I would like to get to the point where I can raise my vegetables without using commerical fertilizers. For the last couple of years I have been putting my goat manure on my garden when I planted with some chemical fert. also. For the last two years my cucumbers have taken a blight and have not produced. My lima beans are all vines and no beans, my dad says that he feels that I have gotten the soil too rich for the beans. I have planted turnip greens where some of the manure rows were planted in the spring and boy do my turnip greens look good in those areas. You can tell exactly where the old rows were. Do you think that the manure is what caused the problems with my cucumbers? Should I put my manure on the garden during the winter months instead of adding it when I plant?
I am with your dad on this one, to much nitrogen. I would stop using the chem fertilizer and just use composted manure.
I agree! I never use chemical fertilizers. Even when I had to dig a hole out of a barren Texas suburban back yard and plant a garden the only thing I added was composted cow manure. I had six foot tall squash plants that produced like crazy! This coming Spring I'm starting all over in MS and don't have any intention of putting any kind of chemical on my garden.
Lush growth with scanty fruit is the classic sign of too much nitrogen. Not sure what's going on with the cukes, though! (Maybe try planting them in a different spot next year?) Goat manure (or any other manure in the form of 'berries') can be added directly to the garden as a side-dressing ... doesn't need to be composted first.
I have 8 compost "bins." They are 3 foot high and 3 ft in diameter wire cages. I compost goat poo, chicken poo, straw, grass clipping, branches that have gone throw the chipper shredder, kitchen scraps that have been pulverized in my Vita-Mix and some wood ash. I think using straight goat poo (or any poo for that matter) would be too strong. I do Square Foot Gardening and I mix 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 existing soil (it is on the sandy side) and 1/3 of my ho-made compost. I add a little lime and stuff grows good. I do prepare the soil during the winter and then just stir it up before I plant. michele
Try adding some straw, a few wood ashes, and maybe some moldy hay that your goats spilled out onto the ground. Too much poo= too much nitrogen. You need a balance.
