From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   T wrote:   
   > On 6/13/22 03:45, T wrote:   
   >> and keep it organic.   
   >   
   >   
   > Burn California is back.  Every summer California's   
   > atrocious forestry practices results in our skies   
   > darkening with smoke and ash.   
   >   
   > Now I mention this because the last two days of smoke   
   > made me remember that my garden LOVES California's ash.   
   >   
   > So, potassium deficient soil?   
   >   
   > Your thoughts?   
      
     i just amend with worm castings and worms when i'm   
   planting the most heavy feeding crops that i grow.  it   
   is a limited use and not broadcast so nothing is wasted.   
   for a few years after amending that area can be rotation   
   planted with other crops which are not as heavy feeders so   
   i can get two or three plantings/crops without having to   
   amend again.  subsequent low till digging finds that the   
   amendments do not degenerate much through time so that   
   those areas remain in much better garden soil quality for   
   further exploitation by plants in those spots or nearby.   
      
     this leaves little pockets of organic materials that   
   the worms and fungi can use also leading to even more   
   benefit to the garden plants.   
      
     avoiding extra nutrient leeching away is the primary   
   concern with all fertilizer uses.  anything you can do   
   which keeps nutrients and organic material from degrading   
   is important.  this is also why adding some clay to deficient   
   garden soils that do not have enough is a good recommendation   
   as that also helps with nutrient and water retention.   
      
     each year i use about 100-200lbs of home generated   
   worms and worm castings for the gardens.  this is generated   
   from food scraps and any other organic materials i can   
   scrounge up to put in the buckets.  a lot of it is mostly   
   or partially decayed wood chips.  the worms then add their   
   contributions as they help turn the food scraps into   
   fertilizer.  one of the components of food scraps is   
   banana peels which have potassium.  other foods scraps   
   will also have some potassium.  nothing being wasted that   
   is paid for is important and using those fertilizer   
   resources as pointedly as possible also is the best use of   
   those.  instead of spreading a more general chemical   
   fertilizer and having a lot of it running off or wasted   
   the worm castings/worms are buried only where the plants   
   are put in.  no runoff is leeching any of that away.   
      
     the other important part of this is knowing how your   
   gardens are in your water flows and ground water.  making   
   sure that surface flows are either captured and soaked in   
   or diverted around gardens so that nutrients and organic   
   materials are not being washed (or blown) away.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)