If you live in an area with regular thunderstorms, your Nitrogen needs are taken care of.
I had no idea!
This is a great post - you cover most of what I'll say in my post that'll be out later today. Why are eggshells controversial? I saw the other day that adding a whole egg and banana under tomatoes is a good idea - I usually add shells and skins, but I guess the extra moisture would help support the growing plant. I'll do a control this year.
I agree with resting and rotating - I was trying to explain that to Jamie as he argued for only one vegetable bed in the new place (albeit large). I nearly threw an egg at him. Does he know NOTHING?????
Great post!
The argument against eggshells is that most soils have sufficient calcium and it takes many years for the shells to break down into a usable form and this is true. There also needs to be a balance of nutrients in the soil, you don't supplement one at the expense of others. NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) are your main plant requirements and the others are just trace.
In my case, the soil acidity breaks them down quickly and the geology of the area is calcium deficient because the rocks date back to a time when there was no life on earth. Younger soils, or soils that were ancient inland seas with marine life don't lack calcium
I keep all egg shells we used for cooking (in the city), squash them to pieces and when summmer season comes, add them to the soil (preferrably to irises), this makes our heavy soil a bit lighter... @nikv
!PIZZA
Shells can be useful in this way too.
!PIZZA
Really interesting!!
Have you heard of using Zeolite chips in soil? It has a similar effect and also absorbs nutrients so they aren't lost to leaching