Debbie Joines of the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service offers tips on improving your garden soil by adding compost. Debbie makes compost from sawdust, horse manure and garden debris such as fallen leaves and grass clippings. The finished product is light in texture and adds nutrients to the soil. Make sure never to incorporate unfinished compost with large amounts of undecayed high-carbon material such as sawdust: as the material breaks down, it robs nitrogen from the soil. Your compost is finished when it is no longer warm to the touch. Begin by putting down a 3" layer of finished compost near existing plantings, and incorporating it into the top few inches of soil (figure A). Every year, add an additional 2" layer. Adding organic matter to the soil increases its water-holding capacity and makes nutrients more readily available to plants. As mentioned above, adding unfinished compost can produce nitrogen deficiency in plants, resulting in yellow leaves, or a potassium deficiency, which may cause an edge burn. If you see foliage discoloration, have a soil test done to find out the cause. A basic soil test is inexpensive and available from most county Agricultural Extension Services. It may be difficult to cultivate finished compost into the soil of an established garden bed. If that's the case, let earthworms do the cultivation for you. You can buy earthworms from a bait shop or through the mail. By coming to the surface of the soil to feed, then returning to their burrows and producing castings, they enrich and cultivate the soil at the same time. Place compost on the soil between plants, and let the earthworms do their thing.
GUESTS :
Debbie Joines
UT Agricultural Extension Service
5201 Marchant Drive
Nashville, TN 37211-5201
Phone: 615-832-6802
Fax: 615-832-0043
Email: djoines@cru.gw.utk.edu
Website: http://www.utextension.utk.edu
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