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SarahBeth · March 10, 2018

I'm a fairly new gardener and I posted last year about problems I was having with my raised bed tomatoes here: http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=45184. I see that I never updated that post (I intended too and even took photos to share), but in the end, I used LOTS of TTF, and it brought everything back to life. It was a pretty good first year, but it was an expensive way to get there.

I've always planned on gardening mostly organically, and intended to add organic amendments, compost and manure in the fall and compost in the spring, but, for various reasons, was not able to do so. Consequently, the fertility of my soil has likely not improved much, and I find myself in almost the exact position I did last spring.

I will be testing the soil, but once I get the results, I'm wondering how best to add both organic amendments which will take a long time to break down and improve the soil for this growing season. My understanding is that alfalfa meal breaks down pretty quickly, as does blood meal, but most of the other organic amendments do not. Unfortunately, my compost won't be ready for quite some time.

I can use some TTF again, but I really need to keep costs down.

My tomatoes will be transplanted in about six weeks, but I also have other vegetables that I could plant sooner (or now).

March 10, 2018	#1
SarahBeth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: Upstate SC Posts: 23	Newish raised bed soil I'm a fairly new gardener and I posted last year about problems I was having with my raised bed tomatoes here: http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=45184. I see that I never updated that post (I intended too and even took photos to share), but in the end, I used LOTS of TTF, and it brought everything back to life. It was a pretty good first year, but it was an expensive way to get there. I've always planned on gardening mostly organically, and intended to add organic amendments, compost and manure in the fall and compost in the spring, but, for various reasons, was not able to do so. Consequently, the fertility of my soil has likely not improved much, and I find myself in almost the exact position I did last spring. I will be testing the soil, but once I get the results, I'm wondering how best to add both organic amendments which will take a long time to break down and improve the soil for this growing season. My understanding is that alfalfa meal breaks down pretty quickly, as does blood meal, but most of the other organic amendments do not. Unfortunately, my compost won't be ready for quite some time. I can use some TTF again, but I really need to keep costs down. My tomatoes will be transplanted in about six weeks, but I also have other vegetables that I could plant sooner (or now).