Shaded gardens.

[BigBill]

My old garden at the new place only had about 50% of sunlite per day if that. I put in manure each year and sometimes up to 3 loads every spring for the past few years. This spring we cut down an old maple tree that was shading the garden. Now its growing and producing veggies like it never did. Most of the garden is were the water table is high at times so i never water it. We picked two tomatoes that were bigger than a slice of bread. The squash. califlower, broccoli and beans are producing like there on steroids. Last year we put lime down really heavy so the tomatoes didn't have that acidy burn your lips taste to them so there sweet tasting too. What a difference a little more sun can make!!!!!!!!

We purchased patio tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets for $5 each we got two plants on sale. They were about 4' tall when we transplanted then into my very fertile soil. Now they didn't grow much but there full of tomatoes. We also planted pumpkins as a joke and we have 10 pumpkins on one plant. The soil was probaby praying for some sun before we cut the dying tree down.

All it takes is some old chicken manure and some sunlite!!!!!!!!

After three truckloads of fermented cow/steer manure its still not growing the way it should. This maybe the last year i plant corn.

My apple, my pear and my peach trees are growing like weeds if the deer stop eating the branches. But i lost my cherry and plum trees(saplings) something ate them off at the ground level flush. When i touched the tree it just fell over? I'm going to purchase 6' tall trees next.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

It takes even rotted cow manure 3 or 4 years to break down, so the manure you put on this year is not much help for 2 or 3 years. between the increased sun and rotting manure it may just now be coming around good.

[Eugene]

Soil test if you haven't done one within a year or so.

Contact your local county extension office for the kit and directions.

[Goraidh]

I agree with Eugene. A soil test will tell you many important things about your growing medium, and it's pretty cheap to do. Here in Maine a complete test only runs $15.

[Bill Hudson]

Eugene has the answer, "Don't guess, soil test."

Here are some useful references:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1602.html
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/soiltestinglab/
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=g6950

Have fun and enjoy your garden.

Bill