Enrich Soil of your Vegetable Garden – Your vegetable plants need adequate nutrition to grow well and yield a lavish produce. They take this nutrition mainly from the soil. It is therefore important that this soil contains enough nutrients for all the plants. These nutrients also need to be in the form that these plants can easily absorb from the soil. The nutrients present in the soil get depleted fast as plants are constantly using it for their growth. Adding nutrients to enrich this soil is essential and should be done at regular intervals. If not, your vegetable plants will be stunted and produce less and inferior yield. In this article we will throw some light on how to enrich the soil of your vegetable garden.
Manure
Adding manure to the soil is one of the easiest ways to improve its quality. Manure is nothing but a form of organic fertilizer. It is important to use manure from herbivorous animals like cows, goats, horses, chickens, etc. and not carnivorous animals. Make sure that you dry the manure or add it to compost so that it ages properly and becomes suitable for adding to the soil. Mix it well with the soil for it to be effective.
Vermicompost
Another easy and organic way of adding to the nutritional value of the soil is by adding vermicompost to it. Vermicompost is obtained by the action of earthworms on organic or biodegradable matter like cow dung, dry leaves, grass, kitchen waste, etc. When this matter decomposes due to the action of the earth worms and micro-organisms present in the soil, it is turned into a dark and crisp soil like substance which is extremely nutritious for the plants. It mainly provides nitrogen, potassium and micronutrients and the micro-organisms also aerate the soil facilitating oxygen supply.
Wood ash
Adding wood ash is a good way to improve the pH of your vegetable garden soil and add potassium and other minerals to it. One additional benefit you get by adding wood ash to the soil is that it absorbs the toxins present in the soil which can be harmful to the plants. You can use the ash obtained from a fireplace or any other burnt wood. Fine pieces of charcoal can also be used for this purp
There are plants like alfalfa or clover that add nutrients to the soil and when they decompose, they make very good fertilizers. Green manure is obtained from such plants. All you need to do is plant these plants along with your other vegetable plants. When they wither and decompose, you can break them up and mix with the soil as rich organic manure.
Using these naturally available substances to enrich soil of your vegetable garden is a great way to add back the depleted nutrition from the soil. This will result in your garden producing high-quality, nutrition rich vegetables. Not to mention the added satisfaction of growing a fabulously thriving home vegetable garden that you will feel proud of.
