T wrote:
Hi Songbird and All,

I was told that alkalinity blocks the "cracking" of
nutrients from the soil.

think of it this ways, life is mostly mediated
by water and water is a great solvent for almost
everything. the more life you have going the
more likely the pH will adjust to "neutral" aka
7.0pH. that is just how it goes...

there are certain plants that prefer different
types of pH. you can learn how to evaluate an
area by looking at the plants that grow and
knowing this.

yes, it's true that high pH will make certain
nutrients less available to plants. but some
garden veggies are ok at higher pH too (spinach,
beets, cantaloups, cabbage, ...). another
approach is to add some sulfur, gypsum, ammonium
sulfate or iron sulfate. if you also add a little
clay that helps hold nutrients too (it doesn't
take much).


Now I have used the self same compost from the local guy that
everyone else uses for years. They grow wonderful vegi's.
I got small harvest of small fruit. Compost did not work
for me.

compost is only a part of the story. good
topsoil is a mix of sand, clay and loam with
some compost added to keep the bacteria/fungi
happy. compost itself often has very little in
the way of nutrients. it is a long term and
slow release fertilizer. gives surface area
to bacteria and carbon source for fungi to
break down.


I am thinking that I am looking at compost all wrong. I
should look at it as nutrients and not as anything that
will create soil from dirt blown in from the desert winds.

in sandy soil compost often breaks down a
lot more quickly too if there is enough water.
what you want to do is add some clay if you
don't have any clay at all and plenty of organic
material too. the clay will help hold both
water and nutrients.


And compost, or any fertilizer, won't do any good, unless
I change my soil Ph to crack to nutrients from the
compost. (Peat holds water and changes the Ph.)

compost added will be better than nothing, but
too much peat moss will also not do much as it also
has so very little nutrients.


And, I have been asking around. The folks with success
with the compose also bought his soil as well, which
I did not do (can't afford it).

Am I on the right track or am I all wet?

building topsoil in a poor soil situation takes
time. i've been at it here for a long time too
and it is coming along, but it doesn't happen
overnight. in an arid climate i think it will
take even longer.

have you ever looked around for free fill? some
times people advertise it.


I am ready for next year's crop of weeds! Free compost!
I wonder if the chickens will dare show up. Chuckle.
I may have to switch to bolted purslane.

chickens?

the growing of a winter cover crop will help.


songbird