Why would I care about your dirt composition? It seems like a left-handed way to get free advertising to your Blog using this site.

Yeah, 'cause I'm not here to read anything about the experiences of other market gardeners...

BoulderBelt, level of organic matter has always seemed to be a problem for us too. I, at least, found your blog post to be worth reading...I find that type of subject interesting. Will look forward to seeing how much your 2012 amendments add to the potassium levels, in particular.

-TK

I thought I posted this - but I wanted to suggest amending the soil with used hops from a local brewery. Could help with the boron.

cowpies, than why even bother to reply. You seem to have a bit of a chip on your shoulder these days. Farm not doing well?

I make no money on my blog, BTW (despite ads being on it-the ads have made me zero $$ in all the years they have been there and I suppose that is your complaint) If you took a look around at the the things I post you just might find some useful information and it is for free.

Magz, This is a thought. We do a bit of beer brewing so spent hops and wort do go into the compost on a regular basis.

I do realize that boron is very soluble and we have had the wettest year on record and that may be the main reason we are losing it. Our Organic matter is up over last year and that should in the fullness of time mean decent boron levels.

Building soil is a long term project

We get the used barley from a beer making place to feed our cows, then they process it cow-like, then it becomes fertilizer. If you get my drift.

Marla

Boulderbelt, Looking at your pH, did you add sulfur to help lower it? I have been adding sulfur every fall and spring to help lower the pH of my soil. It has helped, just curious.

Also, it does seem to me that cowpie is beyond "Knee-deep" in something. His comments are degrading and extremely negative. If he doesn't have anything good to say, I wish he would keep it to himself.

Thanks for your post. It is always nice to see other soil data. I need to do more micro nutrient testing. I usually only go for N, P and K. However, my P and K are so far off the charts, it isn't even funny!

Jay

Maybe i wrong about dirt. mAybe dirt is important in growing stuff. i just dont check mine much except with my little meter.

I, for one, find the soil test very interesting. I tested 6 years ago and then again last year. The first test indicated everything was fine; then after 3 years of floods, everything was half what it should have been. Since I use tons and tons of organic mulch, my organic content is fine, but the potassium is woefully low. I also applied a ton of lime per acre.

I'm also a little confused as to the sulfur use. I always thought land east of the Mississippi required the addition of lime to sweeten the soil. I only use sulfur with blueberries and other acid-loving plants.

My soil ph is in the 7's. This is due to my whole home place use to be outdoor pig lots for many years. Thus, we have pH in the 7's and extra potassium and phosphorus.

To bring the pH down, we add sulfur.

Jay

You need a soil test. Around here we are alkaline yet the garden stores do not sell sulfur only lime and claim gypsum is for acidizing. They are so dumb. Then when someone has a lawn problem everyone tells them they need lime so they lime already alkaline soil!

I think whether you are having good or bad results a soil test is needed at least every 2 years. That way you can do better.

BTW it is common to have alkaline soil in sand. There are too many variables to say half of the country is one type of ph! Generally places with a lot of rain are acid.

Jay, I do not pay much attention to the pH as it does not tell much of the story. But I have been adding lots of sulfur and will continue to do so not to get the pH down but to mitigate the magnesium that we have way way too much of in our soils thanks to decades of dolomitic lime being applied which is very high in magnesium. And high Magnesium soils are very very tight soils that make weeding and tilling hard to do. And such soils do not grow things well because the Mag is tying up things like calcium. We added around 300 pounds of sulfur to around 1.5 acres of beds and the soil is a lot better but it still needs a lot more work.

And I need to address the fact we have very low P and K so it looks like we will be applying a lot of green sand, rock phosphates, seaweed and some other things along with compost and a pelleted fertilizer we get from Mcgeary's.