Re: CULT: Organic Matter

In a message dated 97-05-21 03:50:23 EDT, you write:

<< I was told once upon a time a million years ago that if your soil supports
 grass or grassy weeds, it has plenty of nitrogen - don't add any at all.
 Can anyone tell me if this is a "true" truism? >>

I don't think so!  I used to wonder why my stuff didn't grow very well,
except for grass and weeds, of course.  I did some soil testing and found the
nitrogen was so low, it didn't even register!!!

After doing some reading on soil types in the area, I discovered  that ours
is notorious for the rate at which nitrogen leaches out.  My flowers and
veggies do much better since I have been adding it.  The tricky part is just
trying to add  nitrogen as the other elements are fine. (I know, compost,
compost, but there is hardly enough compost in the whole state to do the
trick here.  In fact, NYS bought up much of the area around us for a wildlife
management area in the 1930' s after most of the farmers on it went bust and
moved on....) 

Dorothy Fingerhood
DFingerhoo@aol.com
Newfield, NY  (gardening on glacial till; that is, sand and rock with a
smidgen of dirt mixed in)
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