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| So, you knock yourself out to make the best soil, add compost, worm castings and all your other favorite ammendments, etc., and then you discover that some vegetables you want to grow actually PREFER low fertility.
Duh.... What are you supposed to do now? How do you convert your beautiful rich soil beds into junk food for carrots, arugula and the like? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by phytolacca (My Page) on Fri, Aug 5, 11 at 10:50
| Scrape up all that yucky high-fertility soil and dump it somewhere. I'll reluctantly take it for you, for a fee. |
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| Ha! Very amusing... |
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| Most all plants will grow best in soils well amended with organic matter that are evenly moist but well drained, and most plants will grow best in soils with a pH in the 6.2 to 6.8 range with balanced nutrients. However, you also need to look at what you will be planting to be sure that the soil you put them in is what they want. Chili peppers seldom will develop the flavors and heat if grown in the same type of soil that sweet peppers need. Most Herbs evolved in lean and mean soils and will not develop the flavors we want from them in a rich soil. Root crops, such as carrots, do not need, or want, soils with lots of Nitrogen but do need balanced nutrients to grow. It is not low fertility or rich soil or dump a lot of this or that because plants prefer to grow in soils with balanced nutrient availability. This is one of the reasons why I tell people to get a good reliable soil test periodically. A good healthy soil wil have between 5 and 8 percent organic matter and an active Soil Food Web as indicated by earthworm activity and the presence of centipedes, millipedes, pill bugs, etc. |
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| "Duh.... What are you supposed to do now? How do you convert your beautiful rich soil beds into junk food for carrots, arugula and the like?" That's one of the benefits of rotation; plant high demand crops in the rich soil and follow with less demanding. Last in the cycle is usually a legume, to replenish some of the extraction. You can plant a "mop crop", something to use that excess N. Reap & compost the tops. I have to disagree w/ kimmsr about earthworms...one can have a "good healthy soil" with nary a lumbricus to be seen. |
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- Posted by rosiew 7 GA (rosemarywalsh@bellsouth.net) on Sat, Aug 6, 11 at 9:50
| Sorry, don't know where I found this below, but the point is arugula should do really well in the soil you have. Don't know about carrots - never plant them. Arugula is a cool-season annual, meaning that it is good in spring or fall. Plant in full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. Like any herb or vegetable that needs to grow green leaves, arugula will benefit from compost and/or fertilizer. Water when the soil gets dry. Then all you need to do is enjoy its distinctive, seasonal flavor. |
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