fertilizer/amendments - how quickly they affect soil
 

First time gardener (beyond a few greeny house plants)

My question is how readily available are the fertilizing components in
stuff like composted manure, blood meal, bone meal, aluminum sulfate,
triple phosphates, liquid seaweed?

Do they need to be broken down some before plants will really accept
them. I'm sure with liquid fertilizers they are ready to be absorbed
becuase over time they risk being washed away. But stronger stuff like
the aluminum sulfates and triple phosphates...how long before they get
working? How long before ph changes (from aluminum sulfate) show up?

Two of the four transplants have some yellowing. Two low lying parsley
branches have yellowed. This happened on another in rich soil when it
got damaged--which might be the case here. The rest of it is okay so
far. The other is some chives and the bottom are yellowing. I may not
have hardened it enough, maybe I shock it too much tranplanting. I'm
just worried the yellow is from lack of nitrogen or too alkaline soil
or both.



Here's what I've done up to now...

My landlord is letting me use a 12'x6'plot near my patio for
gardening. The soil seemed pretty bad. For the last two year it always
looked dry and sandy and at most only a few weeds would pop up.

I did a soil test on the original sandy stuff (from about six inches
down). Ph of 8, no nitrogen registered, very-very low Phosphurous and
heavy potash. to amend the soil I dug out the top 18" (12" along the
front where a drainage pipe ran through the ground). I got rid of the
lowest clay stuff. I added about 5-6 cu.ft. of peat moss, composted
manure, humus and vermiculite (amending heavier on the higher soil). I
probably kept about 9-11 cu.ft of original dirt. I also got rid of
about 1 cu.ft of rocks and pebbles. Looking back I think I should have
probably amended it more.

I did another test. Ph was down a little, Nitrogen still didn't really
show up, phosphurus was at low level(better) and potassium still
heavy.

I then focused on the top six inches, adding a mix of different
fertilizers. My readings say that a variety of fertilizing components
may amend the soil better that just one type. I used Blood meal, bone
meal, triple phosphate and aluminum sulfate. The last two I went a
little easy on because they are the strongest and the phosphate is
less of an issue. I watered my seeds and transplants with rainwater
(collected in a tub below the roof runoff) with a drop of liquid
seaweed (a little weaker than recommended).

I'm going to do another test by sunday or monday...I'll be digging to
plant tomatoes and peppers.


If nitrogen is still low does that mean I just need to wait for the
fertilizers to break down and work?


I wondered if there is any condition that would cause such an absence
of nitrogen. I assumed it was just the lack of dead plant materials in
the soil. Of the 15 cu ft I unearthed, I saw only 5 earthworms. I did
bust two cocoons (1.5" long, gooey inside) of who knows with the
shovel. I dug up absolutely no roots, and outside of the top inch or
two, no twigs or anything plantlike. With the exception of a few seed
types, most have broken ground. Top growth is not noticeable, but
we've had such dreary weather the last week+ it may just be due to
lack of sun.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)