Maybe look into lasagne gardening. That's sort of what you want to do.

Why not just start your own compost pile? That's the best annual amendment. Egg shells don't break down fast enough to be of any benefit this year but they can be composted. Coffee grounds will add a bit of nitrogen but not much else and they too take time. Better to compost them. Had you been adding them to the bed all winter there would be some benefit but it would take alot of them.

If you don't want to use synthetic fertilizers then your best bet is to find a source of some good ready-to-go compost or some well-aged manure or composted manure to work into the bed this spring. Then start working ahead for next year. Soil amendment is at least an annual thing - better yet 2x a year.

Meanwhile, do some reading over on the Soil Forum here - it is the most relevant to your question - for lots of ideas on soil improvement.

Dave

I know you said you don't want to buy any compost, but unless you piled compost-type materials on the bed last fall, you'll probably have to add some nutrients.

Not all nutrients stay in the soil over winter, they're washed out by rain and melting snow and need to be replaced for a decent crop. Soil is a living thing and needs feeding.

The quickest way would be to buy a complete organic fertilizer. I get 5 lbs (for 100 sqft of area) for $10, but my source mixes his own, and I don't know if that's average or not.

The advice to build a compost pile was good, but if you want to use it ASAP, keep all the additions small, and don't let anyone talk you into putting branches and sticks on the bottom, they're only good for long-term piles and their nuisance value. Turn it every week or 10 days for quickest decomposition.

Another idea for next spring is to put your garden area to bed in fall with a thick layer of mulch, and let it break down over the winter. In spring, rake off the excess, maybe add a little compost or organic fertilizer and plant again. This method also keeps the weeds down, and the soil may be so nice that you won't have to till or dig it much, if at all, just fluff the surface a bit to even it out for planting.

Sue

Yeah, I just never know if I'm gonna be in this house the next year. Thats why I never start my own compost pile.

I caved in today. Bought Organic Choice Blood Meal and spread it in the tilled dirt. Hope that will do for now.

Thanks for teh replies Dave, Sue and tracydr

If you are not an organic purist, you can just add fertilizers
from the bag, like 10-10-10,,13-13-13. Farmers who plant tens of acres
do not use compost. CT soil is pretty good and does not require
addind compost. Compost is more of a soil amender than fertilizer.

I used to live in CT and agree that the soil is good. My parents grew tasty tomatoes every year when I was a child. They only used the compost made from whatever we raked up in the yard.

I don't recommend adding fertilizers if you haven't done a soil test. You may cause problems rather than fixing them. For example:
According to Cornell, too much nitrogen makes tomatoes more susceptible to infection by late blight, which killed a lot of tomatoes last year in the Northeast. Blood meal is going to give you a lot of nitrogen, so be careful with it.

I recommend that you test your soil, either with a DIY kit or by sending samples to a lab, and then use that information to determine what to add. If the test says your soil is fine, you don't need to buy any fertilizer.

During winter when there is plenty of leaves in my front yard and the street, i bring them and scatter directly into the garden. By spring, they are half-composted and I till them and/or plant directly above them. It has greatly helped my heavy clay soil and now I am getting radish/carrot double the size I used to. You may want to try that too if you have access to leaves.

Interesting...the soil seems better after leaving some leaves under soil from last September..

I put down blood meal which is 10-0-0. lol I'll test the soil tomorrow.

I usually have better yeilds then my family in Westchester, NY..they always said its CT soil.

But since moving to this house the soil is not only so compacted but looks very depleted. Last years weather didn't help at all.

Your veggies should mirror the condition of your soil, to some extent.
If the foliage is nice green, not pale, then nitrogen level is ok.
But if your soil is lacking organic mater, nitrogen can be depleted fast
where there is a lot of rain, such as in CT. On the other hand
potash and phosphorus can stick around much longer, as they are not
mostly water soluable.For this reason "N"itrogen should be added regularly,
be it as manures, compost or out of the bag fertz.
Nitrogen seems to be very tempting to plants as they will absorbe as much as they can.
This can cause a lot of foliage, even burn(good for things like grass, lettuce..)
But not very good if you want flowers and fruits.