Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 4 Entries. Monday, January 6 View Page This year we have done no amendments and we will see what the soil sample says when it comes back.   Tuesday, January 14 View Page I’m going to run through all of our soil samples and try to explain how we look at plant nutrients. So the first soil sample is about normal and fairly well balanced. We have told many growers that we stopped all feeding last year around the time the pumpkins were a little bigger than the size of a beach ball. We have also made no amendments before tilling. Looking at the first recommendation some Triple super phosphate is advised. This is the only recommendation, in our eyes worth considering for our patch. The potassium is fine and both of these can be gently added later on if needed. We have always had high magnesium but it’s not the end of the world. Sulphur is just Witchcraft, we have plenty but a leaf sample would probably say that the plants short of the stuff. Boron is good but if it starts to drop we will add more. Between 4 and 6ppm is, I think the sweet spot. You certainly don’t want much less at pollination. Molybdenum really should be addressed if only just to look good. The Nitrogen is too high but we can soon flush that away if needed. If that Nitrogen was perfect at 95ppm the EC would be probably just below 2.4. Please remember that there are many ways to deal with soil fertility. The way we deal with soil amendments will not be for everyone.   Friday, January 24 View Page It’s really important to make sure that drip irrigation waters your soil correctly. By this I mean the cone effect. If you are on a clay based soil you will be able to get away with less runs. However if you’re on a sandy soil you will have to put your soaker lines much closer together. We have had to add more soaker lines which is expensive but we have to pander to our plants needs.   Friday, January 24 View Page All of the clubs have been sent two sets of our seeds and we have just 4 sets left that we are going to sell for £100 per set. It has been brought to my intention that there is someone in Eastern Europe selling our seeds and many more for inflated prices. While this is not illegal it is frustrating especially has some of the seeds apparently are not what they say they are. My recommendation is to buy them from a club auction or us.