Do I use fertilizer in addition to compost?
Yes. Every bed gets my own custom blend of blood meal and
cotton seed meal for nitrogen, rock phosphate for
phosphorus, green sand for potassium and kelp meal for
micronutrients.
I didn't start out using blood meal but have
found that in the spring when the soil is really cold that
the nitrogen in the cotton seed meal just doesn't break down
quickly enough to support crops like spinach and lettuce.
Blood meal allows my spinach to get a running start so that
I can actually get a decent harvest before it starts to bolt
in early June. Without it, I get puny little plants that
bolt without putting out many leaves.
In a 4 foot by 16 foot bed (64 sq ft) I use:
1/2 pound Blood Meal
1 3/4 pounds Cotton Seed Meal
2 pounds Rock Phosphate
1 pound Green Sand
10 ounces Kelp Meal
Here in the Northwest our
soils are very acid. I used dolomite lime in the early years
to get the pH up into the neutral ranges. I haven't needed
it since. The compost seems to provide a good buffer to keep
the pH in the right range.
I still use lime on the lawn every few years and for the first
few years on any new beds I create.
