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34 Comments
hello hello.. did you get frozen in your place?
Hmm maybe because it was recently posted, but do your videos not come with captions? Im guessing it takes time to upload that as well…. -deaf farmer
Perfect timing. I was just watching videos for amending heavy clay soils. Our new acreage is all clay. It's going to be some in-depth work over there. At home we have some amendment work to do also. Thanks in advance.
I love ALL MIgardener videos!
What is the pH of the WATER you are adding to your jar of soil. That is what your test strips are measuring without that jar setting for days in the water.
Great timing on amending for root crops. Thanks so much because you saved my radishes from just being pretty leaves!
Seawater adds trace minerals or Sea-90
I'd love a breakdown of bloodmeal, bonemeal and fertilizer, especially focusing on the quantities and incorporation since the bag directions are so extrapolated that my 4×8 beds could easily get too much or too little. And would you ever amend (loosen) soil texture with coco coir? Great info as always, thanks for sharing.
What can I do with my lemon rinds? I'm told I can't put them in my compost, but we use lots of lemons and I hate just putting them in the trash. Will they ruin my compost pile? Love your channel and look forward to every new show.
I don't see much about amending a highly alkaline soil. My soil is highly alkaline and clay. I have added compost every year and it is getting better but I haven't seen much about soils like mine.
You said some sand for your carrots can you also ad some sand for your lettuce beets spinach radishes??
I just posted a question about soil! Lol! Looking for books about improving soil health, rejuvenating, including plants that can be grown to extract/add/correct components.
Great video Luke. 😊
My husband and I were at your store yesterday. I picked up my blueberry bush and many other goodies for my garden. Your staff are very helpful and kind. Thank you for all you do.
Can you add new organic soil? My beds look like the soil got washed out a little bit and I’m unsure if that will help.
👍❤️👍❤️👍
I've got an interesting challenge with my garden. I'm on a well and my well water has high Ph. So it tends to make plants chlorotic. It makes my soil too high in Ph. So I have to regularly lower the Ph and supplement beds with iron. It drives me a little crazy having to constantly deal with the problem, but amending the soil is to important. I also love using alfalfa pellets. It is much easier than buying seeds to grow a cover crop.
Love your posts.
I have 3 compost piles new pile 1 year old pile 2 year old pile . I am trying to amend my sandy soil I have made a vibratory screen to mix top soil and my compost. How much compost is to much I have been doing 50%.
Genius ph test strips testing method!
Thank you so much! Just what I needed.
My soil is holding so much water that it's a muddy mess. It is mostly compost. Should I add sand?
why does your trifecta have pictures of root crops if you dont use it where your growing them? @11:15
This is awesome!!! Thank you!!! Would you do another video even more in depth?
Do you separate all those worms before you apply the compost?
I till in partially composted fall leaves and sometimes add in some (powdered) Azomite.
For the NPK, I use organic tomato fertilizer or Alaska Fish Fertilizer. And on occasion worm castings. I reserve chemical fertilizers for hanging flower baskets.
Nice thing about Azomite is that it also contains much needed calcium.
Pelletized gypsum helps break up heavy clay soil and it too has that much needed calcium.
Great, timely reminder about amending raised bed soil! Thanks, Luke.
Any ideas for amending a bed for textures AFTER I've planted asparagus crowns? I thought I had added enough sand to what it really pretty good soil, but with the first watering in and now three days of heavy rainfall, I see standing puddles on my bed.
Great content Luke. One thing to mention about your method of determining the pH of the soil with the pool strips. That method is also dependent on the pH of the water you are using. Some places that use well water could have very different pH water… some very acidic, some very basic. Also, tap water usually has to gas off any additives and the pH of the water after 24 hours will be very different from what it is directly out of the tap. As such, regardless of your water source, when performing this test, the best option would be to go out and buy some distilled water from the grocery store. Distilled water will have a perfect pH of exactly 7.0 without any dissolved solids, gasses, etc. Most grocery stores will have it in the water aisle by the gallon jug, just be sure to get the gallon jug marked explicitly as 'distilled' water, and not purified drinking water or spring water.
My beautiful, dark, muck, very high nitrogen soil doesn't like growing root crops (beets, carrots, radishes…). They hardly germinate at all, and the handful that do don't produce. This year i am going to do raised beds for my root crops so i can control the soil. Here's hoping!
Potatoes and onion sets (onion seeds dont do well here) do just fine, no real complaints there, although size and yield could use a little boost.
You should sell the compost you make! So many manufacturers are selling bags that are way too small and the quality is always a gamble.
My radishes didn't form shoulders at all and I ot what looks like a small carrot underneath if that. I was using that liquid formula of Masterblend, Calcium Nitrate, and Epsom Salt. Would that be too much nitrogen or is something else off?
haha – is that snow falling in your video?
Your beds are well established and only 12” inches high, so there may be some compaction over the Winter months but little, if any settling. Whether new last year, or only a few years old, many beds which are 2 feet high or higher probably settled (not just compacted) at least 6 inches. In many pics I’ve seen on social media of raised beds, it appears some people have only topped up their beds with compost, often including a lot of small wood pieces or chips.
I would suggest that simply adding only compost, coconut coir, peat, or perlite (& sometimes potting mix), in my opinion the content missing is actual soil.
I would also suggest whatever is added needs to be worked into whatever is already in the raised bed, rather than just adding it to the top.
Would appreciate your thoughts.
You aren’t fixing the soil by adding chemical fertilizers