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juliameli

Reducing Nitrogen in garden soil

juliameli
8 years ago

Hello,

this was my first year attempting to garden, I built a 6Wx12Lx2H bed and added some new soil which was very rich in compost. Thinking that more was better, I also added a bunch of manure to the bed and mixed it in thoroughly throughout the soil.

I thought I was having fairly good success for my first year but I did have a few reoccurring problems:

#1 BER: Most of my tomatoes and peppers were affected by BER. I originally thought that this was due to inconsistent watering and I'm sure that was part of the problem but from my research, it can also be exasperated by excess nitrogen in the soil.

#2 Pole beans producing vigorous vegetation but very few actual beans. I'm only now beginning to get a my bean harvest.

#3 Root vegetables having very large foliage with little root. My radish's are pathetic and the carrots I've picked have been little better.

#4 My most successful crops have been the leafy varieties which is generally consistent with a soil rich in nitrogen.

So my question is this: Going into next year, how do I amend my bed to attempt to correct this problem?

Here is what I was currently planning on doing.

  1. Adding wood chips: from what I've read, wood chips can leach some of the nitrogen out of the soil. How much to add is another question I haven't begun to tackle.

  2. Top up my beds. I didn't quite fill my beds to the brim this year, I figure I can increase the soil mass by approximately 10%-15% next year to "Dilute" the existing soil. Does anyone have any ideas on the best type of soil to add? I generally order a mix of organic triple mix and compost from my gardening center but I wonder if adding more compost is a bad idea.

3. Plant vegetables that do "better" in nitrogen rich soil. I'm planning on expanding my garden (More!) next year so I can limit what I plant in this soil to leafy greens and vegetables that tend to leach more nitrogen. I've read that squash and broccoli would be strong candidates.

Anyway, if anyone has any recommendations or thoughts, I would be glad to hear them. I consider this year a learning year as I have absolutely no experience growing anything. Despite the challenges (bugs, deceases, human error), I'm having a lot of fun and really enjoy the process.

Cheers,

Bruno

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