Tired soil

[First To Ripe]

Hello all,

I'm in NY where i live we have 1.2 acres and alot of trees we never really get anything to work when we moved into our old house we had great batch and every first year on new soil we always do well I plan to move the planting all the way to the back next year where there is more sun how do i keep the plants producing alot

 

[DrakeMaiden]

You need to rotate which crops you grow in each bed. In general bean and pea crops, as well as cover crops, will feed the soil (with nitrogen anyway). You may also want to look into soil ammendments. Not sure if you are choosing to garden organically or not. . . ?

 

[patandchickens]

I'm in NY where i live we have 1.2 acres and alot of trees we never really get anything to work when we moved into our old house we had great batch and every first year on new soil we always do well I plan to move the planting all the way to the back next year where there is more sun how do i keep the plants producing alot

Assuming you are rotating your crops and it isn't a disease problem, I would guess it is one (or both) of two things:

-- you probably ought to amend the soil each year to increase nutrient and organic content. If you do it in the fall or early winter you can use raw (not composted) manure, and leaves and/or straw and/or moldy hay. Put the manure over top of the leaves/straw/hay so they don't blow away. Leave it like that over winter, then in earliest springtime fork or till it together and let it sit another few weeks or month before you plant. Alternatively you can wait til spring to amend the soil but then you need to use almost fully composted stuff and frankly I think amending in fall does the soil more good anyhow.

(edited to add: of course you can also fertilize things as they are growing, if they start to look like they're stalling out. I would generally recommend a foliar feed accompanied by a small shovelful of compost adjacent to the plant (not touching the stem).)

-- it is also possible that tree roots may be gettin' into your nice fluffy fertilized garden patch and going to town. I have had this happen - the first year (especialy the first half of the first year) everything seems fine, but then the plants just languish around half-starved doin' nuthin'. Unfortunately it is really hard to keep questing tree roots out of a garden, aside from moving the garden far enough away FROM the trees that they can't get there in the first place. If you absolutely have to garden within 'reach' of tree roots, you might try DEEPLY root-pruning the trees, some ways back from the garden, a couple times a year. Just use a sharp spade stomped as far down as you can, in a continuous line all the way around the garden (not *right* around it - a ways back). This is not a guarantee but it may help matters.

Good luck,

Pat