Garden

[Mimi 1883]

@Biftu  My husband always used miloganite on our plants and it worked wonders. The smell was obnoxious, but the results were great. We've both cut back on the amount of gardening we do now days, so haven't used it in several years. 

[lovesallanimals]

Is there such a thing as using too much manure?  I buy the composted cow manure from home depot, put it down on my beds in April and then plant end of May.  My tomatoes did very poorly the last two years as well as my cucumbers.  I don't know what I am doing wrong.  I had tons of cucumber leaves and flowers but maybe three cucumbers, that was all.  Hardly any tomatoes.  I also added some good garden soil.  I don't know if it was the heat (east coast) or what but I was so disappointed after working so hard.

[JustJazzmom]

@lovesallanimals  Did you plant the tomatoes in the same spot? That could be one reason for them doing poorly. I feed twice during their growing season Epsom salts around them as they take magnesium out of the soil. I usually put the Epsom salts down in March ; sprinkled over the top of the unplanted soil. And I add it again to them in July. I also side dress with an organic fertilizer in July. 

I know peppers are heavy feeders so they need fertilizer monthly during their growing season. Also yield increases with peppers if you plant more than 1 plant. 

[lovesallanimals]

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

@lovesallanimals  Did you plant the tomatoes in the same spot? That could be one reason for them doing poorly. I feed twice during their growing season Epsom salts around them as they take magnesium out of the soil. I usually put the Epsom salts down in March ; sprinkled over the top of the unplanted soil. And I add it again to them in July. I also side dress with an organic fertilizer in July. 

I know peppers are heavy feeders so they need fertilizer monthly during their growing season. Also yield increases with peppers if you plant more than 1 plant. 

JusrJazzmom - do you rototill everything into the soil or just let it sit on top until ready to plant?  Also do you mix any manure into the soil or just use the Epsom salts.  Thank you so much.

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[JustJazzmom]

@lovesallanimals 

I sprinkle the Epsom salts on top of the soil & with rain it washes itself into the soil. With composted  manure, I lay it on the top and as I plant the vegetables it gets mixed in with the soil. 

This year with the pandemic, I didn't get to the store in time before planting, so was using Espoma Plant Tone until the stores ran out of that. Then I switched to sprinkling Rose Tone around each plant. 

I figure with planting the plants, the manure gets mixed into the soil. I don't own a rototiller but a spade or shovel, turning over the soil with the manure works just as well. My veggie garden is small -- 20 sq. feet. 

In July, I reapply the Epsom salts around those plants that need it -- tomatoes & peppers. I then do what is called 'side dressing' of the composted manure around the sides of the plants. 

[lovesallanimals]

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

@lovesallanimals 

I sprinkle the Epsom salts on top of the soil & with rain it washes itself into the soil. With composted  manure, I lay it on the top and as I plant the vegetables it gets mixed in with the soil. 

This year with the pandemic, I didn't get to the store in time before planting, so was using Espoma Plant Tone until the stores ran out of that. Then I switched to sprinkling Rose Tone around each plant. 

I figure with planting the plants, the manure gets mixed into the soil. I don't own a rototiller but a spade or shovel, turning over the soil with the manure works just as well. My veggie garden is small -- 20 sq. feet. 

In July, I reapply the Epsom salts around those plants that need it -- tomatoes & peppers. I then do what is called 'side dressing' of the composted manure around the sides of the plants. 

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JustJazzmom:  Thank you so much for all your help.  You always give such thorough and extremely helpful advice.  I will do what you do next year.  Thanks again!

[Growing]

Such interesting replies! Where I live no one uses Epsom salts in the garden, not even the big organic guru on the radio. Corn meal is the big thing. I know soils are different in different areas. We have black clay so manure helps make it not so clay like. I can't stand the smell of bagged manure so I don't use it. I also use mulch on the top of the soil to help retain water in our summer heat. I am currently using two products: Garret Juice Plus which adds organic nutrition to the soil and Medina Hasta Grow in a spray bottle that you put on your hose. You can google these. I purchased the wrong Hasta Grow formulation, was for the potted plants, trees, or growing plants, and sprayed down the back lawn and some of my houseplants yesterday to use it up. You spray it lightly on the leaves to feed them. Then we got rain and I am noticing in one day every outside plant has shot up, the grass also. Could be the rain but I am going to get the Hasta Grow for lawns and use that next. It's still warm here.