When Do I Put Down Compost In My Garden?

lovesallanimals · ‎03-11-2010

I live on the East Coast and have a vegetable garden where I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. I am always confused as to when I should put down compost and some top soil to replenish my garden beds. Do I do it over the winter to let it seep into the earth or do I do it right before I plant in the Spring? Also, should I put down anything else, i.e. Peet Humus? Thank you.

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@JustJazzmom ?????

Our Master Gardner

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

JustJazzmom · ‎03-09-2010

@loveour4leggedfriends wrote:
I live on the East Coast and have a vegetable garden where I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. I am always confused as to when I should put down compost and some top soil to replenish my garden beds. Do I do it over the winter to let it seep into the earth or do I do it right before I plant in the Spring? Also, should I put down anything else, i.e. Peet Humus? Thank you.

Generally top soil is used to fix any dips in lawns. And most people no longer use or add peat moss or peat humus to their soil unless it is really poor. Peat humus is very acidic.

Generally compost is added to the sandy soils to make them more retentive for water to stay in them and added to clay soils to make them less moisture retentive.

I have a veggie garden and I usually add compost to the existing loamy soil I have on the East coast in around April. Then I turn over the soil before planting any of my cool season veggies like lettuce and say broccoli. In the mid summer I re-add more compost to the soil along side my plants (tomatoes, peppers) but also squashes and eggplant can benefit from a side dressing of compost then too, Some plants like peppers are heavy feeders I found out so its good to feed them monthly to get them to grow and increase their yield.

You could add the compost in the fall to the soil to improve it but if your soil is not overly sandy or clay like, I would wait till spring right before you do plant your veggies.

Now I also add some Epsom salts to the soil (sprinkle it over the existing area) as tomatoes and peppers do take magnesium out of the soil. The Epsom salts help replenish what they remove. I do this 1X/year.

It's important in the fall to do good garden clean up or sanitation. Make sure all those fallen tomato leaves are removed and bagged. Especially if they had fungal diseases on the leaves. You do not want the spores reinfecting your plants next year if possible.

Turning over your soil in the springtime also might bring up any cutworm pupae (reddish in color and look like a red part of what might be a red shrimp) You don't want them hatching and ruining your tomatoes or squash.

See photo: It is not that big, figure about 1-2" long. One year I found one in my soil and I tossed it into the trash.

Image result for cutworm pupae

There are ways to determine the kind of soil you do have and eyeballing it is not the way to do it. Extension people when they do a soil pH test also perform what is called a 'ribbon test' to determine what kind of soil you have. If a ribbon is short when its created with your soil, then you have sandy soil. A long ribbon (about 1.5 - 2") means its clay soil. But you may have combinations-- we feel the wet soil between our fingers and if it feels gritty, there is sand in there and if the soil feels like pudding (smooth and slippery) then its clay. You could have sandy clay or sandy loam (loam is determined by the amount of ribbon created)

Lots of fun stuff to do when we play in the 'dirt'!

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼

spot555 · ‎03-09-2010

I have raised beds, & add "goodies" to the soil both Fall & Spring. I'm starting to pull veggies now, then next I'll add compost & Espoma Organic Garden Tone.

I did this last year, & EVERYTHING grew fantastically this year. I'm not sure if or what effect the Garden Tone has in the Fall, but I'll do it again. I'm just winging it to see what works. So far, it's been great.

As an example, I grew Bell Peppers for the first time this year. They were LOADED with peppers, & continued to bloom. There were so many blooms, I had to pinch several off because of the short season here (Seattle area).

lovesallanimals · ‎03-11-2010

Thank you everyone for all your great feedback. Question - when Epsom salts were mentioned, is this a specific kind for the garden. I am assuming that it is not the kind we use for a bath.

lovesallanimals · ‎03-11-2010

Justjazzmom: I want to thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and informative post, you are our garden guru!

lovesallanimals · ‎03-11-2010

@spot555 wrote:
I have raised beds, & add "goodies" to the soil both Fall & Spring. I'm starting to pull veggies now, then next I'll add compost & Espoma Organic Garden Tone.

I did this last year, & EVERYTHING grew fantastically this year. I'm not sure if or what effect the Garden Tone has in the Fall, but I'll do it again. I'm just winging it to see what works. So far, it's been great.

As an example, I grew Bell Peppers for the first time this year. They were LOADED with peppers, & continued to bloom. There were so many blooms, I had to pinch several off because of the short season here (Seattle area).

goldenretriever: Did I understand you correctly? You do this both in the fall and the spring, correct?

JustJazzmom · ‎03-09-2010

@loveour4leggedfriends wrote:
Thank you everyone for all your great feedback. Question - when Epsom salts were mentioned, is this a specific kind for the garden. I am assuming that it is not the kind we use for a bath.

It is exactly the ones used for a bath from your supermarket health and beauty aids aisle or local pharmacy.

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼