Amendments! What is your personal favorite?

When I meet a fellow gardener, this is my first question.
It's like opinions and bellybuttons, everyone has one and can relate.
Since it is entirely necessary here (one will find that people don't amend at all in some parts of the country, outrageous!) it is a great conversation-starter. Everyone always has great stories about asking someone for horse dung,collecting compost materials from neighbors, or that great jackpot situation when someone gets a dump truck of compost unloaded in the front yard.

What is your favorite and why? Do you change your mind? Ever been desperate, Picky? What has worked best for you? Any horror stories?

K. James

Nice haul!!
OMG I cant wait to read this! I will be moving hopefully soon, and will take this info with me to my new yard.
I have a compost bin, and filled it with anything leftover (not meat) from the kitchen, and ground up leaves. I used the whole big bin one year to start a bed. Im seeing its needing ammending again. It really is a never ending battle.
My parents have what used to be a garden, seperate from their yard. Dad always throws the grass clippings into the area, and rototills in Spring. They have great soil in that area.
HORROR story..... SAND!!!! Oh my... do not, NOT, NOT use sand LOL. I still have pieces of brick I find when I dig around in the area that I added sand.

This message was edited Aug 3, 2006 4:49 PM

(Spine shivering at the recollection of the "ting" that a hardy shovel-jab makes in contact with it...)

Ok - good topic - this year I bought some hay bales to create a cold frame (had some tempered glass) was planning on dismantling it and using the hay later for mulch in the veggie garden, then I broke both feet (actually 1 ankle and 1 foot) and the plants in the cold frame died of neglect. But the hay is still good so thinking next year I will try again. When I do use it as a mulch it will get turned in at the end of the season.

I have gone out to steal grass clippings in the past but have stopped since I do not know if they have any 'cides in it (pesta, insecta or fungicide). I do go out and steal bagged leaves. This is an andrelin rush for me, looking over my shoulder for the leaf nazi's - South Salt Lake has a program where they hand out orange garbage bags for the city to collect to sell back to us taxpayers as compost. So as a resident of Murray I will be taking my ill gotten gains across city lines, I am sure this is a felony that I will be deported for one day.

Also bought alfalfa meal when I bought the hay - is that considered an amendment or a fertilizer - for the purpose of being clear - what is the difference?

This message was edited Aug 4, 2006 9:31 AM

My favorite amendment is one totally accidental, that I didn't plan. When I started digging in my veggie bed, it was like moon dust, nearly sterile. But I put in some organic garden soil and compost, planted my veggies and hoped for the best. A couple weeks later, I went out there after dark with a flashlight to check on my plants, and saw a couple dozen big, fat nightcrawlers going in and out of the soil.

Great! I was very glad to see the slimy little guys.

Major Quarantine News:
I had a good laugh at :"...cides in it (pesta, insecta or fungicide)."
When you wrote you stole bagged leaves, I immediately thought "how do you know it is all leaves?" I wish my city had a convenient way for me to tell. I hope your feet are well healed from that little misadventure. Alfalfa meal is an amendment high in fertilizer. Definitions are as clear as the Colorado River in spring, but fertilizer is usually the chemical side of things (N,P,K) and "amendments" are more for organic matter. (ie, Peat moss has organic matter and no fertilizer)

The first trees to drop their leaves are Ash, right? And I badly needed some leaves for my compost. Last early fall, I did a drive-by-raking. Hopping out with a rake at a city park and throwing leaves into my pickup, I sped off into the night...

Hyger: Isnt' it amazing how worms can "smell" new organic matter in the dirt and come from all around to eat it? I wonder how they sense it.

chuckles "drive by raking" oh we are a villainous lot.

Ok so by your definition I have to add, a love my bat guano, seabird guano, worm castings (I vermicompost), kelp meal, fish meal, Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) tea, compost tea. I also add agriculture grade vermiculite, steer manure and of course any and all compost I can get my hands on. I have not but plan on adding some pea gravel, I have pure clay no rocks - have heard so many times about the sand so glad I never went there.

Missus Quick Nuke:
Vermicomposting is a blast. Do you do it in a tub or outdoors? What is your primary substrate for them? Seabirds of SLC? How do you make equisetum tea? Is it like alfalfa tea (liquid fertilizer?)
All clay no rocks, so you're going to add some? (pea gravel)
Is this forty questions?

Vermicomposting outside and inside once your addicted your done. Actually my bin got infest with earwigs when I moved it outside (was cleaning furnace room) so I made an area for them, my daughter had decided to ditch her waterbed, I used the skeletonized remains to build a raised bed for them. Then I set up my bin again by harvesting ONLY worms. That way I can keep going thru the winter. The indoor bin is just getting going again so it gets mostly a little of this and a little of that (my indoor plant "remains", fruit, veggies, hair, dryer lint, anything I can get my hands on) outdoor bin gets my weeds including those that have gone to seed, leaves, cardboard, paper, I do not have access to any natural "droppings" so I make do. Its amazing between my recycle bin and thru various methods of composting I only have to take my garbage can to the curb once every month.

Let's see, I buy my seabird guano (conveniently packaged in cardboard which my worms love yum yum).

I grow horsetail in a container (it can be invasive) then I trim it and make tea. The silica in it is good for people and plants. I steep in hot water like normal tea (no aerating like I do for my compost tea).

No rocks, going to add gravel for drainage in a couple of areas. Seriously no rock - I am from Alberta where we had GREAT soil, but it also had rocks. I find it abnormal to dig and dig and no rocks. I am sure that there are worse things but its WEIRD. From what I understand where I am at used to be a bit of a swamp. Which brings up something I find also very weird. I live in a valley, I can see mountains to the east and west of me but its technically desert.

Edited to add also like greensand.

This message was edited Aug 4, 2006 1:16 PM

One of my neighbors has 5 horses, and as her contribution to our landscaping effort, donated about 500lbs of stable scrapings -- hay, straw, manure -- that had been tossed out the back of her barn and "composted" for several years.

well thanks dave, for completely editing out the information that made that post relevant.

Question on stable scrapings: a stable in Park City wants to start composting and gardening but is worried about a warning on the bales of dirt/sand/stuff they use on the indoor arena, which actually warns against using it in gardens. Anyone know about this? They just throw away dumpster loads of poo! I bring down an occasional garbage can full but am worried about that pesky warning label.

I have been told that the fresh stuff may contain mosquito eggs that can hatch out with water, and we have a bit of a problem with West Nile in our horse populations. I have no place to store the fresh material, so I only use the aged for several years variety that I can put directly in the soil.

Maybe they put some lingering pesticide in the sawdust that kills flies -- I could see where that would be a Bad Thing if it ended up in your garden...

I have for 7 years worked 4 hours from here in Great falls and the clinic I work at has a composted wood chips and horse manure, urine and unfortunatly weed seeds. But I have carried every trip a load of this in the picture below. I keep it from blowing away by hauling the top of the compost covered with sandstone rocks to use in my garden perimeters. (second picture) I probably have spent over $1,000 in additional gas to bring it home. LOL

Worth every penny, to be sure.
Note the extension to the truck bed...?

Is it really true that mosquiteo eggs can be in manure? That is hard to beleive somehow.
Kenton

the truck bed extension is for my Scottish nature why not get all you can. Also the bark bucket at my nursery is that wide and they are glad when I got it so the driveway stays clean.
Mosquito eggs need to have their larvae swim to mature into pupae. I think this can happen in a short rainfall so yes. But in my compost they become beetle food the little larvae. No skeeters in my pile.
Wait till you see my stump humper. I'm buying it tomorrow but it is in too bad of shape to haul home. I will have to grease the bearings, change the tires, and re-run the electrical. Oh boy. I also get to design a larger 12 volt hoist and cable so I can lift over 5000 #. the trailor can handle it it is bilt like a brick out house.
The choke cherry is almost ready to make into my pemican for my voyager route back to Mich.

Good greif, does anyone have the kind of energy Steve does?
I'm too much an old man.

Think about it. I will take some venison I get this year hunting and use the native choke cherries and I'm going to cheat and use peanuts and hammer them into a thin wafer and dry them in the oven. Then cut them up and use them for a snack every time I come into the next town I'm sleeping at. They will think I'm a real nut case. But just picture me arriving into their town with my little beaver bag full of pemmican. LOL Want to go this spring from where ever I stop in Saskatchewan to Lake Winnipeg? I need a paddle/sailing buddy. this is my grandfathers canoe that I will be taking.

How about Spring Break?
Sail canoe. Spiffy.
Don't worry, you are nutcase. A full bushel of them. Probably peanuts.

So you have any idea when that is. I haven't scheduled my time next year yet I am open. Look at the North Saskatchwan down to the Saskatchwan and into Lake Winnepeg. The winds are a run most of the time and not much paddling will be needed except in the morning. Winds are 15 to 20 Knots all afternoon. I will be stopping to look at all the T. Rex dig sites and other historical events of the freeway to the west in the 1700's. When we get tired we can sit in the rowing seat with good back support.

Brilliant. A beautiful craft.
I have no clue when that is, I'll get back with you.
great, I was looking for an excuse to go back to Canada next year.
I would probably drive up to Kalispell and hitchike with you. I'm a born rower with very little actual time on the water.

Speaking of water:
Nymphaea 'Colorado.' A great name for a great plant. It loves the heat more than any plant I know.

I love the heat too when I'm bathing in the lake. When I'm reincarnated I'm coming back as a lily pad. Lots of frogs to sing to me and all kinds of fish to talk to. Oh and if I get chopped off by a propeller I can stay submerged until my leaf regrows. Free food, lodging, and no work to do but float around in cool clean water.

Composting in the front driveway. I think homemade compost is my favorite amendment, just because of the fun process and my control over its qualiity.
So many passersby on their way to the park ask what I'm up to. They very often leave thinking I am more insane than before they had asked.

You would stink more if you were a waterlily, Steve.

Another shot of my girlfriend. (-the compost, not the dog. The dog, looking remarkably like a mouse, is merely for proportion.)
Please ignore the house numbers. I'm incognito and would like to remain that way.

You are such a neat freak. Your piles are in proportion, nice and even mounds, and perfectly mixed. Well done Kenton. I always love a com-poster: One who displays his compost on the front lawn instead of in the back yard so everyone knows his priorities. Oh maybe the next date you should not have her come home to meet your family and see your priorities. LOL
How would I stink, the water stinks I'm the flower. Have you lifted your arm? My self portrait.

Kenton, is that water lily a dwarf? I've been wanting to grow water lilies in my container water pond, but haven't really found the right lily.

Sofer, I love your canoe. I think spring break is a little early for a trip across the north country, don't you?

Yes only because the flows might be too strong. Ice break up has been early march last 5 or 6 years in Sask. I am starting my paddle in October this year to take part in the first snow fall and end of misquitoes. Oh the scenery should be spectacular with the leaf color.

My favorite ammendment is the one I can get the most of. I haul several truckloads of manure each year which I mix with leaves from the home of a friend who has deciduous trees, and ponderosa pine needles which everyone tells me make your soil too acid, but acid soil isn't really one of my problems!
And I too am a leaf napper. If I see a bunch of bags of leaves or pine needles at the curbs, I drive by in my trusty compost truck and put them in. One neighbor caught me and told me that I didn't have to steal them, that she would deliver them to my yard. I was red faced, but thanked her. Ah the wages of sin.
Another good thing in Los Alamos is that the city bought a wood chipper the size of a house. The county brings all the christmas trees and tree trimmings from the town to the chipper and grinds them into chips. Then they collect the manure from the county horse stable and put it in dump trucks and mix it with the wood chips, then wait for it to rain. They also use some sewerage sludge which offends some people. They mix it with bull dozers every so often and after testing by the state for ???? they make it available to the people who live here. I sometimes haul truck loads of that as well, but they have big sticks and some rocks in it so I mostly prefer my own, because I don't put big sticks and rocks in it.
Still, when I am making a new garden bed, I usually start with some of the county made compost.

A photo of my favorite ammendment. The ammendment isn't as obvious as my elegant '85 jeep truck but I will tell you that it is horse manure. I haul several truck loads a year. That is where I get my soil.

This message was edited Aug 8, 2006 9:26 PM

Now the picture.

I just love this. Isn't it great to have such a tediuous thing in common and find your ilk? DG is so great.

Green material from yesterday's hard work. The roses: I'll let the landfill facility compost them.

Steve, I am thinking of the waterlily rhizome. They inevitably stink! I agree, though, you are more of a flower. I hope you live longer than three days, though!

Nym. 'CO' is not a miniature. A happy plant is usually 6' wide. Judith, try 'Helvola' for a start. There are some great minis out htere. I would share some if I had any that were not huge!

The compost facility here does not use sludge (as is often contains heavy metals. Just think of what goes down toilets other than poo...) They use pelletized chicken urea. They also close the whoel place to the publis each monday when they turn on their "house-sized" chipper. They are strict about not accepting too large of material. Nothing bigger than 6'!
Don't you wish you had one of these, Steve? I once heard about a compost place that throws whole modular houses into their chipper for compost!

I still have the belief that size doesn't matter. I use my 10 hp chipper and it does all that I need. Now that I have no water we shall see how good soil ammendment is when the compost hit the fan. Wait till you see my new landscape tool. I had my DW pick it up today and it will solve many of my landscaping needs. I am back in AK so no pictures for 2 weeks. But just wait I have the tool you all will want. Hee Hee

I am aware that sewerage sludge may contain heavy metals. I wish they had not decided to start adding it, but alas, they did. I have been relying mostly on my own compost ever since they started. See picture of my compost piles. I am just getting ready to put that truckload of manure together with the leaves in bags to start a new one. As for correct ratios, I have learned that in time any organic matter will rot, so mostly I just mix it half manure/ half dried stuff and let it go. It does heat to about 160 degrees, then I turn it and get about 130 degrees, then I let it sit and the worms do the rest.
Yes, we love that our county composts, but the gardeners also wish they would sift it. The problem isn't how big the pieces are going in, it is just some pieces of wood, maybe 4-6 inches long come out. We want them to buy a huge sifter.

My compost piles ( there are 3 but all small right now. I will begin a new one soon, but it is incredible how fast they shrink.

Great setup, and house/wall to boot. Tourist idea: come one and all: the incredible shrinking compost! Mesa County's facility (er, rather, the Herzog contractor) separates the compost and sells it by texture. The mix is great, beacause wood chip-chunks are good for soils structure, but I know what you mean by the 4"+ bits. Those are screened and sold cheaply as a mulch. A good dark brown mulch it is, too. You can buy the super-fine grade for top-dressing a lawn.
I need to go mix in that pictured green before it makes a pong in my truck...
Kenton

Thanks for the kind words about my compost area and my admittedly small compost piles. They started out large. As those little earthworms and untold numbers of microbes, as well as my shovel, are reducing the size of those piles rapidly. New one coming up soon.

Your county is so decent to provide screened compost. We have to screen our own. It is possible to get uncomposted wood chips for walks etc. They work fine for a walk, but I once used some to mound my potatoes. It was amazing how fast they sucked the life out of the potato plants, I am guessing because of sucking nitrogen out of the soil. I started putting nitrogen on them, but it didn't help much. There weren't many potatoes that year.
Yes, get your grass clippings out of your truck while you still can!

This message was edited Aug 9, 2006 4:41 PM

I did! Just in time- it rained.
I sift some of my own compost, depending on where it goes. I dump the bigger bits back in to get chewed down in the new compost.

Yes, I do some screening, too. I screen compost and I screen out rocks. The previous owner of the house graveled almost everything. I am little by little screening the gravel out and putting it where it is more useful than in my flower beds and veggie beds. Picture below shows a) my attempts to replace gravel with plants and eventually pecan shells and b) the stone I bought locally called Colorado Gold. I gather it isn't basalt. I am geology challenged. I grew up in New Orleans where there are no rocks that aren't imported by truck.

This message was edited Aug 9, 2006 5:18 PM

Could be the same quarry of sandstone, Paja.
I'm glad I don't have gravel.