How would you amend this soil?

[Anythingbutmyrealname]

Hi I'm going to grow in a new area and got a soil sample to see what I'm working with.

It looks okay in places and poor in others (especially organics and P).
I'd like to use salts as will be using fertigation with drip lines. I have a well but haven't had water sample yet. I also have a shit-load of aged sheep manure (pun neither intended or removed) that I can top dress with.

I'm new to using soil (as evidenced by my other posts) so not sure where to start with this.

I think it's all in English as well as Greek but if something isn't hit me up and I'll translate.

Happy growing and thanks in advance.

P.s. if this is in the wrong section please move it!

 

[fishbuds]

Hi, fun times for you with a new soil test at your finger tips. Fun yes, but you have alot to sift thru to get to where you want to be. You seem to have lots of stuff in your soil, but it will all be locked up due to a few things:
1.ph 8.0 is too high to grow anything in optimal environment
2.ec0.8 is low
3. organic matter low

so all 3 of these go hand in hand to create a difficult soil. There are alot of ways to skin a cat, so dont be married to any ideas you hear, or see on the internet. Books are your friend. Read Solomon, Intelligent Gardener, and his Microbe book too. This will give you the backround you will need to become soil master.

Once youve read up, start simple, and add alot of "great" compost, and note its ph before you add it to the top. Then top the compost off with straw for mulch. If you want to bring in the worm army fast, add some clean horse poop.

The combination of the compost, poop, and mulch will start a chain reaction of events in your soil. The worms and other bugs, and microbial life will come to play in your new layers. This will do 3 things:
1. bring the ph alot closer to 7.0
2. raise the cec, which really is the most important change
3. raise the organic matter level quickly, which will help improve tilth, and go hand in hand with cec levels.

If, compost, poop, and mulch are difficult for you to procure, read solomon again. He leads you down a path of organic amendments to adjust weak soils. He also points you in the direction of green manures, follow him down the hole.

I hope some of this helps, soil is fun, but can be frusrating at times. Dont overdo anything, and dont panic, just invite the goodness to your yard, dont force feed it in there ;)

 

[Anythingbutmyrealname]

Hey man thanks for that I'll try find those books and have a look!

It's a very rural place so should be able to find manure... you say clean, what does that mean exactly?

I'm sure if I look enough I'll find this but what's a good ec? Also, I'm hoping to get plants in the ground around 4/20, do I have time to do this before then?

 

[below frigid]

Hard to lower ph organically. Sulfer but it's slow working but lasts. There are non organic options that work fast. Peat will help as the manure itself will help but also take time.

 

[fishbuds]

You can adjust the ph of the soil, simply by adding lime, or whackin' up a bunch a bales of peat, or both, so yes it can be done. But it is a short term fix. You want to build hummus, its the best way to organic soil. the ph will coome down over time as you continue to add more stuff, like: discarded fish bodies and heads are great, seaweed from a loaded up beach. Vary your mulches, and inputs, to give a well rounded 'meal' to the soil microbes.

Heavy tilling is not advised, we are looking for 'soil intergrity'. invest in a broadfork, and airate your soil without turning it into dust.

CLEAN HORSE MANURE = Fed 'good hay', and not feeding on horrible amounts of weed seeds, and invasive plants. And the less sawdust mixed in the better. Clean going in, means clean going out. But, if these horses are left to their own devices, and feeding on lots of bad stuff, that is what will wind up in your plot, bad stuff.

Dont fret over cec for now. tilthy up ur serl, and take it from there. Get cheap lettuce seeds and radishes, maybe some spinach, and just start planting in it, the plants will tell you if they like it before you have time to get another soil test done next year.

mulch, mulch, mulch, compost, mulch ;)

 

[fishbuds]

it takes time to build a soil, so 4/20 in the ground is not optimal. but there are a million super soil recipes you could mix, let cook, then dig a big hole and fill it with super soil, and plant in that, peeps do it all the time, especially those in clay.

 

[Anythingbutmyrealname]

Okay will see what I can come up with. Thanks for all your inputs, i think I will try sort this soil out properly after this season, the land will be ploughed as it had crops so will be starting from scratch anyway..

Not trying to sound stupid but does horse manure have straw with it?

Impressive pictures by the way, until I started messing about with growing weed I didn't have much interest in gardening..

 

[Anythingbutmyrealname]

@fishbuds hey couple more questions if you dont mind..

i spoke to some people i know and i have access to horse manure as well now. due to hot weather (~6 months of 30+Celsius) i'm going to do rows with plastic mulch and drip tape. do i amend the whole area in between rows too or just where the mulch will sit? the field currently has winter wheat that i can either wait till its ready and harvest or remove now. would the root systems be better preserved and just put manure on top or do i plough?

this is already becoming a bit of a headache for me, i tried to find the books you mentioned, i saw a lot of positive reviews but didnt fancy paying 14e for an ebook and nothing delivers to this stupid country! still enjoying the learning curve and process tho, this is definitely the best forum i've ever used.

 

[fishbuds]

@fishbuds hey couple more questions if you dont mind..

i spoke to some people i know and i have access to horse manure as well now. due to hot weather (~6 months of 30+Celsius) i'm going to do rows with plastic mulch and drip tape. do i amend the whole area in between rows too or just where the mulch will sit? the field currently has winter wheat that i can either wait till its ready and harvest or remove now. would the root systems be better preserved and just put manure on top or do i plough?

this is already becoming a bit of a headache for me, i tried to find the books you mentioned, i saw a lot of positive reviews but didnt fancy paying 14e for an ebook and nothing delivers to this stupid country! still enjoying the learning curve and process tho, this is definitely the best forum i've ever used.

OK, as for the books, I may still have both, I definitely have one of them on a shelf nearby, unfortunately, shipping to aus, is $30+. I would not hesitate to get the Teaming with Microbes book. It will be worth the investment, your soil and veggies will show their appreciation for your diligence. Skip the nutrients book for now, unless you wanna spring for it.

As for the land, I would harvest the wheat, harrow or till about 4"-6" deep or just enough to rip up the leftover grass but not till an entire foot of soil. then add the manure,compost, and anything else you can get your hands on with a decent ph.

How big is your plot(s)? if you have enough manure, just broadcast the whole plot, and work it in, then go ahead and create your rows. I mulch the walkways heavily too, if there is enough free mulch to go around. grass clippings work great(free), and so do burlap bags. Make friends with a lanscaper, and you will have all the grass clippings and leaves you could want.;)

Leaf mold will work for you. leaf piles as they break down to compost, the ph is typically very low, like peat low4.0-5.0. collect leaves over the year if possible, and make a low ph compost pile with them. they are free;)

if your soil is very heavy and compacted, tilling sometimes makes it worse- GYPSUM is a great ammendment, and an underrated one. Buy a 50# bag if possible, and use it accordingly.

so much fun, you are now entering the organic rabbit hole, settle in, get your reading glasses cleaned up, and enjoy the ride. if you dont mind, consider putting up a picture of your plot and soil, so I can see the colors of your palette.

Good luck, grow on.

And dont forget, you can use veggies to ammend your plot. Some root crops dig deep, ariate soils, and create microbial colonies while not stripping the soil of all its goodies. plant a bunch of squashes and pumpkins in an area, and throw a smashing pumpkins party in the plot, the worms will go absolutely nuts! then mulch it, let it sit for a few months, pull back mulch and voila, deepn dark soil with tilth.

See the mulch greens row, with the watering barrel, and drip lines ;)

 

[fishbuds]

oooooooh, my juices are flowing now! thanks for the jumpstart!

 

[Anythingbutmyrealname]

I want the physical book ideally so will look for that. If not I guess I'll get the ebook but I hate reading from a screen! (The fact this is an online forum isnt lost on me ha)

Harvest now or wait till June when the rest is harvested? The plants will be started in pots and wont go in the ground till then so doesnt make a huge difference to me unless I need to amend soil now.

I'll keep asking around, theres not a lot of grass here (or rich people with grass in their gardens) but I'm sure I know someone who knows someone.. worth an ask. From now on anything I can use I'll start collecting.

This plot is 4000m2 but I'm not planning on using all, even still I probably have enough compost and manure to give a covering.

Okay so gypsum is added to the list to research more, I remember a bit from my biochem degree (although not much).

I'll see what I can do re. photos. Imagine for now a light browny clay-y soil (38%!!)

I like the idea of letting nature fix nature, we plan on growing as much as we can and relying on the supermarket less. Smashing pumpkins sounds a laugh though might try that! I remember from when I was younger i learnt chicken shit needs aging, you know roughly how long so it wont burn? Does horse manure need the same?

You've got such a productive garden, we want to start a homestead when we know enough (dont want to go in without the knowledge, have you seen homestead rescue? If not it's worth it just to see what not to do)

Sorry for such long posts if I research myself I tend to gloss over without understanding too much, it's been over a decade since I tried to read a book!