From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Walkerton,Ontario, Canada

Hello, this year i have to experience growing in a new spot, with an all together new patch. In the fall i sprayed round up but did not plow after the grass was dead. About 4 weeks from now i am going to plow up and get ready. My new patch is located on the edge of an hay field near a river, (close to water)

My question here is what should i add to the soil to get it ready for the plants to go into the ground in about 8 weeks, and to make it good soil for growing conditions?.

3/26/2003 10:38:37 PM

syracuse, ny

The first thing is to TEST the soil!
go around to about a half-dozen spots, dig a nice hole about ohh, a foot deep at the most, removing the soil that was there...you now have a funnel into the ground a foot deep..heck, you could just think of it as that thin little
slice you take out of the face of a pumpkin to get it carved just right! so, a half-dozen little slices the same size as your pointed shovel....put them in a bucket, sift them together really well, remove the stones down to perhaps pea-size, and send a sample to the local soil lab.....you'll have to call them first..ha ha while waiting for the test results, it is a given that you wanna throw down a couple tons of AGED a year at least composted cow manure.....and plough and till it in....just once-through for now...i think it might disrupt the earthworm ecosystem...something we need to check into...whatever your soil test recommends, pH may need adjusting, as long as you've boosted your organic matter content with the manure, there's a start anyway! i BELIEVE that adding manure will LOWER pH temporarily, but any adding of lime i think will raise the pH for a lot longer...

well, that's what i would do to begin with. in about a day you'll have a lot of reading to do on this here page!
also, if you don't have Don Langevin's book, How to Grow
World-Class Giant Pumpkins, Volume 2, you must obtain it soon! [email protected] order the book read learn grow!

3/27/2003 12:02:40 AM

Montoursville, PA

Stop! Don't do it! But if you must understand you will be hooked for some time. Least ways you show signs of intellegence if not good judgement. We will all understand if you insist and go ahead in spite of being warned.

3/27/2003 12:14:43 AM

Walkerton,Ontario, Canada

thanks, i am already hooked in growing giant pumpkins

3/27/2003 9:48:43 AM