Now that the weather is warming up, it is time to think about the garden spot and what it needs for another growing season.  After all, what you want is full-flavored, nutrient-rich produce.  That isn’t going to happen if your soil is depleted.  Not only that, but your plants will grow more slowly, giving the weeds a head start.  Weeds further deplete the soil of nutrients and moisture, and also shade the plants you are trying to grow.  Because of that, you will reap much smaller quantities of food.  So the first thing you will want to do is build up your soil as much as you can.

Soil can be tested to check the ph, balance of nutrients, and so forth.  It can give information on what nutrients are in short supply and what soil additives will help the most.  We haven’t done that, even though we know it would be a good idea.  Instead, we keep a good eye on our plants, and can see what the worst deficiencies are.  It’s true that having a soil test would be better, but this is at least a reasonable alternative.

Peat moss - Lightens heavy soils and adds nutrients.  But it can be pricey if you have a lot of space to cover.

Manure - This is probably the best thing to add to your garden.  There is a lot of information out there about the benefits and concerns about the manure from different animals.  As a general rule, chicken manure is very “hot”, meaning very high in nitrogen.  Spread it thinly.  Horse and cow manure isn’t so strong, and doesn’t have as much chance of damaging the plants.  Goat, moose, llama and other manures are also fine to use.  It is best, though, not to use it while still “fresh”.  Let it sit and compost a while, perhaps even over winter.  Then spread it over the garden site and till or dig it in.  Later in the summer, another load of manure makes a great mulch, adding even more nutrients, stifling weeds, and keeping in moisture.  It will also lighten up heavy soils and add body to sandy soils, which will help greatly in water retention.

Leaves - Most yards have an abundance of leaves.  Instead of bagging them and putting them out for the trash, or burning them, use this valuable resource on your garden.  Spread them out in the fall and till in, or leave them on top until spring, and till them in then.  They will decompose over winter and be ready to feed your plants in the spring.  Use whatever you can get; leaves can be spread fairly thick.  Even better, put on the leaves, then a layer of manure, and let that sit over winter.  The nitrogen in the manure will help the leaves decompose more quickly.

Grass clippings - These are great.  The more plant material added to the garden, the better.  Let them rot before planting.  The decomposition process actually takes nitrogen from the soil for a short time.  It’s best to either compost them or put them on in the fall and let them sit over winter, especially if they are layered with manure.

Compost - There will be a whole article on this one soon.  Compost is basically predecomposed plant material, ready for garden use.  This comes from your own compost pile, into which you have been tossing kitchen scraps, grass clippings, manure, garden waste, and other such materials.  Let it sit and “cook”, and after a while it is ready to use directly on your garden, either to till under, or for sidedressing the plants.

Mulches - These won’t be used yet, but they are mentioned here in hopes that they can be found and set aside for when the time is right.  While the soil is still cool, it is best not to mulch the plants.  It would keep the soil temperature down and stifle the growth.  Instead, wait until the soil is warmed up, perhaps in June, and then mulch to retain moisture and retard weed growth.  Many things can be used for mulch, some of which build the soil, and some only hold down the weeds.  Grass clippings may burn the plants with too much nitrogen unless handled carefully.  Leaves are fine, as is old straw and hay.  Manure works well, as long as it is aged.  Newspapers, black or clear plastic, and other materials often make their way into the garden. Be careful, though, because plastic tends to deteriorate and leave small pieces of plastic everywhere, which is an additive most people would rather live without.  There will be more on this topic in future articles.

Fish - This sounds odd, but it has deep roots (pardon the pun).  Indians put a small fish under each hill of corn they plant.  They say it helps the corn grow faster.  They are right.  If you have scraps left from that fishing trip, try digging it in carefully under a tree or bush.  The Indians know what they are talking about!

Kitchen scraps - Don’t throw away those vegetable peelings!  Keep an ice cream bucket with a lid, or some other container, and save those scraps.  Pretty much any fruit and vegetable matter is great.  Think about potato peelings, old Halloween pumpkins, orange peels, cucumber peelings, cabbage cores, apple cores, corn cobs, and anything else.  If you don’t have many, learn to eat more vegetables!  Egg shells, although an animal byproduct, are also great.  They add calcium to the soil, so toss them in too.  Some people put it all in the compost pile.  Others just dig a trench somewhere and bury it, saying that it decomposes so fast that they never can find what they dug in earlier.  Some dig a large hole when planting something such as watermelon or pumpkins, and load it up with scraps, then put on a layer of manure and then soil, then plant the seeds or seedlings.  Another idea to try is to keep it in a blender container.  When partially full, add water and blend.  Then just pour on next to the plants, or into the compost pile.  One of the important things to remember in a compost pile is that the smaller the pieces, the faster the compost will be ready. This sure solves that problem!

Some things to avoid putting on the garden include meat scraps and bones (attracts mice), weeds (you don’t want more weed seeds there) and nonbiodegradable items.

There are so many things that can be added to the garden soil to add nutrients and encourage strong growth.  Start now to put all you can in there so that your plants grow vigorous and healthy.  If they are healthier, then your family will be healthier too!