06/03/07, 11:12 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 626
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The following is my opinion only - based upon experience and some research.
The gardens alive fertilizers are very good. I buy a big bag of the vegetable fertilizer, tomatoes alive, and the root crop fertilizer every year.
More importantly though, the basic soil needs replenishment from a broad and diversified compost mix. The key word here is "diversified". Compost should be from a variety of inputs and if possible from inputs that have at least a few items that are NOT indigenous to your area. The reason I believe this to be true is other areas are higher in certain nutrients than your specific locale. Using compostable materials from other areas add's a broader spectrum of nutrients to the mix than you would get form using exclusively indigenous sources. In my compost that usually consists of adding some alfalfa pellets or alfalfa hay and straw from central washington (I live in western washington) which has a very different soil and ecosystem. I also add kelp from the nearby beaches - adding nutrients of the ocean environment. And, everything else that is "compostable" goes into my heap - tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells, apple cores, orange rinds, ashes from our wood stove, ... it's a true hodgepodge of stuff that goes in. What comes out is more likely to cover a broad spectrum of nutrients (both macro and micro).
About every third year, I add rock minerals to the gardens in the fall. Green sand, Phosphate Rock, and Limestone.
Lastly, I use mulches that are incorporated back into the soil (decomposition or added in to the compost pile in the spring) and green manure crops.
All of these practices coupled with a light application of organic fertilizers (I use gardens alive) at planting time and mid season on heavy feeders - has produced excellent results over the years and soil that constantly improves rather than deteriorates.
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