I second compost!

Again, scale. What is your second-favorite for use when you haven't enough compost?

Mine is composted horse manure, because I get it free for hauling and they have 8 years from 4 horses built up. It also has good microorganisms. A secondary additive would be the hay used for mulch, and tertiary would be the cardboard that is under the hay in my walkways.

What is your second-favorite for use when you haven't enough compost?

First would be all the mulch that was on the gardens last year plus the cover crops I planted last fall. You can guess how I get all those into the soil. :)

Then all the compost and leaf mold I have been making since I used up the piles and bins last year.

Then, just because I have a very alkaline soil and low magnesium - mag sulfate.

Every 3 years I add a good dose of trace elements. I had used greensand in the past but next year plan to try Agricola's 4-8-4.

Dave

Agricola's stuff certainly has got some serious goodies in it, judging by the label.

I had nice results with some certified organic dehydrated chicken manure last year. Where I applied that together with azomite results were pretty remarkable, good sustained production in the face of sometimes quite dry conditions without irrigation.

Favorites:

First - compost (microorganisms,nutrients, soil structure,etc)

Second- Leaves (minerals,mulch, food for microbes,etc)

Third- Cover crop (prevents erosion,holds/recycles nutrients, mulch)

Fourth - woodash (minerals,cheap,underrated/bad rap, convenient)

I wonder how much trace minerals are in the greensand? The agricola fetilizer sounds like great stuff! But it seems like you canget azomite much cheaper! I thought azomite was expensive! Agricola just seems like azomite, glacier rock, ocean fish with a bunch of fillers... Wonder if you'll be better off with pure azomite?

Thanks for posting guys,
Joe

Chronic use of woodash can push calcium and ph high over years. It's a good additive especially for legumes but best not to overdo it. I've watched it kill worms on contact.

Right if you use pounds of the woodash, but a light dusting here and there will remineralize soil without any negative effects. I throw a handful on my garden just about every week, my pH stays at just around 6.5. Chronic use of anything doesn't sound like a great idea. You are correct, I wouldn't go dumping buckets of woodash at a time in the garden.

Thanks,
Joe

I add compost and sand. Sand helps with drainage and air to the roots. I read some one used the hair dryer to air his plant roots especially the potted plants. To me it is a little extreme.
I know that the plant thrives has enough air to breathe that why I add sand I had huge crop of sweeat potatoes when I added 50% sand to the potatoes bed.

@foolishpleasure,

what kind of sand do you use?

thanks,
dean

My favorite mix for filling raised beds is a mix of half compost and half fines from the gravel company. That's a sort of rock dust byproduct from crushing and sieving gravel. It's like a lovely fluffy sandy loam....without weed seeds ;).

I have a red clay soil. When I say "clay", I mean there is a brick factory down the street.

My favourite additive - especially when breaking a new bed - is peat moss.

Then sheep manure.

And homemade compost.

Leaves.

Wood chips. Last a long time, free, and the most efficient per shovelful for adding carbon to the soil (denser than leaves, compost, ...).

To me that is stretching the meaning of "remineralize". The fly-ash from burnt hardwood is overwhelmingly potassium and calcium oxide, with also, I learned recently, some mildly radioactive isotopes that the tree will take up in place of K. These were spread all around the continent during the years of above-ground weapons testing.

In acidic soils as in much of the east the calcium oxide is helpful, and in a constant cropping situation the potassium oxide will be removed quickly enough.

Compost is great, but there's never enough to go around, and sometimes you need soil amendments with a little more punch. The famous organic horticulturist, Alan Chadwick, taught that the best of the animal manures is cow, and I have found that it is a very good material for the soil. It needs to be composted for four or five months before use, but then it provides just the right balance of nitrogen and humus.

If adding sand, it is far better to use sharp sand than the stuff that comes out of rivers. Wood chips rob nitrogen out of the soil while they are breaking down, and this process can take years. Peat moss is very acidic, so I would be very carful of adding much of that. Check out the link below to learn about Chadwick's Biodynamic French Intensive system Click on "Techniques" and then on the subject of interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

Things have changed a bit since the days of Chadwick.

Poultry manure is highly nutrient dense these days, moreso than cow (especially in N), thanks to 1980s+ factory farming methods and supplements in their food.

Peat moss is rinsed by a whole lot more suppliers before bagging/bulking/selling which takes down the acidity and salinity...especially if you buy from a quality supplier.

I have a good local peat moss bog...spaghnum. I love what is does to clay loam.

Because I never have enough compost, I add bought cow manure here and there, and have also started using worm castings (they're pricey to buy, though, and I don't vermicompost yet)

Homemade compost as long as it lasts.

Cover crop. I couldn't possibly say enough good about its ease, price, and effectiveness.

composted horse or chicken manure. They are what I can get and they are both excellent. My soil is very nitrogen poor.

In a pinch, in the heat of summer, or when I just need a little filler for a raised bed that has diminished in mid summer, bagged Cow Manure.

ialbtc "It All Leads Back to Compost"

You Know You are a Compost Whacko When.......