I've been making soil by using 1/5 sphagnum peat, 1/5 sand, 1/5
cow manure derivative, 1/5 organic humus derivative and 1/5
perlite. I've been told that seaweed is good to use in place of
some of one or two of the above.

I'm currently mixing some beans and peas in between some of the
corn stalks, and I'm worried about the heat that is starting to
develop. The nights are around 70º F, the days between 90º and
100º F. I see the way the heat is affecting the tomato plants and
pepper plants. The pepper plants die very easily when they lose
their shading cover tomatoes. So I've started placing some basil
around the area to provide cover as well as deter some bugs. I
don't know currently if basil will be able to withstand the heat
though. But the corn, is doing very well as long as there's not
another corn stalk placed to close and the watering is kept up
on a daily basis.

The peas are placed in a mostly shaded area, as the packaging
indicates that they are susceptible to heat and don't like too
much heat.

And I've read that legumes and all plants in general require NPK
in a 1-2-1 ratio. So I'm thinking that I'll probably need to buy
some bonemeal but is that the best way to go ?

The beans and peas are to be used as Nitrogen fixing, but that
leaves me to wonder about the current soil situation and the
amount of phosphorous in the soil (sand). It would be really
convenient if there was a "tea" or some sort of solution that
could be applied on a daily basis.

How would one determine the contents (NPK) of the current
soil (sand in my case)? I think I've seen some kind of gizmo
at Home Depot that determines the acidity of the soil, and it
was advertized to do something else as well, but I'll have to
take a run back there to see what it was.

Thanks, Doug Kanter, for your response about the Tomatoes.
Once my sister returns my car to me... :-) I'm wondering if there
is an online version of that book, "Crockett's Victory Garden",
anywhere ? Would be more useful in a digital format for me,
than a paperback or hardcover version.

--
Jim
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