[Otis]

I have done a complete improvement of my vegetable garden soil the past two seasons by adding 3 yards leaf compost in the Fall of 2012 and  compost in Spring of  2013 and in the Fall of 2013 I added 3 yards of will rotted wood much and 21/2 yards of leaf compost and will aged horse manure each year I worked it into the soil with some very good results this 
Along with this I have used SEA-90 an product from the Sea. This Spring I had a soil test done and used what it needed.

This coming Fall I will put another 3 yard of will aged wood much and leaf compost along with poultry manure. I have use products with Microorganisms in it to brake down all of this.

My question is has anyone done this before?

After all if you go into a woods do you see living things or are they dead? 

If you do not have living microorganisms in your soil what do you have?
If you see NO worms in your garden is your soil living?

Feel free to comment.

[cadalot]

I see less worms as the fox likes to come, dig them up and eat them 

[JayG]

Unusual first post on this forum Otis.

Not sure what comment to make because I'm not at all sure what point you are trying to make.

[Otis]

If you was going to improve your clay soil just how would you go about doing it?

Stop and think how hard clay soil can be? You have a hard time getting thing to grow in it and the soil was never was taken care of, chemicals used on it ran the dirt into a very poor shape.

You know there is a difference between dirt and soil. 

[snowdrops]

I think you might find Otis that here on this site most of us add plenty of organic matter be it bought in animal manure, home made garden compost,or bought in leafmold,spent mushroom compost at every opportunity. Supplemented with chicken manure pellets ,blood fish & bone, seaweed feeds are also used in varying quantities by many.

[surbie100]

I am slowly double digging mine and adding a good lot of manure and garden compost as I go. I've found just breaking up the ground has made a massive difference.

[Jackypam]

I remember someone advising that even the contents of the Hoover bag could be added, and tea bags.  I add pretty much everything that rots down and isn't cooked or animal based.  Bank statements are good!

[colin120]

I double dig my soli also add fish blood, tea bags, bone meal, magnesium salts, horse manure now and again rabbit manure

[Otis]

I am very please that I have found web site that thinks and beleive in what I do, keeping soil alive.

No chemicals on ether side of have a healthy garden.

I run across BACK TO EDEN a few years back and started doing what hes had done and boy did that make a difference this year.
I also got a soil test from CSI Crop Services International instilled from a Fertilizer Company, and I believe that was the key. Looking forward to next years garden.

I plan to put another 3 yard on my garden of wood mulch and leaf compost along with Poultry Manure that I can get from a Organic Fertilizer Company in my area. I talked to CSI about it and he told me that the poultry manure will help brake everything donw my next Spring. I also ask him if that would be to much and he believe that everything will work together and really make my garden in a long run.

I really look forward in hearing from all of you.

[Nobbie]

I've got an allotment on heavy clay and when I got it 2 years ago it was fairly devoid of organic matter and very hard work as it would just compact and dry out. I find I can't add too much organic matter to it. I'll use chemical fertilisers when appropriate, but I find that clay has plenty of nutrients as long as you feed the soil with organic matter to support the micro-organisms that can unlock these. There was a very old muck heap in the corner of the plot, and this area is massively fertile.

[Snoop]

Hi Otis, I add loads of muck (horse, sheep, rabbit and chicken), home-made compost and ash to my soil. But from time to time I add a bit of granular fertiliser as a supplement to meet the requirements of certain plants.

Even if your soil is still quite hard, you should do well with some families of plants. Bet you grow fantastic cabbages, for example.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

Whilst our soil had been worked for a few years before us, they'd not added much in the way of soil improver. So to get started we just dug holes for the plants and added in plenty of compost - they did well. Since then we've been adding leaf mould, compost and poultry manure and it's all starting to make a difference.

Last year we had to chip the soil off the potatoes, this year they've been coming out beautifully clean.

[cadalot]

What I don't get is that my allotment has been used for growing since before the second world war and I have so many glass bottle stoppers. bits of glass and stones in my soil not to mention nuts bolts and all other kinds of dross when I first got it. I have been removing the larger stones and I'm now taking to raking the soil to the ends of the beds and digging up and sieving each time I dig over and rake flat.

Surely this should have been done by previous users of my plot?

[snowdrops]

What I don't get is that my allotment has been used for growing since before the second world war and I have so many glass bottle stoppers. bits of glass and stones in my soil not to mention nuts bolts and all other kinds of dross when I first got it. I have been removing the larger stones and I'm now taking to raking the soil to the ends of the beds and digging up and sieving each time I dig over and rake flat.

Surely this should have been done by previous users of my plot?

They work their way up from the bowels of the earth when it rains or in the winter. Check some of them may be of Australian origin

[Goosegirl]

.... as in Foster's..?  Like what you're doing Otis, as the old saying goes "feed the soil, not the plant." If your soil is cla-or silt based, adding coarse sand and/or grit will instantly help to open up the soil and probably encourage worms etc to multiply due to aeration.