Thanks Pat & simy. So far here's what I did:

I'm not really a granular guy so shot the bed with some calcium nitrate and
mag sulfate, but first scattered some pelletized lime (only type I had.) I
also sprayed both Neptune's Harvest (2-4-1) & Maxicrop seaweed powder
(1-0-4) at 2-3x rate. I may be able to score some wood ash from GF's fire
pit at her summer trailer but can't guarantee what else got burned there
too.

The drip system uses Plantex 15-15-18 w/Micros (soilless mix formula.) It's
on the trickle setting, I think 1000:1 (water to mixed fert) and runs
anytime the drip is on (usually around 30 min per day except rainy days.)
The bed is pretty much saturated from the rains the last week or two plus
the flooding I did--the driveway started getting wet after 15-20 minutes of
the drip being on. I also scattered some 14-14-14 Osmocote, though it's
pretty tough to scratch in now. Maybe put some fresh compost over everything
again? Or try spraying some high P water soluble like Miracle-Gro or Bloom
Booster? I also have some muriate of potash I can disolve & spray, and may
have some triple-super phosphate left but don't want to overdo things. Plus
I'm noticing we are going in 2 different directions--soluble vs OG. I don't
know how much OG can help this year and probably can add leaves & refresh
all or 4-6" of the compost in the Fall, or next year, but what's best for an
'04 crop? I always thought bone meal was slow acting.

Mark


"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
simy1 said:

I till in nothing and make sure to always balance acid things (wood
chips and coffee) with some wood ash, which has a pH of 10.4 and is
50% Ca and about 10% Mg (I have a wood stove and I store the ash in my
garage for spring and summer use). That does not yet balance
everything (where is the P?), but it is a good start. wood ash will
always be better than lime because it has a better nutrient profile
(besides Ca and Mg, it is 3% P and 8% K for example) and acts very
fast. Probably at this stage of the game (need a fast acting amendment
to try and get a crop out of these things), if I were to do things
blindly, a mixture of wood ash and bone meal would get those plants
kick-started. In fact, given a pH of 6.2, one could add 0.03 lb per
sqft and the pH would not go above 6.7.

In the long run, though, I think Mark ought to mineralize that soil --
rock phosphate, (probably dolomitic) limestone, and greensand or
some other potash-rich rock dust -- 'bankable' material. Even some
decently mineralized 'fill dirt' might work. (I've seen that happen by
accident in my own yard.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)