Beginner Gardening: My Pride and Joy, 1 by kbumgar

kbumgar wrote:
Gymgirl,

The soil is a compost mix from our local landfill, if you can believe it. It was pretty inexpensive (about $100 for the entire 5 yards), and I think it has made all the difference. The native soil here in Central Oregon is VERY sandy and rocky. It's a miracle that anything grows here at all. Another benefit of the good soil is that it allowed me to start everything from seed ($11 for all of my plants vs. $3 each for every started plant that I would have had to buy).

I was pretty determined to make sure that the soil was good before I put any seedlings in. In fact, I got a cheap soil test kit from my local Ace Hardware similar to this one: http://www.buyacehardware.com/rapitest-soil-tester-10-kits-7...

After the seedlings were firmly established, I used a water-in fertilizer (once) called Alaska Fish Fertilizer. This is an organic product, and the guy that delivered the soil swore up and down by it. Here is a link: http://www.nehydro.net/images/alaskafishqt.jpg. Does anyone else have any experience with this product? So far, I cannot tell whether it has done any good?