Gardening in a former chicken run...need help....

[calamtykel]

I have a pretty large garden but this year I kind of ran out of space. I have a beautiful fenced square area where we raised 26 Cornish in a truck cap last year. The soil is loose and full of earth worms. We processed the chickens last October, so it's been empty since then.
My problem is that I'm afraid that it will be too much manure for gardening. I was going to just cover the area in excess black landscaping fabric I have plunk in some tomato plants and some squash plants.
Now I'm afraid to - because several times we put down pine shavings in the run to keep down the mud and stink. So I think my soil there is probably really acidic.....I know tomatoes like slightly acidic, but this may be over the top. I had an old soil test and when I did it, the color came out brown when I mixed the soil, water and tablet...it wasn't on the chart of green to yellow. So I'm afraid it was way acidic.

If I add lime...will it help the soil? Or is it too far gone to plant anything there this year? Seems like such a shame to waste the space when it's already been stripped clean of all grass and foliage by the chickens!

 

[Chick Charm]

likely the chicken poo/nitrogen will be at a usable level since it's been 7 months. I think you will see high acid levels from the shavings as they take a while to break down. A few more months will help. However, if you till 8''down and mix things up you may be ok. I would try but that is the impatience in me.

Wish you the best.

 

[StephieSky]

Sweet potatoes will grow in extremely acid soil. They love it. So will radishes. If you have a tiller, I'd plant these and then add lime and winter squash for erosion control in the late fall so it would be ready for spring planting next year.

peppers, beans, broccoli, cabbage, squashes, carrots, celery and cucumbers, sweet corn and of course tomatoes and turnips are good bets if you add some lime and till it in to neutralize the acid in the top 8" of soil AND don't flood to water the garden patch. They tolerate acid soil very well.

 

[calamtykel]

Thanks! I'm going to give it a try. This is a pretty small space - we used to open the gate so the cornish could come and go, so they weren't real confined - I do have a rototiller but I think it's too confined to get it through the fence! I'm using one of those tilling forks that you step on and then turn the soil and 8" seems to be pretty doable since it's all real soft from the chickens. Gonna try the lime....and hope for the best this year -it's worth a shot since it's just standing empty. Not wishing to do another batch of Cornish this year for sure!
Will try to remember to check back with an update!