Starting a small-farm vegetable project: Part 3

Bill Kerr addresses nutrient deficiency and some common vegetable pests.

- Bill Kerr

The ultimate goal is to have a farm that is almost self-sustaining and requiring very little input and becoming highly productive. I would like to share some milestones in my journey before achieving this goal.

Although I started off with what I perceived to be virgin soil, I discovered that it was rather nutrient deficient and I had to apply agricultural lime, potassium and phosphate. With regard to potassium, one should apply potassium sulphate and not potassium chloride, despite the big difference in price. Cattle manure is high in potassium and usually contains 3% to 4%, which means that you could use enough to counter the need to use K2SO4. In the initial stages you may have to apply some chemical fertiliser, even if it is only LAN.

IMPROVING THE SOIL