# What are some things you add to your garden soil?



## Fish&Chips (Jan 27, 2012)

I saw my neighbors added egg shells to their garden and I know that chicken poop is also good. What are some other things that you guys add to yours?


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Lots of horse poop,pine needles,oak leaves,and horse stall saw dust,but mostly the poo-poo.


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

I keep wrestling with the idea of getting pen clean-out from the local auction barn, lots of good cow-poo, but concerned about importing weed and grass seed, and herbicide carry-through. Anybody on here had experience with it? At one time, you could get turkey house cleanings at Gonzales-load it for you, nearly pay you to haul it off. Now I hear they charge to load and so much per ton or yard.


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## surfsidefisher (May 14, 2013)

water?


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

That sale barn **** is the best you can get as long as it's not juicy.The stomped on pulverized **** mixes in the soil good and doesn't stink much.You won't have much trouble with weeds.Cows don't eat weeds,they're grazers eating grasses but deer,goats and sheep are foragers eating any and everything.Be carefull with turkey or chicken do-do.So high in nitrogen,you can over do it.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Garden soil improvement is a continuous process around here. From compost to fish guts, it all goes into the garden. 

However, nature provides perhaps the best soil conditioners in the form of legumes as cover crops. Most people see my garden now as a pea patch...but I see it as a soil building machine.

You might see a few weeds around the edges, but won't see 'em in the patch itself.


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## Mikeyhunts (Jun 4, 2007)

Medowlark,
I have bare ground right now, and inevitably starting to get weeds.
The Bermuda in surrounding yard is giving me fits!!
Such a pan in he backside!

Is there a thick clover or peas I can plant that would a) build the soil, and b) help keep the weeds out!

Advice is appreciated!



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## Fish&Chips (Jan 27, 2012)

surfsidefisher said:


> water?


Really? Water? I'm glad you told me that. lol


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## Fish&Chips (Jan 27, 2012)

Meadowlark, I'm jealous. Very good advice, thanks.

Thanks everyone for the ideas/advice.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Meadowlark: That's some green magic that you have growing there ! Legume cover crops are very hard to beat. The best all natural nitrogen fix that you can get.

We have a couple of large yards with a lot of oak and maple leaves to rake up in the fall. It is very hard to use them as a whole leaf because they tend to "mat up" when wet and they decompose slowly in the whole state. All of our leaves get raked to wide rows then I mow the leaf rows with my 17 HP DR Brusher (As seen on TV!). You can't bog down the big DR with leaves. It is a beast. After several passes, most of the leaf particles are 1/4 inch or less. These can go on the garden 1 to 2 inches thick and rototill in during that fall. In the dust, and up to 1/4 inch size, leaf matter decomposes quite rapidly, but it is low on "up front" nitrogen. If you want to speed up the decomposition time even faster, add some nitrogen. It makes some really nice friable soil.

On of the best things about using leaves is getting trace elements. Most trees, especially oaks are deep rooted. They have access to minerals that other plants cannot reach. Some of these beneficial trace elements are still contained in the dry leaves. Ground leaves and poultry manure mixed together make a great combo. Fresh, poultry manure is tooooo high in nitrogen to use by itself..


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Mikeyhunts said:


> ...Is there a thick clover or peas I can plant that would a) build the soil, and b) help keep the weeds out!
> 
> ...


Mikeyhunts,

This time of year its too hot and dry for clovers, but in the fall I really like crimson clover. White clover is also good. Turnips are great in the fall as you can just broadcast spread them over the area.

Right now any of the cow peas will flourish as a cover crop as well as provide some eating.


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

Peckerwood, as dry as it's been here, cows have been eating about anything green! The stuff I'm talking about is some juicy and with some quantity of bedding/ feed hay in it. But it can be dried and composted. My biggest concern is herbicide carry-through. Grazon P+D and Ally (now Cimmaron) are most commonly used here. The Picloram in P+D and some metasulfuron (Both unpronounceable and unspellable) components in Ally will carry through the cow's digestive tract, subsequently causing problems for most broadleaf species with exposure. Think I may get a test batch, try well away from my garden. Sometimes wish for good ole days when all we had was what the cow and the poultry deposited for us. But I get over that pretty quick!


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I added 2 yards of mushroom compost to mine and planted purple hulls as a cover crop.


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## johnybass (Aug 25, 2005)

Do you guys compost the chicken **** before you apply?


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

for small yard gardens buy a bale of peat and till it in

most TX soils too full of binding clay and sand, you can't have enough organic matter

be careful of barn trash.................free weed crop


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Johnybass.... Lots of different variables here. What is your %age of actual poop to bedding material? Less bedding material, means high % age poop, which means very high nitrogen. How often will you be removing it? Less frequent removal means older poop and the nitrogen will drop little. If you can smell the ammonia coming off of it, probable too strong to use direct.

If you are going to spread it on your garden at the end of the season and rototill it in, let it sit for a while...... no problem. 

If you need to get it out of the koop while your garden is still active, you should probable compost it with some low nitrogen material 1st. Unless you have a really good idea on how hot (high nitrogen) it is, error on the side of caution.

When my Grandparents owned the poultry farm, I got to watch several relatives burn up lawns and gardens with chicken manure that was too hot (fresh or not cut with enough bedding). It's not like using livestock manure, it's way more potent.

The best one was my Uncle using fresh, 100% uncut, baby chick poop. After the chicks came out of the incubators, they went into a warm warehouse with pens that were stacked 6 layers high. There were large trays between each layer to catch the poop so it didn't fall on the next lower layer of chicks. These trays had to be pulled out and scraped off 2/week. My uncle decided that this would be good lawn fertilizer.

He didn't spread it on very heavy, but on the down wind side of his yard, you could easily smell it 100 yards away. After he realized that even the modest amount was too much, he watered it very heavily to try and dilute it enough to save the lawn. It was too late. Within about 2 weeks, the lawn was pure brown and totally dead. He had to water some more for a week or more, then rototill the lawn and then reseed. I was still a kid, so it seemed fun to me at the time.


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

Your comments have me wondering if I 
should till my black eyed peas and butter beans
Back into my garden at this time. 
Any comments as to this procedure?
B.D


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

they are legumes, till them in when done..........


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

X2...... absolutely !

Before plowing them under, try to make sure they have been well picked of mature beans. If you don't you may get a lot of "volunteer" plants growing next year. You probably don't have any type of disc to pull over them, so maybe think about mowing them to break them up. Some kind of "BREAK UP" will make them easier to plow or rototill under. Plus, they will break down quicker if they are chopped 1st. That's good stuff. Get er done


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

Thanks, I will use my heavy duty weed eater
on them. Then I will till them back into my
garden. In the past, I have just pulled
them out of the garden and disposed of 
then


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## reeltimer (Feb 5, 2010)

Bales of alfalfa and goat sheet...egg shell or new scrap sheet rock.

sent from my taxpayer-funded sail phone and yes the government is tapped into my talk


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## Fish&Chips (Jan 27, 2012)

reeltimer said:


> Bales of alfalfa and goat sheet...egg shell or *new scrap sheet rock*.
> 
> sent from my taxpayer-funded sail phone and yes the government is tapped into my talk


New scrap sheet rock? That's a new one to me.


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## reeltimer (Feb 5, 2010)

Fish&Chips said:


> New scrap sheet rock? That's a new one to me.


Look up gypsum.

sent from my taxpayer-funded sail phone and yes the government is tapped into my talk


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