I Plan To Start A Small Vegetable Garden Soon? What Soil Is Best? And…?
I plan to start a small vegetable garden soon in my backyard. I live in central Florida, have plenty of sunshine and decent temps for plants. I will only be planting (a) watermelons (b) various peppers (c) various herbs and (d) cucumbers. What I need to know…
(1) Is it alright to use packaged manure as your planting soil? It’s relatively cheap (about 2.00 a bag) and I assume it does the job. Or do I have to buy the super expensive stuff that costs $9.00 a bag and has numerous growing agents and chemicals?
(2) When should I fertilize and how often? What should I use for the fertilizer?
(3) Is there anything I should know seeing how I’m a novice to this hobby?
(4) should I attempt to plant some of the vegetable plants and herbs in the ground or in large planting pots?
DONT USE JUST MANURE!!!! Manure contain mostly nitrogen and it will burn up your plants. It is best to use compost which can be bought in bag or by the yard and a local rockery or nursery.. If you are on a tight budget, I suggest you amend existing native soil with organic compost. about 60/40 respectively. The compost will contain enough nutriants to sustain new plants for about 30 days. I prefere organic fertilizers that can be bought premixed. (16-16-16) Organic fertilizers are always available to the plants when they are needed. Chemical fertilizer dispate in a couple of days. Foilure feeding with fish emoulsion, liquid bone meal and a sticker agent is a great if done once a week in the evenings. If you are just getting started I think it is best to start in theground first until you learn the charistics of the plants and know how much water they need and how to manage them. Container planting is sometimes tricky if you over water or underwater and also the fertilizers tend to leach out the bottom of the containers
I have been a Gardner for many years and used to live in Florida. DO not try to plant them directly in the manure. Work it into the soil with a lot of compost. (get leaves and grass clipping, coffee ground, egg shell, etc… but no meat products and let them rot in a pile. Keep moist, but not wet, and turn the pile every few days) . The compost will really help your Florida soil hold the water. If you use compost, you should not need to fertilize. Just side dress your plant a couple of times during growing season with more compost. Also, mulch the plant with grass clipping or leaves that have broken down a bit. Do not mulch the melons, as it may cause them to rot. Keep at it and you’ll do great. Good luck!
Good gardening soil should be a mixture of 50% soil, 20% sand,20%manure and top it with 10 % compost.
This should give you great veggies
Better to plant directly into the soil for better drainage
Andre
To help hold water in the soil I would recommend a product called “Pozzolan” or “Lassenite ATS”. This is an all natural soil amendment that you will need to work into the soil to a depth of about 6 inches. It will HOLD water in the soil and then RELEASE the stored moisture back to the plants as needed. Since you FL soil is very “sandy” it needs lots of water. Using Pozzolan will really reduce your water needs.
It will also hold nutrients in the soil (like fertilizer) at the root zone so it cuts down on how often you need to apply fertilizer.
Another great thing about Pozzolan is that it is a natural insecticide. It will repell/kill bugs, larvae, ants, etc.
Using Pozzolan will also increase the number of veggies each plant will produce. It is a fantastic product!
Not sure where to buy it in your area, I would ask your local garden center.
Good luck and happy gardening!