I would like advice regarding soil mixing up our own soil for outdoor.
First, I’ll spell out what we’ve done.
The main ingredient is composted cow manure, in bulk, from a local farm that sells to gardeners. I haven’t tested it for nutrient composition, but it’s rich. It still has a bit of an ammonia smell but I don’t believe it’s straight manure. I can see bits off partially composted wood chips/bark mulch in it. Anyways, it’s called “Black Gold” locally and it’s pretty potent compost, although I’m not an expert.
I tested the ph and it was acidic. About a 4.
Last year’s depleted soil tested 8+ alkaline.
What I have done is mixed some of the old sandy (alkaline) soil with the compost.
I also mixed in perlite, which has a neutral ph.
I mixed the three together, until I got consistent PH readings at 6+/- a smidge. The mixture was aprox 10 to 4 to 1 (compost to sandy soil to perlite).
Here are my questions:
Can/should we grow in this soil without adding ferts through the end of the veg stage?
Should we add anything to the mix out of the gate?
My thoughts are that the cow manure compost has good nitrogen and we probably should just let them grow, with just water and no added nutrients until flowering.
I’ve been researching and just can’t find specific answers to my questions. It seems like everybody buys their medium in bags at the grow store.
Hopefully one of y’all can help me out.
Thanks!