N-P-K in a garden setting

[haydendavid380 759]

We are going to be putting in our inaugural garden at this house this year. I've been learning more about about lawn care recently and it seems the NPK application in lawns is almost as critical as in ag usage.

 

I've never heard of anyone talking much about applications in a garden setting. Growing up we'd put some Miracle-Gro  here and there and some seven dust if it was necessary. 

 

Do you guys add anything to your gardens to help them along or keep pest problems down?

[953 nut 51,469]

10-10-10 at the suggested rate side dressed along the plant rows twice per season works for me.         Weeds love it!

[oliver2-44 8,834]

As 953 said, i side dress with 13-13-13.  I use a lot of mower mulched leaves/grass to keep the weeds choked out.  Since the leaves/grass are not composted they rob quite a bit of the Nitrogen.  So I"Il sprinkle the mulch with a high nitrogen fertilizer. 

[Yossarian 203]

We've been doing something called hugelkultur since we moved in to this place about 6 years ago. Essentially mounds or raised beds built with a core of rotting wood.  We routinely get sweet potatoes running 5-9lbs each.  Beans, tomatoes, cucumbers etc produce as much as we can handle or more. The strawberry bed is insanely productive. The compost bin gets a yearly dose of horse manure as well as grass clippings and kitchen scraps.   No fertilizer, no insecticide, just traps for Japanese beetles and squash bugs. Cardboard and grass clippings go down between beds to keep weeds choked out. Once that breaks down it  leaves a nice layer of good, rich soil if we decide to move things around.

 

[haydendavid380 759]

When preping a new area, what it be of benefit to cover the ground with manure before I plow, plow it in, spread a 10-10-10, run the cultivator to smooth out the plow furrows and then plant?