What did you do in your garden today?

[R2elk]

Mine is extremely low in nitrogen too, the only place I can grow things has taken me years of work and mixing chicken manure in. I’m about to expand my garden spot for next year and I plan on getting as much horse manure as I can to start turning into the soil. At least inside my fence is better. I’ve had animals fertilizing and clover growing in it for years. Next person to get this property will be far better off.

If the horse manure is from stall cleanings with bedding and urine included, it will be extremely "hot" for nitrogen. Plants such as beans and peas cannot tolerate such high nitrogen levels. If it is just the road apples it will be great.

 

[Messybun]

If the horse manure is from stall cleanings with bedding and urine included, it will be extremely "hot" for nitrogen. Plants such as beans and peas cannot tolerate such high nitrogen levels. If it is just the road apples it will be great.

I’m going to try and get some from a stable or something, not sure yet. Seeing as I do not have horses I’ll see what can I get. It will Either be rotted down first or mixed directly with my bare soil over the winter. Depending on when I can get it.

 

[tortoise]

I'm shopping for wheat seed. I have a short list of about 20 varieties I'm interested in. I contacted the seller to ask which on my list might be better choices.

 

[flowerbug]

here are a few other potential additions to garden soil that nature might provide for you that i didn't mention in my previous post.

pigeons can do some seed and bug harvesting and then would bring it back and let it fall around their platform/coop/roost. we have had a lot of mourning doves here that wander around and harvest weed seeds and then provide fertilizer i just don't have a single roosting place for them so they distribute their contributions in various spots around the gardens. the killdeer also can forage the surrounding areas and bring nutrients back.

peas and beans planted in rotation. field peas used as a cover crop. buckwheat.

any food wastes buried deeply enough. i try to not put anything in the trash for the landfill that can be eventually used by the gardens. we don't really get many bones or carcasses of chickens or other animals here, but when we do i will bury them in a garden before throwing them away. if it is just a bone or two i'll put them in the worm buckets and let the worms clean them up and then eventually the contents of the worm buckets do end up in the gardens and those bones too will be out there. it may take several years before the bones get degraded enough by a soil community to crumble completley but i'm not in any sort of rush. in the past there were such things as bone grinders which could speed this up, but we don't have anything like that or even a garbage disposal grinder in the sink. i suppose if i had one outside in a big sink that would work, but i'm not about to get another gadet like that when nature will figure it out in it's own time. i do know that Mom doesn't like to see bones around in the gardens so if they are poking out of the ground i'll rebury them. funny enough i've never had a raccoon or other creature bother them. once the worms clean up a bone there's nothing left that the raccoons care about.

 

[Mini Horses]

I walked in mine. There's still some grass but not near what I saw last year. So a fall till soon should help. If weather (winds) cooperate this week, I'll burn off first. Disc, rake...dump manure, till, pray for best! early till in Spring...plant! Hope we don't have excess rain this coming Spring, like this past one. Many farmers had crop issues then, not just home gardens! Yeah, we were wet!!!!

 

[Messybun]

here are a few other potential additions to garden soil that nature might provide for you that i didn't mention in my previous post.

pigeons can do some seed and bug harvesting and then would bring it back and let it fall around their platform/coop/roost. we have had a lot of mourning doves here that wander around and harvest weed seeds and then provide fertilizer i just don't have a single roosting place for them so they distribute their contributions in various spots around the gardens. the killdeer also can forage the surrounding areas and bring nutrients back.

peas and beans planted in rotation. field peas used as a cover crop. buckwheat.

any food wastes buried deeply enough. i try to not put anything in the trash for the landfill that can be eventually used by the gardens. we don't really get many bones or carcasses of chickens or other animals here, but when we do i will bury them in a garden before throwing them away. if it is just a bone or two i'll put them in the worm buckets and let the worms clean them up and then eventually the contents of the worm buckets do end up in the gardens and those bones too will be out there. it may take several years before the bones get degraded enough by a soil community to crumble completley but i'm not in any sort of rush. in the past there were such things as bone grinders which could speed this up, but we don't have anything like that or even a garbage disposal grinder in the sink. i suppose if i had one outside in a big sink that would work, but i'm not about to get another gadet like that when nature will figure it out in it's own time. i do know that Mom doesn't like to see bones around in the gardens so if they are poking out of the ground i'll rebury them. funny enough i've never had a raccoon or other creature bother them. once the worms clean up a bone there's nothing left that the raccoons care about.

I wonder if you could smash the bones, like with a hammer. Would it speed up the process?

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I ordered fertilizer and soil supplements if that counts 🥕

 

[Messybun]

I ordered fertilizer and soil supplements if that counts 🥕

I looked on at my not even fully plotted out next years garden before realizing I’m too tired and not dealing with it right now. So, yes doing anything counts!!!

 

[Hinotori]

I cant slog through the mud and water enough to do anything.

 

[flowerbug]

I wonder if you could smash the bones, like with a hammer. Would it speed up the process?

you can, but if nature will do it without you having to work like that i'd rather just bury it and let the soil community figure it out. i'm not offended by finding them in the gardens. in the worm bins i found out that the tiny millipedes tend to congregate near or in them so they might be the soil community members in charge of that part of the cycle. i have heard of people breaking them up and then doing some kind of process with fire and smoke to create a very nasty smelling substance called bone tar which can then be used to coat the bark of trees to keep animals from chewing the bark but i've never done anything like that. i suppose just burning the bones would also break them down faster but the smell is probably not great there either. i'm all for keeping things simple. if they'll get reused by burying them then i'm good with that.