Limed & Fertilized Garden for the fall

Gardening

8/9/2019 – The soil report dated 7/26/2019 here recommends 1 ton/acre of lime and 120 lbs-0-60 lbs per acre of fertilizer.

As the garden is about 1/3 acre it needs 40#-0-20#. The plan is to apply half the nitrogen as side dressing. So, a 15-0-15 fertilizer means: 15% of 50 lbs is 7.5# per bag. So, 20/7.5=3 bags. Bought six 50 lb. bags of 15-0-15 plus iron at Agri AFC on Dawes Rd. So, for the JD Spreader, 150 lbs. spread over 13,000 SF is 150/13 or 12 lbs per 1,000 SF. The spreader could not set that small amount and with the setting at 2, it still got clogged with lumps. Spread it on the disked areas. The tomatoes, Beach sunflowers, and late peas did not get any.

As 1 ton/acre of lime is approximately 50 lbs per 1,000 SF, and the garden is about 13,000 SF of planting space, then I spread 13 50-lb. sacks of pelletized lime. The spreaders setting for the lime was 4 as the spinner could not throw as much lime as fell out at higher settings. Drove all around in different directions trying to get it even.

This is the first spreading in the garden with the John Deere spreader. It pulled well with Fergie but the low settings (narrow slot) made the small lumps in the fertilizer clog it up. The spreader could also not handle the amount of material that well on the spinner at settings above 5. Update – The spinner was not well attached to the shaft and slipped when the load became too much. That situation has been corrected and the problem here is solved.

Also, today, spread 15-0-15 plus iron on the yard but that is in a separate post.