"Billy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"SteveB" wrote:

Because of some health reasons, I did not get a good start on my
gardening
until late this year. I do hope to use the next cool months to get
things
ready for next year and get a jump on things.

All of the cantaloupes, watermelons, and pumpkins I planted this year
failed
dismally. They had yellow leaves and tiny fruit. This was the first
planting. I had a sandy area where there was a water head, so I added
about
five bags of amendment (turkey shit based locally suggested stuff) and a
bale of peat moss. I did have sprinkler heads on there, but when I
thought
it may be watering too much, I put bubblers on there with lower water
flow.

For next year:

Should I till more amendments in there? Should I mound it up? How much
water, and how often for about six plants? What fertilizer, and how
often?
The lady at the nursery suggested three things to mix in there, blood
meal,
cottonseed meal, and another I can't recall, which I did. She was really
hyped on using natural things rather than chemical fertilizers. I do
have
access to all the horse and cow dung I want to collect right next door.

Help appreciated.

Oh, 3700' elevation, XXtreme SW Utah. Right on the lines zonally, but
6-7
he

http://extension.usu.edu/forestry/Ho...inessZones.htm

Soil, blowsand, but the garden and these areas have been amended with
quite
a bit of organic materials.

La Verkin is the closest town to our burb.

Steve

Maybe you need to add clay.
--
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why
the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj
http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm

I shall take that under advisement and ask about it the next trip to the
nursery. The gal there knows a LOT about plants, but I wouldn't want her to
date my sister.

Steve