On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:08:44 GMT, wrote:



Last year was my first year for my current garden. It was previously mostly
lawn grass. I dug up the grass and buried most of it. In the fall I got a
pick-up truck of mushroom soil and tilled it in real good...as deep as my
tiller would go. I didn't add any ammendments after last growing season or
at the beginning of this one. I did use some Miracle Grow directly around
the plants a couple times last year but none this year. I did use some
"slow release" Miracle Grow around some plants this year but only once at
the beginning. In the fall last year I dug trenches and put all the
collected leaves, almost exclusively Norway Maple, Lilac, and Burning Bush
then coverd them with soil. I also threw all the kitchen scraps (just the
plant based), coffee grounds, and egg shells, as well as the fall gord
decorations, onto the soil. They were tilled in this spring. The leaves
were burried sufficiently deep, or decomposed over winter, such that when I
tilled this spring I didn't see much evidence of them.

Now my questions:

1. Is mushroom soil a good soil ammendment?

2. If it is how often and when would be the best time to add it, fall or
spring?

3. If there are better ammendments what are they and when should I add
them, fall or spring?

4. Based on what I have described, what am I doing right or wrong?

Many thanks,
sparkie


Thanks gang for the responses!

I'm not sure if the soil was "used" or not but I will find out when I go
for more this fall. It was actually left over from a friend's purchase. He
said is stunk quite badly when it was deliverd but by the time I got it,
several weeks later, it didn't smell. I'd rather smell manure than city
smog any day!

In addition to adding all I described I also sprinkle the wood ashes from
my wood stove in the garden throughout the winter.

I'd like to have a compost pile but I have a small yard and haven't decided
just where I'd put it yet.

cheers,
sparkie