How to Manage Soil Fertility the Organic Way

Soil is the foundation of any successful organic garden. It is impossible to raise bountiful harvests of healthy organic fruits and vegetables unless you start with soil free of the toxic chemicals and noxious poisons found in most commercial herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.

Things You'll Need

• 5-gallon bucket with lid
• Brown sugar or molasses
• Kitchen strainer or window screen
• Spray bottle
• Shovel
• Pitchfork

Instructions

Homemade Liquid Organic Fertilizer

1. Save all your vegetable and fruit garden waste: banana peels, apple cores, orange peels and produce trimmings. Coffee grounds, tea bags and stale bread can also be added to the mixture. Do not include meat or fatty kitchen waste.

2. Place the food waste in a 5-gallon bucket. Add 2 cups of brown sugar or 3 cups of molasses.

3. Fill the bucket with water. (You may use plain water or save cooking water from potatoes, rice, pasta or vegetables. This water will be rich in nutrients.)

4. Seal the bucket or container with a tight-fitting lid. Place the bucket in a shed or cool place out of the way and just forget it for six to eight weeks.

5. Strain the mixture into another 5-gallon bucket. Use an old window screen or kitchen strainer. Set aside any remaining solids. (The solids should be sprinkled on the garden and cultivated into the soil.) The liquid can be stored, tightly sealed, to use as needed.

6. Dilute the mixture with water and place in a spray bottle or garden sprayer. Use 2 to 3 tbsp. of the mixture in a quart of water. Gently spray a mist of the mixture on garden flowers, fruits and vegetables weekly. The diluted mixture can also be used to water the garden or container plantings.

Start A Compost Pile

1. Start your compost pile on bare soil. This will allow friendly earthworms and beneficial micro-organisms from the soil to integrate into your compost pile. Straw, hay, grass clippings, leaves, manure from herbivores (sheep, cows, goats and horses), pine straw, untreated wood chips or sawdust, shredded newspaper and cardboard and organic kitchen waste can be added to the compost pile. Any combination of organic waste can be used.

2. Turn your compost pile. Use a shovel or pitchfork to manually agitate the compost to add needed oxygen. Turn the pile at least once monthly. You may prefer a simple pile on the ground or you can erect a fence around the pile to contain the organic materials. There are also several different models of home compost bins available from home and garden centers that stir, roll or mix the materials for you.

3. Add compost to your garden when tilling in the spring, or sprinkle around the base of established plants and cultivate into the soil.

Rejuvenate An Existing Garden Plot

1. Put the garden to bed. At the end of the season, don't worry about pulling weeds or removing old plants or corn stalks. Simply cover the entire area with a heavy layer of 18 to 24 inches of organic mulch: straw, grass cuttings, manure, peat moss, compost or dead leaves and debris.

2. Purchase organic clay-based cat litter; a pound for every square foot of garden surface. Scatter the litter on top of the mulch layer. Sprinkle blood meal on top of this mixture following label instructions.

3. Water to saturate completely. Cover the garden with heavy, black landscape sheeting available at home and garden centers. Secure the corners with heavy rocks or planks. Leave the garden at rest until the following spring. In the spring, remove the plastic covering and till the material into the soil. Rake and level and the garden is ready for planting.

References

• Soil Preparation
• Soil Preparation For Sucessful Gardening

Resources

• Soil Preparation and Garden Layout