The humate experiment
At a recent gathering, I told my friend’s dad that I’d been gardening.
“Have you tried humate?” he asked, then went on to explain that he had mined some organically rich soil, aka humate, from New Mexico, which is supposed to do wonders for plant health.
“You should do a side-by-side test and see how well humate works against your regular growing method.”
The gauntlet has been thrown, and I accept the challenge.
Step 1: Soaking the seeds
I started out soaking half of my seeds in a mixture of humate and water, and the other half in plain water. My friend’s mom had the brilliant idea to put them in muffin tins, which just so happens to be a genius way to soak (and keep track) of a bunch of seeds at once.
Step 2: Prepare the dirt
I saved half of a 4 x 8 plot for the humate experiment. To prepare the dirt, I weeded, then covered the bare earth with newspapers (black & white only, no colored ink!) and wet them.
Then I covered the newspapers with mulch and compost. One side (the one on the right) also got a thin layer of humate. Then I repeated: Newspapers, mulch and compost.
Step 3: Planting the seeds and transplants
Next, I took my humate-soaked seeds and planted them in half of my plot (beets, spinach and peas) and then planted the water soaked plants on the other side. I also planted a brussel sprout plant on each side, just for fun.
Step 4: Amend the soil
Lastly, I amended the soil with alfalfa meal and watered it in with a mixture of fish emulsion and seaweed.
Let the growing begin!
