is great fert for tomattoes
     
  8. I shouldn't say it's lousy. Now that I actually think about it i saw some really great mildew free Hot peppers in farms around the area. 
     
  9. Thanks for the advice; I was actually going to mix my mixture in a ratio of 30:70 with the vermiculite/peat moss/perlite mix, but had forgotten to specify. I've never used clay in gardening before, I must say. In fact, the last place I lived where the soil was mostly clay, I emptied out an area for my garden, then placed black tarp over it, filled it with organic potting soil and fertilizers, then planted my plants.

    @MissBaracuta; I don't use fertilizers in my gardening soil anymore, unless it's just for flowers. I just tend to use whatever bits of nature's bounty I have available to me. However, that sounds like you get some BEAUTIFUL yields from your garden. Last year a tomato growing in a mixture not quite as strong as this one had over a 10 foot radius in horizontal growth. When frost killed it, we ended up giving over 50 pounds of tomatoes to chickens and donkeys.
     
  10. I use a aero garden to keep my momma's going very well and happy and I just keep cloning her. Did try some lowrider in it the first run and did ok.

    Made a maylar shade an taped it to the hood an kept it long so when you extend the hood it still covers the base.

    Will post a recent pick of my blue dream momma.

    Old man of the mountian.
     

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  11. #11 VeritableHypocrisy, Feb 23, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 23, 2014
    That's pretty. This is my greenhouse and my seed starter. Most of my tomatoes have gotten really "rank," as my girlfriend calls them. ( To her it means high nitrogen, but not quite overdose levels. ) 

    All of my stuff, everything, is grown in my soil mix once the true leaves show, and it just explodes with growth. We grow tomatoes of several varieties, peppers of several varieties, snapdragons, grape hyacinths, horsemint, chives, ivies, cacti, eggplant, broccoli, chamomile, sage, rosemary, oregano, all sorts of stuff. Mostly, we supply it to local companies for sales. 

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