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Post by SA Hunter on Apr 26, 2015 0:04:15 GMT 10
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 28, 2015 7:37:15 GMT 10
The simple answer is much less than you think.
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bilycart
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Post by bilycart on Apr 28, 2015 9:43:45 GMT 10
VH Have enjoyed your posts on gardening. Would appreciate your suggestions for preparing a vegetable bed. Is there one type of animal manure better than others? Have access to chicken litter. Is liquid manure (chook poo) a suitable fertilizer. Do you mulch veg beds?. Any other tips would be welcomed. Have just planted out cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower. onions, garlic.
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shinester
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China's white trash
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Post by shinester on Apr 28, 2015 12:45:37 GMT 10
Hey Veghead, as you've mentioned before you are pretty self sufficient, do you grow your own cereal [energy/kilojoules] crops too? I'd be interested to get a gauge of that process?
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 28, 2015 16:29:52 GMT 10
Hi Shiny, yes we do grow our own cereal crops. We are about to put in an acre of cereal oats this week, rain depending. Red wheat later in the year and barley too.
bilycart, give me five and I'll answer you q's. We are moving pigs and burning of at the mo.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 29, 2015 16:05:48 GMT 10
Hi bilycart.
Animal manures: pigeon poo is the best of them all but hard to get unless you know a fancier. I use sheep poo, well aged from under shearing sheds, for my veg. I also make actively aerated compost teas and use liquid manures, from sheep or cattle, but not chicken. The teas are foliar sprayed and the liquid manure is just thrown on willy-nilly every week. I do use chicken litter as well, however I pass this through a shredder/mulcher and the place in a composting cycle which seems to work very well.
For the veg bed preparation it's a follows. After a full season of growing I use a 27" broad fork and break up all compaction. I add amendments such as dolomite lime, manures, etc. whatever is needed for the proceeding crops. I water heavily and deeply for a few days and then lay a very deep covering of bean straw mulch over the top. Liquid manure is applied every two weeks thereafter. At planting time I remove ALL the mulch and gently till over the surface to two inches and no more, adding any further amendments as required. Then I plant. Once the seedlings are well established I may replace some of the mulch, by which time has aged really well and has a abundant microbes and fungi already present. Any vacant, non-growing areas are always, always heavily, mulched. My friends are incredulous as to how little we water, too, due to this method.
I plant by the Moon Calendar as I find it works well for me. Please PM me for any further info as I'd be only too glad to pass on specific crop tips. Grow lots of comfrey and use that to make your liquid manures - the stuff is pure gold!!!
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shinester
Senior Member
China's white trash
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Post by shinester on Apr 29, 2015 16:13:28 GMT 10
VegHead, post those PMs  |
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 29, 2015 16:44:18 GMT 10
Absolutely ... seaweed is the missing ingredient  |
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Post by SA Hunter on Apr 29, 2015 17:22:41 GMT 10
Me, I'm no green thumb, but I like to use sheep poo. I also use cow and rabbit poo from our rabbits. And, pelleted chicken poo.
My neighbour swears by alpaca poo - his tomatoes were planted 2 weeks after mine, grew twice as big, and probably 10x the amount of tomatoes. Our soil is quite sandy, and this year was our first summer at this home - I added a lot of compost & manure to the soil, as well as using liquid fertilizer. Charlie Carp is good, as is SeaSol.
VegHead, any recommendations on a seaweed fertilizer - do you know if it's ok to use seaweed from the beach ( after a good soak/wash with fresh water ) and how would you use it???
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 29, 2015 19:46:22 GMT 10
Hi Jay, no need to wash seaweed from the beach, believe it or not, just get it onto/into the soil. I tend to place it on top of the soil and let it 'mature', maybe six months, and then dig it in. Great stuff. A bit of a tip, make sure what you collect is fairly dry first, above the high tide mark if possible would be best.
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Post by SA Hunter on Apr 29, 2015 19:55:31 GMT 10
Rgr - thanks for the info!
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bilycart
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Post by bilycart on Apr 29, 2015 20:03:14 GMT 10
Veghead, Many thanks for the info, I am looking at preparing some new beds which I plan to use in spring. I just started saving my own seed for quite a few different plants - all non hybrid(have always saved pumpkin seeds -these have been in family for 3 generations).Comfrey tea is something I will try. Accessing good manure is not easy but I have just invested in a couple of pigs- not sure if their manure is ok to use. Is Seasol a suitable choice as a seaweed application?
Regards Bilycart
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Post by thereth on Apr 29, 2015 20:58:54 GMT 10
Just quickly on seaweed, collecting it from the beach here in WA is HIGHLY illegal and do-gooders WILL dob you in and the rangers WILL spot you for it. Most places with beaches and people here are filled with Freo inner city types..... but if you are on a beach with noone around.......... :-)
I do not know if it is the same in other states, but something to keep an eye out for anyway
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Post by Peter on Apr 29, 2015 21:11:43 GMT 10
That's 100% correct, thereth. The mongrels here will dob you in for anything at all.
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antiag21
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Location: Perth WA
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Post by antiag21 on Apr 30, 2015 2:01:05 GMT 10
For real? Seaweed?
Why is it so illegal?
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Post by Peter on Apr 30, 2015 7:32:08 GMT 10
It's illegal here to take anything from a beach. I have no idea why.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 30, 2015 8:05:45 GMT 10
Bilycart pig manure is okay just not as rich as other choices. If you can, put the pigs onto the new beds and let them root and turn it all over .... that's how we do our large beds. In fact, our three pigs have just come off the main patch and are now in the maize patch and when they've finished there that maize patch will become this seasons potato growing area. Always try and use animals to do the labour!!
Seasol is a conditioner/tonic not a fertiliser, but great for its intended purpose.
Collecting seaweed here (SW Vic) is not a problem and many farmers pick up the odd ute loads for their veg patches.
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Jul 7, 2024 11:02:41 GMT 10
