Understanding the Need for Organic Matter
Browse the products in a seed catalog, attend a garden expo, or visit your local nursery and you will see endless products that claim to build your soil or guarantee a bountiful, healthy garden. Then add all the tips and tactics available to you on the internet and it suddenly becomes overhelming. What works? What doesn't work? What do plants really want?
Plants want uninterrupted growth from the time the seed germinates until harvest. A gardener does that by trying to meet all a plants needs. That includes water, light, temperature, and nutrients, and protecting plants from anything that interrupts growth like pests, disease, weather, or moisture fluctuations.
Sounds simple yet it can be challenging for even that most experienced gardener. So where do you start and focus your efforts to ensure uninterrupted growth. I believe you focus first on building your soil.
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| Cauliflower, onions, and celery |
If you have chosen a good garden site and built your raised beds you are ready to add the soil.
Your Garden Soil
A healthy soil is the key component of an organic gardener. If you take care of your soil; soil biology takes care of your plants. Soil is much more than dirt. It is composed of minerals, organic matter, water, air, and is teeming with life. This soil life is critical to the organic gardener.
Utah soils, where I live, have less than 2 % organic matter and are extremely compacted. Soils with higher levels of organic matter still need to have organic matter replaced because they are continually broken down by microorganism. A healthy soil life means a healthy, happy plants.
What is organic matter?Organic matter is the poster child of organic gardening. Organic matter comes from living materials, such as manures and plant material, that are decomposed. Organic material is not the same as organic material. Organic materials are not decomposed such as straw, manure, grass clippings etc. and should first be put in the compost pile.
There are 3 types of organic matter:
1. Compost which is decomposed plant materials and manure
2. Aged manures
3. Cover crops which are specific crops grown then turned into the soil. They are selected with a specific goal in mind and generally planted in late summer or fall.
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| My pumpkin patch |
Organic matter can be added to your garden in four ways:
1. In the fall after the beds are cleaned out the soil can be covered with 1-2 " of compost or aged manure.
2. In the spring when you are preparing your beds.
3. Compost can be added to the planting holes of transplants.
4. Used as a mulch on the surfacewhen seedlings come up.
If you have already been building your soil you can just add the compost to the surface but if you are just starting out then you will need to work the compost 6-8 inches into the soil. Also if you have a raised bed or area that is not performing well then work the compost 6-8 inches into the soil. In raised beds, a shovel or broad fork works great. If you are planting in the ground then roto-tilling compost may be necessary for the first couple of years.
Organic Fertilizers
Organic matter does not take the place of using an organic fertilizer. Compost and manures do have nutrients but not a guaranteed analysis so using an organic fertilizer is recommended.
If you have already been building your soil you can just add the compost to the surface but if you are just starting out then you will need to work the compost 6-8 inches into the soil. Also if you have a raised bed or area that is not performing well then work the compost 6-8 inches into the soil. In raised beds, a shovel or broad fork works great. If you are planting in the ground then roto-tilling compost may be necessary for the first couple of years.
Organic Fertilizers
Organic matter does not take the place of using an organic fertilizer. Compost and manures do have nutrients but not a guaranteed analysis so using an organic fertilizer is recommended.
What is Organic Fertilizer?
Dry organic fertilizers include meals such as: blood meal, bone meal, cottonseed meal, kelp meal, bat guano, or alfalfa meal. Premixed organic fertilizers are available or mix your own. These dry organic fertilizers provide the major nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium plus some trace minerals with the help of microbes. Azomite or green sand are both good sources of trace minerals and soil conditioners.
Organic fertilizer is food for microorganisms. The microorganisms in turn supply the plants with needed nutrients. This is a very simplified version of this amazing relationship between the soil food web and your crops.
Three ways to add a dry fertilizer:
1. Broadcast the fertilizer on top of the soil along with your compost and work it into the bed with a shovel.
2. Broadcast the fertilizer over the raised bed and covered it with 1-2 inches of compost.
3. A very small handful can be added to transplanting holes along with compost. For plants that are direct seeded and heavy feeders such as pumpkins, squash, and melons you can dig a hole add compost and small handful of fertilizer fill the hole in and plant your seeds. Extra compost and fertilizer will be down in the root zone as the plant grows.
Liquid Organic Fertilizers
Liquid fertilizers are faster acting than a dry fertilizer. Since the soil needs to warm before microbes become active, liquid fertilizer such as fish emulsion and sea kelp help fill in the gap.
Liquid fertilizers can also be used at important growing cycles such as when you transplant or true leaves appear, when buds breaks, and when fruit first starts to appear.
Fish emulsion is mixed in a watering can 2 Tbs/ gallon and applied around the root zone. It's fine to wet the leaves
Sea kelp is used more as a foliar spray meaning it can be mixed in a sprayer and applied directly on the leaves.
It's important to remember that organic fertilizer without organic matter does not build your soil structure and should be used along with adding organic matter.
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1. Broadcast the fertilizer on top of the soil along with your compost and work it into the bed with a shovel.
2. Broadcast the fertilizer over the raised bed and covered it with 1-2 inches of compost.
3. A very small handful can be added to transplanting holes along with compost. For plants that are direct seeded and heavy feeders such as pumpkins, squash, and melons you can dig a hole add compost and small handful of fertilizer fill the hole in and plant your seeds. Extra compost and fertilizer will be down in the root zone as the plant grows.
Liquid Organic Fertilizers
Liquid fertilizers are faster acting than a dry fertilizer. Since the soil needs to warm before microbes become active, liquid fertilizer such as fish emulsion and sea kelp help fill in the gap.
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| Amaranth |
Fish emulsion is mixed in a watering can 2 Tbs/ gallon and applied around the root zone. It's fine to wet the leaves
Sea kelp is used more as a foliar spray meaning it can be mixed in a sprayer and applied directly on the leaves.
It's important to remember that organic fertilizer without organic matter does not build your soil structure and should be used along with adding organic matter.
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So the best way to build soil is to add organic matter on a regular basis. Expensive products that promise amazing results while they may be useful are not going to do much to change your soil without organic matter.
Healthy soil has a healthy soil food web and a good soil structure (the way soil particles are bound together to create pores for air, water, and roots to penetrate) Both of these goals can be accomplished by simply adding organic matter.
Healthy soil has a healthy soil food web and a good soil structure (the way soil particles are bound together to create pores for air, water, and roots to penetrate) Both of these goals can be accomplished by simply adding organic matter.
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