I have lots of compost, worm castings, mulch, etc. My garden used to always get this stuff added every year. I filled the raised boxes with the mixed stuff from a landscape supply. I am hesitant to add ashes because how much it will raise the already borderline high ph. Greensand sounds like a good way. We have kelp meal around here as an organic fertilizer that is high in K but it is also high in $.
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It's kinda hard to make suggestions without knowing what your area is like. I lived in a farm community. Limestone is everywhere. So was organic material like leaves, crop leftovers, straw, compost from our half dozen chicken coops, rabbit poop and bedding, stuff like that.
I kept a huge compost pile and trucked home everything I could get ahold of.
I agree completely on the ashes. I don't use them, never did. Lots of people here do use ashes and tons of powdered lime. It's a tempoarary solution to a permanent problem.
If you had lots and lots of limestone chips in the soil you could use all you want. Thing is, it's still a temporary solution, just like commercial fertilizers.
That stuff is money down the drain, literally.

On the organic material and compost...
Imagine that your garden soil is 100% composted organic material. That would be the ideal. Perfection.
Then add the dirt you have to it. Every shovel makes it worse.
That's not a rub, it's just that forest soil (along with lots of other types of soil) is depleted. It's just the way it is.
I said that to illustrate that no matter how much compost or organic material you've added, it ain't enough. It took me a lot of years to kinda get my head around that.
Your test results are what shows that. It's fixable, and you can fix it for good. Just keep working at it. :-)
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I took some video yesterday. It's lousy, but it'll do. :-)
I'm sending it up to YouTube right now, it says it'll be done in 77 minutes. It's only 10% done.
I have to start cleaning the garden up now. It's time. I need to get everything in the compost bin, but it's slap full. I'm not exactly sure what I'm gonna do, but I'll figure something out.
I'll link up that video if it ever finishes up. :-)
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Behold. The last video of 2010. :-)
If you look around 3:19, you can see a couple volunteer tobacco plants.
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Thanks for that. I would love to do that big of a lot, but the nematodes around here are crazy!

If all goes well for my little containers, I am going to scale up production in Feb.
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Fall update:

I'm down to a few straggler tomatoes. The okra is still doing so-so. The jalapenos and bells are going nuts. I have 20 or so pint and quart jars of pickled jalapenos so far and many to come. My biggest jalapeno is close to 4 feet tall. Our first frost is around the first of November, so I'm going to try something new this year. I'll dig her up and continue growing her in the house during the winter. I'll self-pollinate the flowers (with my hands :-)). I'll get a picture soon.
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Great video as always man! Your garden is loaded!!!!! I'm still getting a few of the habaneros on mine but not many.
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Well I got me a big steamin' pile of sh!t in my yard now.
About 1 1/2 yards of fresh, watered down horse manure. I'm waiting for it to compost some before I start to add it, after we pull everything up.
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I bet it's rained 6 inches here in the past two days. It's supposed to rain the rest of the night into tomorrow. Before this weekend, it hadn't rained in FOREVER. Feast or famine...

I'm glad I don't have a big pile of sh!t in my yard. :-)
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Big STEAMING pile!
I stick a piece of rebar in it and stir it every day and it steams from inside. Adding chicken and kitchen compost to it this weekend. Next year I will top dress the boxes with more about a month before planting. I don't want a repeat of this year even if the weather is bad again.
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Don't put no meat in there, broham.
That's the only thing you don't want. Newspaper is good for compost, too. That'll get that potassium up, as well. They say India Ink has good stuff in it for the garden, I don't remember what. I don't even know if they still use it for newsprint, either. It's still good stuff though. :-)
You can turn that pile into your garden asap.
Warning though:
Horsepoop has TONS of weed seed in it. Try to keep it at least three inches deep if you can, and don't till. The worms will come up and till it.
If you cover the beds with black plastic from this seasons end till planting time, the worms will get lots of extra time to work that stuff.
You should also know that plants grow in the top six inches of soil, so you can add that to your strategy.
I can't remember how deep your beds are from the pics, but it'd be a good idea to poke a hole in the center of the black plastic if you decide to use it.
I'd go with landscape material like DeWitt Sunbelt and be done for good. Same stuff that's on my garden. It holds weeds out and keeps heat in. It's a bit expensive, but lasts forever.
When I plant my plants, every other year I use a 1:5 mixture of hydrated SAP and composted cow poop and throw a handful in each hole. That keeps water and food to the plants all years long.
I actually cheat and don't hydrate the SAP. I know an ounce makes a gallon of hydrated SAP, so I just calculate it against the amount of cow poop I'm using.
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100% fresh stall sweepings. It steams during the day. It is so hot it's cooking the weed seeds. Too hot to hold your hand in. If it were drier it would smolder.
Maybe this weekend I will turn the chicken beddings before it cools down.
I use cheap weedblock from the garden supply. The same as under the pea gravel.
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The only thing I have in my garden is a Serrano chili plant. The squirrels eat everything so it has a body guard. :-)

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Here's a closer view of the chili, but the cam is focused on gnomey cheese.

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I have a picture of Lisa's garden basket. I told her that we generally use our shirt or a five gallon bucket to carry vegetables, but she thought this thing would be cute. It is. :-)

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Here is week 6:

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Are those all peppers, Wayne? They're lookin good!!! :-)


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Thanks Scott, it's my first "garden" since I was a kid.

In the second picture, the 2 plants to the left are California Wonder Bell Peppers. I had a problem with some sort of moth caterpillar, but after a night inspection and prompt bug squishing party, they have started to come back around. The other plants in the second picture are White Acre Peas. It's a Southern thang.

The First picture (L to R) is summer squash (2), and green beans (2).
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I think she's right. :-)
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She's always right, Justin. It's her rule. It's working out GREAT!!! :-)
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That is nice! What do you use on the ground? The black plastic? Is it a certain type or will anything work?
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