Great ideas for things to add to new soil/garden?

I plan on building a small garden this Spring, and wanted to know what are some really good tips for helping my plants flourish? I want to plant some vegetables (carrots, radishes, tomatoes - nothing too complicated,) some herbs and some plants and flowers. I only know about egg shells. All advice welcome. It took forever for my herbs to grow last year, and most weren't large enough to be edible. My vines, however, flourished, but my flowers barely bloomed.
Great ideas for things to add to new soil/garden?
if you have fish, you can put the old water. you can also put fish heads (really not meaning to be gross or anything) to act as bonemeal and bloodmeal (both things that you can buy at the store but they cost more). if you need the ground to be more acidic, you can put coffee grounds in.
Reply:tomatoes love sweet ground add hydrated lime now !!! lots of it. ideally that should been done 6 months before planting. also if your ground is hard or lots a clay ad sand in to it. also be a great time to fertilize the spot. i know there nothing in there yet thats great it give fertilizer time to soak in.



after that it is a small garden feed it once a week with mircal grow. just spinkle it lightly at the begining of a good rain. works like a champ. cow manure is great to but dont buy the crap in store's go vist a farmer he be thrilled to give you all you need.



and it is the real thing. that store stuff is mixed with decaying saw dust and dirt as fillers. and decaying saw dust is not a good thing. it can cause problems. use the reall mc,coy fresh from the cow. rember if it dont smell like crap it aint crap!!!



you do all this and keep your garden well watered i but youll be the envey of your neghiborhood.



oh incase you wondering i been a vegy farmer (truck farmer) 40 years.
Reply:if you had lots of green growth but few flowers, that means your soil has too much nitrogen. use a fertilizer that has a high middle number and a low 1st number, such as 5-30-10, or 10-50-10. the middle number is what promotes bloom.

If you add compost materials to your garden, add them only after they are well composted in a seperate compost pile. use things such as coffee grounds tea bags, eggshells, vegetable peelings, sawdust (not from plywood or mdf), grass clippings, mulched leaves, hair, fireplace ashes, nut shells, apple cores, orange peels, banana peels. let them compost in a pile for a year then add them to the soil the next year. Dont use anything with fat or oil in it; any pet feces or cat litter; any weeds that you pull up.



To your new garden add: bagged, composted manure, peat moss, soil booster (sold in bags), top soil, compost (thats at least 1 year old), lime (only if your soil is too acidic).



A good idea when planting flowers: plant each rootball with a couple of handfuls of good quality potting soil surrounding it (the kind with a slow release fertilizer in it works great).



a tip for planting tomatoes: bury each tomato plant right up to its first set of leaves. this will make a sturdier plant and it will form roots all along its buried stem.



remember, herbs need lots of sun, heat, and very good drainage, and minimum fertilizer. except for mint, parsley,and dill which like more moisture and shade. generally speaking, those herbs with silvery grey, slightly fuzzy, matte leaves like heat and sun (thyme,sage,rosemary,oregano, lavender etc.) while those with dark green glossier leaves can stand more shade and moisture.

It is not a bad idea to put a handful of garden sand under each rootball of the heat loving herbs, they must have excellent drainage especially if your soil is heavy or in a low area.
Reply:Cow manure along with chicken manure for more nitrogen. Organic farming at its best
Reply:You will need to enrich your soil with compost, manure and peat moss. This will ensure plenty of blooms on your flowers and larger vegetables. But you will also need to fertilize them regularly. You can get a liquid that you can spray on weekly or a slow releasing granule that will last about 4 weeks before you need to reapply.



Also if you dead-head your flowers (remove the blooms once they are done) this will enable the plant to produce more blooms. And you will enjoy their beauty all summer and into the fall.
Reply:Just add generous amounts of composted organic material, available in bags at the garden center labeled "organic compost"



Never add fresh manure of any kind unless it has been thoroughly composted because it contains e-coli bacteria.



Feed vegetables regularly with a liquid fertilizer throughout the growing season.
Reply:I would suggest raised bed gardening. I did this last year with wonderful results.

spread black blocking cloth on the area your going to use. Then use concrete blocks to make the bed at least ten inches tall. Then look for a nice mix with a neutral PH. Look for a mix of Cotton burr mulch, peat moss, and rice hulls. Or a bed mix with as many of these as you can. These make for a nice loose soil. Then just fertilize for the plants you choose to plant. Fore more info check out this site:

www.gardeningrevolution.com
Reply:How's your soil? Is it compacted hard? Using some sand in it will keep it loose. Also what is the PH level? Get a sample and take it to you garden center, and have it checked. You may need to add some lime. Also try to keep all the earth worms you can in it. They make the top soil. Do not mix food scraps, or mulch down into the soil, it starts to rot and gets very hot. Will kill off worms, and the roots to your plants! Just lay everything on top. Also worms like corn meal %26amp; a little sugger sprinkled around. I've raised nightcrawlers in my back yard like this, and they are very happy, and they stick around. Remember don't incorprate anything down into the ground!