Amending garden soil, delivery

12 years ago

I'm new to gardening in MN, just purchased 6 acres in Lino last year. I was hoping to get some advice for amending our garden soil this coming year. Background and details on our garden are included at the end for completeness. Thank you in advance for help! I've been a long time reader and love this forum, but this is my first post.

We have been considering getting some black dirt or compost delivered to amend our soil (mostly my husband, I think we should just go for it as-is), ~50 yards. If anyone has advice on companies, and also if anyone delivers in the winter (to avoid lawn ruts in the spring), it would be greatly appreciated. Or if someone with similar soil conditions has more specific advice...maybe we should just fertilize? With such a large garden this does get expensive, so I want to make sure I've done as much research as possible.

Background: My husband and I laid irrigation for and planted a 5000 sq ft garden last year (a little silly, I'll admit) with some success. You name it, we tried it. A lot of first time mistakes (huge size, no deer fence, tilled under quack grass...), but we still had a nice small harvest to share with friends before we gave up in July. Since then, we continued to till and use Roundup to control the weeds, and we think we've definitely got a leg up on the weeds this year. We've also gathered some friends for a co-op type garden this year - the more hands the better. Our soil is very very sandy (freshly tilled it's like walking on the beach). We had it tested through the U with results of: 1.8% organic matter, pH 6.0, phosphorus 100+ ppm, and potassium 84 ppm. We were also going to till in all the leaves from the fall to try and amend (a little) the organic matter in the garden. I'll admit there is some pine needles in the leaves, but not enough over 5000 sq ft to lower the pH (I think). This year, we're also starting plants properly indoors, and will be installing a deer fence.

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Comments (4)

spacetogrow
12 years ago
If you haven't already done so, you can contact your Ag Extension service. Many gardeners in your area will have similar issues so the extension agents should have good ideas.

Just for starters, very sandy soil needs lots of organic matter (compost, leaves, etc.) to hold nutrients and moisture. It's closed during the winter, but you probably have a community composting site for yard waste that lets residents take free or very inexpensive compost. It won't be premo compost; it can have some branches and roots that didn't decompose, as well as fake plants, small toys, rocks, etc, etc, etc. So there is a trade off compared to buying it from a company and having it delivered.

You didn't mention if you have started a composting system at home, beyond tilling in the leaves, but you should have plenty of room for a good set up. If you have patience, it shouldn't be expensive. If you are impatient, all bets are off. If you're new to composting, the Soil Forum and some other gardening sites have an abundance of information and argumentation about composting.

Those sites also have information (and argumentation) about how to safely process and use various types of manure if you can get them. Some gardeners even raise their own rabbits or guinea pigs as much for the premo manure as for the meat.

I can't give any useful advice about specific nutrients.

Good luck.
StrohfusStockFarm
12 years ago
I would suggest contacting a few local horse boarding places. There are a few in Lino Lakes / Hugo area. You would want to get the oldest stuff possible to avoid re-adding weeds.

If you are looking for paid compost we are selling our "Pony Cake Compost" which is a 12 month composted Horse Manure. It would be excellent texture and nutrient content for your purposes. We would sell in bags or bulk.

sales@strohfusstockfarm.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Pony Cake Compost
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gusolie
12 years ago
Where in the world did they get such atypical pure sand to backfill or use on your property when they constructed the house!?!?

Add organic matter repeatedly through the upcoming years to greatly improve sandy soil. You could get some black Minnesota prairie topsoil to incorporate into the top 6 inches of the fill-sand, but overall, organic matter is best.
freezengirl
12 years ago
Another quick and dirty way on sandy soil is mulching to conserve water during the growing season with straw (NOT HAY!) and tilling it under in the fall or spring whichever works for you. I like doing it in the fall because it seems to break up better by spring and also dries out better. You can also plant various cover crops in between bare areas or parts of your garden set aside for that purpose and then till that in. On very sandy soil it will be a constant process to add organic matter whenever and however you can do it.