"Bill R" wrote in message
...
The moderator wrote:
I am building my first vegetable garden. I took some soil to be tested
and it was recommended that I put 8 pounds of 13-13-13 per 1000 sq ft.

My garden is only 160 square feet so I don't need very much. The Coop
suggested a small bag of 6-7-7 and using twice as much (2.5 pounds).
This makes sense, but thought I would check here for confirming advice.

What vegetables are you plan on growing? Quite frankly I don't understand
why your coop suggests 6-7-7. Also, they need to learn that using twice
as much is not (usually) as good a solution as using the right fertilizer
to begin with. Actually it might be better to use the amount that you
were told (8 lbs per 1000 sq ft) and use the 6-7-7 (if is is readily
available; that seems like a strange mix) and put it on now and then again
latter in the season.

I have an established garden and each spring I use about 1 pound of
9-12-12 per two hundred square feet at least a month before I plant
anything. Once the garden is off and growing on the heavy feeding crops
(like tomatoes) I feed them every couple of weeks using a liquid
fertilizer. I like the Expert brand (sold by Wal*Mart). It is as good as
the brand names and is much cheaper (but double what it was 5 years ago).
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Digital Camera - Pentax *ist DL

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

The 13-13-13 came in pretty big bags. I only needed 1 1/2 pounds of
13-13-13 so he recommended I buy a small bag of 6-7-7.

I am growing a lot of stuff since this is my first garden. I am going to
try and cram in the following.

Corn
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Okra
Peas
Cantaloupe
Potatoes

I bought an electronic soil tester. It was measuring my PH at about 7.3.
Maybe it was too cool to get a good reading, but I thought my soil was more
Alkali than the report showed.