What's best to feed newly dug soil prior to sowing?

Pixiechic

When the weather is better and my garden dries out and looks less bog like I am going to dig a veg patch. I've been doing some research to see what is best to feed the soil but I'm not sure. I've found blood and bone or horse manure or rock dust to apparently be good but I'm not sure which?

I'm not sure if soil type comes into it too?

What do you do to prep your veg patch soil?

A._Badger

I can't imagine what the 'rock dust' is - rock potash, perhaps?

Assuming you applied manure or compost in the winter (this is a vital stage), then blood, fish and bone works very well. Alterrnatively, Growmore, or one of the brands, like Vitax Q4. Apply at the rate recommended by the manufacturer. It's not a good idea to exceed it. More doesn't mean better results!

valk_scot

What's been in the soil before? Grass? Flower beds? Rubble?

sobie

As said below it depends a lot on what was their before and if you dug anything in late Autumn. (although I garden on sand so no point digging in winter it disappears by spring!)

Remember that some crops like more nitrogen, others more potash so feed according to what you intend to grow in that area. If you want to grow brassicas and live in an acidic area you may need to lime the soil too.

Fish Blood Bone is my preffered general purpose feed. Growmore is a good balanced feed but it is a chemical so it depends if you want to grow crops free from chemicals or not.

If you planting seeds directly into the soil you won't need to use any feed until the seedlings are growing as all seeds have their own intial food source and too much fertiliser can burn seedlings (which is the same reason why you should use seed compost if starting seeds in pots as its contains very few fertilisers)

Pixiechic

Thanks for the replies! I have moved to a new house and my veg patch to be is just grass lawn at the moment. I wanted to dig it a couple of months ago when I moved in but the ground has been so saturated I haven't been able to.

In my last house I wasn't able to have a veg patch so I used containers with some success but not ideal. That's why I am unsure of this process! I think the soil here has some clay.

ALIBOBSY

We are on clay soil and found any beds/grass/soil just got flooded out everytime we got a decent amount of rain ie more than a morning lol.

We went for raised beds, but just with a small edge so really i suppose we were just putting our soil improver/compost/topsoil mix in a neat pile over the earth-a bit like lasagne gardening lol.
Each year things have moved around, we add rotten chicken poop (from our own chucks) and home made compost to the top.

I suppose it really depends on how much you want to dig. We will be giving things a little dig over/weed removal in the next few weeks and i have a load of shredded paper as well as rotted chicken stuff and home made compost to layer on the tops of the beds.

Also saved some used compost from the toms last year and may top one or two beds with this and less of the rich stuff for the veggies that don't like too much.

Until you dig at least a bit, you won't know exactly what you have got. We have heavy clay soil so drainage is our biggest issue-better to add plenty of stuff to improve soil structure and avoid standing on it too much-so the raised beds/edges works well for us.

Ali x

youngie

horse manure needs to be well rotted and is best added in the autumn so the frosts help break it down otherwise it will burn seedlings

Oldangrumpy

Lots of sound advice offered with loads of things to bear in mind. Can I suggest you look at the Royal Horticultural Society website - https://www.rhs.org.uk. You don't have to be a member to use and loads of very good advice for new and not so new gardeners!

valk_scot

Pixiechic wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! I have moved to a new house and my veg patch to be is just grass lawn at the moment. I wanted to dig it a couple of months ago when I moved in but the ground has been so saturated I haven't been able to.

In my last house I wasn't able to have a veg patch so I used containers with some success but not ideal. That's why I am unsure of this process! I think the soil here has some clay.

If it's clay then it's worth putting some edges round individual beds then double dig and add some grit or sharp sand plus good compost to open the soil up. After that top the beds off with any spent potting compost you may have, or I use mushroom compost as it's good for suppressing weed growth. If you are going to add fertilizer than blood, fish and bone is a good inexpensive slow release fertilizer, but use it springly. Clay soil is quite fertile in itself, normally, the problem with clay is usually drainage and if as you say your garden was waterlooged over the winter....? But raising the soil level by creating raised beds will help, as will the grit/sand/humus rich compost.

Remember to stack any turf you may strip off and let it rot down. You can use this as a top dressing for the beds in the autumn.

Pixiechic

Thanks for the fab replies!

Thanks for the suggestion of the rhs website, I shall be having a look today.

I appreciate the suggestions with the soil and raised beds. The ground is still so saturated and I never really thought about a drainage issue even though I have one staring me right in the face on my own lawn! Raised beds do seem to be the answer and a very good alternative too. I can make better use of the space also as I was a little concerned as to where to dig veg patch.

I have a long but narrow garden thankfully it has good sunshine (when we get sunshine) but one end has trees and the other end is near the cess Pitt which I wasn't too sure about growing too near! On one hand I thought potentially good fertiliser but I'm sure you can see the not so positive side.

Raised beds with some good drainage is definitely worth looking into and getting on with. At last, something to do in the garden! I will get some blood, fish and bone and use it sparingly on some of the soil just in case I go crazy again and grow way too many plants from seed, I can't bring myself to throw any good plants away!

Thanks again, all your kind and thoughtful advice has been much appreciated