How to Grow More Vegetables : And Fruits, Nuts ... - Shroomery

56 FERTILIZATION
up to an inch of cured compost (8 cubic feet/100 square feet),
which is about 1 ⁄ 3 of a cubic yard. (One cubic yard equals 27
cubic feet. Two cubic feet of cured compost will cover 100 square
feet 1 ⁄ 4 inch deep.) Generally, use only a maximum 8 cubic feet
cured compost made with equal amounts by weight of dry
material, green material, and soil (or 4 cubic feet cured
compost made without soil) per 100 square feet per 4- to 6month
crop to avoid using more than a sustainable amount
of compost.
You should note the heavy emphasis that the GROW BIOIN-
TENSIVE method places on compost. The demand for organic
fertilizers is increasing while the supply available to each
person in the world is decreasing. Soon, few fertilizers will be
available at reasonable prices. Also, the materials used to
produce chemical fertilizers are becoming less available. Materials
for GROW BIOINTENSIVE compost, on the other hand, are
plants and soil, which can be produced in a sustained way by a
healthy garden. These compostable materials can be produced
indefinitely if we take care of our soils and do not exhaust
them. In fact, 96% of the total amount of nutrients needed for
plant growth processes are obtained as plants use the sun’s
energy to work on elements already in the air and water. 7 Soil
and compost provide the rest.
GROW BIOINTENSIVE compost (see “Compost”) is high in
most major and trace minerals. It also contains nitrogen and,
when made properly, can be high in nitrogen. A thin layer of
manure added to the soil during the fertilization stage can
also provide nitrogen. Periodically growing legumes—such as
peas, beans, clover, alfalfa, and vetch—in the planting beds will
provide nitrogen, too. The nitrogen that the legumes fix from
the air is released when their roots, stems, and leaves decompose.
Compost, manure, wood ash, nitrogen from legumes,
and nutrients from the growth of certain kinds of herbs and
weeds in the beds (see “Companion Planting”) supply the 4% of
a plant’s diet not provided by the air and water.
What a Home Soil Test Will Not Tell You
A professional soil test is an excellent tool for analyzing
deficiencies, excesses, and the relative balance of all plant nutrients
in your garden’s soil. A home test kit, however, is very
limited and only points out pH level and deficiencies of nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potassium. If you have difficulty growing
healthy plants in your garden, a home test kit may not provide
the solution. Plants grown in soil lacking any of the major or
trace minerals show their deficiency in yellowed leaves, stunted
growth, purple veins, or any number of other ways.
7. Joseph A. Cocannouer, Farming with Nature (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1954), p. 50.