Mixing a basic all purpose organic soil; feedback wanted/welcome

[Joe383]

No I don't have any sites to back my claims but I have life experiences and if you have done any gardening in your life you learn that you cant grow every thing with the same soil. I have not had a lot of gardens mostly just grew a lot of weed. I have a pretty good garden now though I also have family who own a huge nursery and others who use to have an orchard and get a lot of info from them too. Most of the recipes you will find are suited to marijuana. Its like using miracle grow for all your vegetables. It will work good for most stuff but not all. One odd ball for example that would not work in this soil is my blueberry plants. They like a soil PH of around 5.5 and do not like a lit of nitrogen. Next year when I plant my garden I will divide the garden in to plants that like high nitrogen and plants that like high phosphorus. You can grow everything in the same soil and get OK results or grow to what your plants in the garden need and get good results. I wish I had a pic of my friends radishes for ya. It was TGA super soil recipe top dressed. His radishes were sad. Don't ever be afraid to start a debate with me I do not get mad Its ok if some one disagrees or dose not believe me I have thick skin. I am giving the best advice I can based off of my life experiences and observations. Some times my info will be wrong so you should take every thing you read with a grain of salt and observe and learn on your own. No one you talk to hear will be rite 100% of the time.

 

[Joe383]

^^ I put my plants in a dark room for 2 days before I harvest to try to increase terpene's. Don't know if it axially works or not but I do it. Honestly I think that any terpene's that are going to burn off will do it during drying anyways if there light enough to burn off during the light on cycle.

 

[TimeTraveler]

Sad times for the garden; the heat wave out here is just too brutal. Most of them have died a slow, withering death over the past couple weeks. Triple digits were just coming too frequent and too long for them to hack it. My peppers are clinging to life and the strawberry plant is a beastly thing that simply won't wilt, regardless of how much solar punishment is unleashed.

Well, I suppose it's time to recycle the soil for a fall planting. The cooler weather will be good for some crops. I plan to plant some overwintering flowers, maybe some wheat, and definitely cabbage and some winter squashes.

I'm also going to invest in a large airpot and a rolling base, and plant a dwarf cherry tree that I can roll indoors during the cold times; I may have to invest in another LED light for it during the winter months, but we'll see. I really, REALLY want fresh cherries and I love cherry blossoms in the spring.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

daaamn dude,that sux man.sorry to hear that. Best luck next round bro.I try every year till i get it LOL!weather one year is awesome..the next the end of the world I swear it LMFAO!!cherry blossoms are the best man.well second to FL orange blossoms lol Id love to see ys bust a move on a cherry tree man.cold weather crops man

 

[TimeTraveler]

It's all good! This week I'll be ripping out the dead stems and root balls, and recirculating the soil into the mix I had leftover along with some all purpose nutes and maybe some dolomite lime and coffee grounds, along with some inoculate. It should have plenty of time to cook before the fall planting. I also plan to take some cooked rice in the near future and collect some local microbes from the fields and woods nearby my home, to fortify the store bought ones I have.

I also suspect a lack of pollinators was the problem as well; next year I'll plant a number of flowers to attract bees and butterflies before the garden plants go up, and I'll try to get started earlier in the year so as to avoid the worst of summer's heat.

In other news, I've pretty much confirmed my local organic/hydro store is 420 friendly. I suspected as much already, but a few coded chats with the owners have dispelled any lingering doubts. I'm sure they have long since realized my "indoor herb garden" is not a planter with basil and rosemary for that matter.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

I wouldnt use cooked rice man.that'll essentially make it a weaker feeder for what your trying to collect.if you wanna speed it up a little by about 30% use a molasses water with a mild endo inoculate and soak it for a few hours and use the water else where with the molasses,endo's and rice wash OD garden or whatever.and use the rice in that form imo would be your best bet.

and just an FYi coffee grounds are awesome and i recommend them A LOT as well as crab and egg shells.but just know too much a good thing(grounds in this case anywhoo lol) since their ultimatley acidic and will have to be ballanced out by say.a lil gyspum.a lil lime(small amounts here like TBspns at most) egg n crab shell or even a lil guano and mix n wet that well n throw a cpl cup of steer or a regular inoculate or brew a tea.there ya go man.hope that helps ya out dude!L8r man.hit me if you need anything

 

[Joe383]

I would try a good T5 set up. They have a good spread and are a lot cheaper than an LED. One of my autos started to wilt a little during the heat but made it out ok. Some of my tomatoes had a little trouble but I guess that's how it goes. I might have to install some misters high up bordering the garden and see if it will cool the garden next year enough during the hottest parts of the day or some netting to block some of the light like they do to cherries some times.

 

[TimeTraveler]

Well, I'm back to gardening again! I had some major financial problems last year which derailed my efforts to get an earthworm farm set up, or to do a fall and overwinter planting.

So, with the frost likely over for the year in my neck of the woods, it's time to get the spring planting going! I've got my strawberry plant, of course, and I planted my tomatoes as well. I've also got okra, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, radishes, basil, chives, cilantro, parsley, and thyme going as well. To help attract bees I also planted wildflowers (just a generic mix of annual wildflowers), snapdragons, and poppies. I'm nervous not everything will germ or might be in trouble; I jumped the gun a bit in planting the seeds (and didn't have the space or supplies to germ everything indoors and transplant like I wanted), and one last frosty day came about three days after I sowed the seeds. Maybe they didn't have time to germ and survived, but so far just the corn, broccoli, radishes, and wildflowers have shown any sprouts. Either way, lesson learned: next year I'm buying a ton of coco coir and germing everything indoors. Hopefully I'll be moved into a bigger and better place with a proper yard soon, and then I'll have room for all this and my dwarf cherry tree.

I've also decided, when I get a little more space, to get into beekeeping. A friend of mine is a woodworker and interested in starting a hive, so we made a deal: I provide the plans for a cathedral hive, and he helps me build one and gets to use the plans to make one for himself (and we split the cost of materials). It's a big project, so it won't be done until super late in the year (meaning I'll miss my chance to catch a swarm this year and won't get to start a colony until 2017 at the earliest), but I'm looking ahead. Ultimately, I want a nice self-sufficient and all organic garden with a composter, rain barrels, beehive (for pollination and helping restore the feral bee population), and worm farm. I've got some animals (so I can look into composting their feces) and am sourcing some natural pest control agents to release one the garden is up and running (ladybugs, praying mantises, etc.).

Pics will come once I've got something more interesting than pots of dirt to take pictures of.

 

[Jraven]

Hey good thread I hadn't seen. Thanks for waking it up snd it's really good to hear some spring gardening talk.

 

[TimeTraveler]

Well, my fears may be misplaced; time passes by and there's more progress: the tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, poppies, and snapdragons have all sprouted and pushed past the surface of the soil. The strawberry plant is timidly showing signs of growth (my one from last year died before the year end, so I replaced it with fresh roots), but the herbs are still silent. Here's holding out hope they make it, but I'm substantially more optimistic now that the rest of the garden has sprouted (and VERY glad my flowers are all growing; if this doesn't attract bees I don't know what will).