How to Enrich Garden Soil

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By JackLTrades
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Here are a few tips to making your garden a fertile place for growing organic tasty veggies.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

One of the basics is egg shells. Spring is the best time since it will also benefit the nesting birds. Dry your shells in the sun or just on the counter. Crush them in a paper bag with a rolling pin. Now spread over the garden. Calcium is a great addition to any soil and the birds will thank you.
An added method is to put a teaspoon or so in the bottom of each hole as you plant your tomatoes, this helps prevent bottom rot on your fruit.
Step 2

If you have a fire pit or fireplace you have access to charcoal. This was a trick of ancient peoples for enriching soil. Break the coals into smaller pieces and add to your soil. This aids in aeration like vermiculite and provides nutrients to the soil. Avoid plain ashes unless you need to reduce the acidity of your soil. Have a test done to determine that.
Step 3

Now for my black gold sure fire magic ingredient. Mud. Not just any mud either. I scoop the blackest goop from the bottom of my favorite pond. This is some of the best organic matter there is. It is already broken down fully and will have almost no weed seeds. A little smelly but not so once mixed in and dried out. This is also where the charcoal comes in as it is very dense material and will set very hard is not mixed in.
Step 4

There are also the standards we all know, horse, chicken, and cow manure. Compost from the kitchen, Leaves and grass from the yard, but you know that already

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