When I read the gardening books they say “this veg needs regular fertiliser of this”, “that veg needs something else”. With the no dig garden, which is essentially cow poo and lucerne, how much additional fertiliser is likely to be needed, if any?

SueBk said:

When I read the gardening books they say “this veg needs regular fertiliser of this”, “that veg needs something else”. With the no dig garden, which is essentially cow poo and lucerne, how much additional fertiliser is likely to be needed, if any?

Good question and I had to stop and think….“what do I do??”

I tend to feed the soil (this then gives the plants their main feed line) and then the odd feed of charlie carp or sheep manure tea. I do favor seasol for root & stem development and I adore, love, highly recommend worm wee

SueBk said:

When I read the gardening books they say “this veg needs regular fertiliser of this”, “that veg needs something else”. With the no dig garden, which is essentially cow poo and lucerne, how much additional fertiliser is likely to be needed, if any?

short answer – a bit of potash and phosphate.
long answer – soil is the blood stream of all garden life and you need – loam, compost, minerals, aging, more manures, green manures, worms, magnesium, calcium and a bit of luck – blah, blah

pepe said:

SueBk said:

When I read the gardening books they say “this veg needs regular fertiliser of this”, “that veg needs something else”. With the no dig garden, which is essentially cow poo and lucerne, how much additional fertiliser is likely to be needed, if any?

short answer – a bit of potash and phosphate.
long answer – soil is the blood stream of all garden life and you need – loam, compost, minerals, aging, more manures, green manures, worms, magnesium, calcium and a bit of luck – blah, blah

I’m out of blah, blah…….will waffle, waffle do as good????;P

I’m out of blah, blah…….will waffle, waffle do as good????;P
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yeah – waffles are good – i’ll be around shortly – maple syrup with mine please.

pepe said:

I’m out of blah, blah…….will waffle, waffle do as good????;P
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yeah – waffles are good – i’ll be around shortly – maple syrup with mine please.

Mixed with fresh manure????

have you played with bentonite yet pepe?

aquarium said:

have you played with bentonite yet pepe?

g’day aquarium
bentonite is beaut in the pots.
don’t need bentonite in my clay soil.
…….although i can see you are going to sing its praises in the no-dig…….LOL

My no dig veg garden is built on potting mix and compost. I keep it HEAVILY mulched and the worms ‘do their thing’. I have imported garden worms as I find them elsewhere in the garden and now any time I dig down there are big, fat worms everywhere.
I figure that nature/worms have got it right for ALL plants so I give ‘worm wee’ waters from time to time and just keep adding home made compost, cow poo and continual mulch.
The soil here is severely leached every wet season but my combination seems to maintain nutrition. I plant beans and peanuts for nitrogen.

Crinkle said:

My no dig veg garden is built on potting mix and compost. I keep it HEAVILY mulched and the worms ‘do their thing’. I have imported garden worms as I find them elsewhere in the garden and now any time I dig down there are big, fat worms everywhere.
I figure that nature/worms have got it right for ALL plants so I give ‘worm wee’ waters from time to time and just keep adding home made compost, cow poo and continual mulch.
The soil here is severely leached every wet season but my combination seems to maintain nutrition. I plant beans and peanuts for nitrogen.

very good point crinkle – if the worms are teeming in the soil – all is right with the veges.
our problem down here is not leaching but accumulation of salts during dry periods.

aquarium said:

have you played with bentonite yet pepe?

bentonite is a fantastic water holder and probably a catalyst for the release of nutrients from soil.
if you mix bentonite with coir seed raising mix, potting mix,a handful of blood and bone and a handful of sulphate of potash you will get a superb planting medium for your pots.
so if you dig a hole in the lucerne/cowdung and shovel a dustpan full of this stuff into the hole to plant your jiffy pots in, you will get good results in your no dig. IMHO

pepe said:

bentonite is a fantastic water holder and probably a catalyst for the release of nutrients from soil.
if you mix bentonite with coir seed raising mix, potting mix,a handful of blood and bone and a handful of sulphate of potash you will get a superb planting medium for your pots.
so if you dig a hole in the lucerne/cowdung and shovel a dustpan full of this stuff into the hole to plant your jiffy pots in, you will get good results in your no dig. IMHO

My top layer is soil from the chook pen. Our soil, what we have of it, is clay. What’s not rocks is rock solid. The chook pen, having had 3 years of chooks and veg scraps and straw and whatnot, is in much better condition but is essentially a clay base. Would this bentonite be a problem?

I will keep your mix saved though. I’m thinking that for something, with smaller seeds, that I want to pre-plant a tray would make more sense than individual jiffy pellets.

Question re silverbeet. You said there’s only one plant per seed. I only planted one seed in each jiffy pot, yet appear to have several plants. Are they just stalks of a single plant? I’d hate to try and separate them and kill the whole thing.

Question re silverbeet. You said there’s only one plant per seed. I only planted one seed in each jiffy pot, yet appear to have several plants. Are they just stalks of a single plant? I’d hate to try and separate them and kill the whole thing.
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silver beet is a bit like mallee – it has several stalks (outer leaves) and a growing central heart. if you’re sure it is one seed leave it as one plant. it does have side shoots sometimes (altho this is rare in one so young).

Question re silverbeet. You said there’s only one plant per seed. I only planted one seed in each jiffy pot, yet appear to have several plants. Are they just stalks of a single plant? I’d hate to try and separate them and kill the whole thing.
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As far as I know silverbeet is like beetroot…more than 1 seed in the little cluster we sow.

I don’t usually separate them, I leave nature to take it’s course. Rather than disturb the roots.

SueBk said:

Question re silverbeet. You said there’s only one plant per seed. I only planted one seed in each jiffy pot, yet appear to have several plants. Are they just stalks of a single plant? I’d hate to try and separate them and kill the whole thing.

that corky looking “seed” is actually a cluster of seeds, therefore produces multiple plants.

Yes they are a cluster of seeds. I wait until they have grown a little , pick the stringest one and remove the rest.
Also it is good to add crushed rock (or called mineral fertiliser) to your no dig garden as this will help to provide the same things that you find in soil.