Don't give up Liz! Although, I'm not sure I would rely on the results from a store bought soil test. I think you would be better served by sending off soil samples to your local extension agent to have them test. And, I'm sure you will be having success way before your 5th year of gardening.
It sounds like you are doing all the right things. The only recommendation I would make is to maybe talk to some local vegetable gardeners to see if they have any thoughts to pass on to you, and if you haven't already, pick up a copy of Eliot Coleman's book "The New Organic Grower". We have turned a backyard that was scraped of topsoil when our house was built in to a decent vegetable garden, and if we can do that I know you will have great success!

Don't say that!!! 5 years!!! This is our first year, and we have got to be able to grow something, or else we will starve, we won't be able to pay our bills, and our dreams will be lost!!! Okay, maybe I am over reacting a bit, but 5 years to grow, anything???? That seems a bit bleak.

Thanks for your encouragement Jeff. I actually have spent the past two days in the garden weeding and fertilizing and changing my perspective. Maybe I won't get anything to eat from the garden this year, but at the least it will be a year of soil prep that will lead to great veggies next year!!

Oh Robin! A scare like this after the loss of your chicks is certainly not what you need! Don't worry, I'm sure both you and I will have garden success sooner than 5 years. Maybe it's 5 years before you can stop worrying about crop failure and finally feel comfortable with your soil!

If you are looking for advice, I would say that cover crops are the answer. In the summer, thickly broadcast blackeye peas (just use the ones sold in the store) and then shallowly till them in. When they start to bloom, till them under and replant another cover crop. There are a number of options of crops to use for cover crops; blackeye peas, buckwheat, winter wheat, oats, rye, annual ryegrass, any type of dried beans (black bean, pinto bean, etc.), sorghum, vetch, clovers, or even turnips. I've broadcast chicken scratch and corn before and had good results. Don't be afraid to try mixtures of seeds, sometimes there is a symbiotic relationship between different plants; oats and vetch, oats and clover, etc.

Growing a mixture of something like wheat, oats, austrian winter peas, and crimson clover (a typical wildlife food plot mix) over the winter should give you a noticeable improvement in your soil next spring.

Of course, don't forget to test and correct your soil pH, nutrients can be tied up in the soil and essentially unavailable to your plants if your pH is too low or high.

Great advice Rich! I got the garden going too late to have a cover crop this past winter, but I'm sure that would have made a world of difference this spring. Oh well, there's always next year! I am going to experiment with cover crops this year and I hope to even experiment with trasplanting directly into a crimped cover crop next spring. Lots of things to try, but no time to try them!!

"...I hope to even experiment with transplanting directly into a crimped cover crop next spring..."

I had my most successful watermelon crop once when I planted wheat in the fall, waited for it to head out in the late spring, and then flattened it out (like I was making a miniature crop circle in the garden), then a few days later I planted watermelons into the flattened wheat straw. For about a dollars worth of seed, (I bought a 50 lb bag of wheat at the feed store), I got the benefits of a cover crop over the winter, about 5-6 bales of wheat straw mulch, ladybug habitat in the fall and spring, and a summers worth of watermelons to eat and give away.

Don't forget that it can take much less time to broadcast plant a cover crop than it would take to weed and mulch the same area.

The animals are obviously well cared for and even look loved. I was wondering how, after living with these charming individuals, you could violate their trust and kill them in the prime of life? How is it you can cut the throat of a being that you have affectionately named and who adores you? Does it torment you daily or have you become callous to this scheming over the months or years? How is that humans can even do it at all?

Vegan,

Ignoring the obvious fact that you are not looking for an insight into the reasons and beliefs behind animal husbandry and the consumption of meat, but instead are trying to pick a fight in order to display the "superiority" of your own arrogant belief system, I believe that the hypocrisy of your own vegan "lifestyle" is displayed each and every Thanksgiving, in almost every vegetarian cookbook, and in every vegetarian food section of most grocery stores.

Every Thanksgiving, vegan types beg and plead people to substitute a tofu-based product that "tastes just like turkey", every vegetarian cookbook is filled with recipes such as lentil loaf that "tastes just like real meatloaf", and every grocery store sells products like soy milk that "tastes just like real milk".

If there is no fundamental human drive (or need) to consume animal products, then why is so important and so essential to have vegetarian products available that mimic the taste and texture of actual animal products like meat, milk, cheese, and eggs? Why wouldn't vegetarians and vegans completely eliminate these sorts of substitute products entirely from their diets? If I was repulsed and horrified by meat and dairy as much as most vegetarians and vegans supposedly are, I tend to think that I would be just as repulsed by a tofu turkey-like meat substitute product as I would be by an actual roasted turkey.

Why don't you explain your consumption of fake animal products, how is that justified?

Vegan,

Well, let me answer your questions two ways.

1. We're not violating anyone's trust. We know WHY we're raising the animals; for meat. Therefore, we enter into a sort of a contract with the animals, and our customers. We'll provide them with a natural environment for their life, we'll provide food, shelter and water for them and, in return, they'll provide healthy meat for us.

2. If you want to eat, you must kill. Even if you're vegetarian, as it definitely appears you are, you can't harvest crops without killing insects, moles, voles, mice, rabbits...you name it. There's this thing called a food chain, and we're all part of it. The trick,we think, is to be responsible and thoughtful about it. We're doing our best to restore the land and give animals a natural environment. Animals, mind you, that wouldn't even exist if they weren't eaten (you wouldn't see any wild cows).

So, while I appreciate your question, we're actively trying to improve the food system. My question in return is what are you doing?

Rich,

Thanks for identifying yourself along with your position. Personally, I respect it more when people identify who they are and don't hide behind pseudonyms.

Wow! What a hot button to press! It's not something that can be explained so briefly, but rushing past the ideas of meat eating being natural, our bodies were designed for it, the food chain keeps nature in balance, etc. The most compelling reason I find for eating meat is...what is the alternative? Really stop to think about this - what if the entire human race were vegan. This means that domesticated livestock would become pets or run wild. If you keep chickens as pets, will you stop them from reproducing, because that is cruel in itself. If not, then what will you do with all of the offspring? You'll need a lot of land for these animals to live, but land will be taken up by growing vegetable crops to feed humans. Can you imagine how much land would need to be cleared, tilled, and worked to grow a vegan diet for the entire population? If these animals, such as cows, run wild, then they will soon multiply, and with very few natural predators in the area, we will begin to see similar problems as with deer - running out in the road and causing accidents, taking over home vegetable gardens, etc.

So for many, many reasons I am comfortable eating meat and I find the way that I can truly show my respect for the animals that I consume is to provide them with a great and happy life where, yes, they are very loved!

I wonder why a vegan is on this site anyway? Is this person just looking to harass people who are simply trying to make a living and provide HEALTHY meat for their family and others? With all do respect, instead of trying to guilt others with illogical nonsense, take a moment to do some research. Do you know how dangerous soy products are? Is this what you suggest I give to my growing children. Is this what I am to eat while I am nursing my baby? Should I fill his little bottle up with soy milk? (most are GMO and produced by Monsanto).

I think not! I will continue to feed my children farm fresh products! I am an O blood type. What do you think Cromagnum man ate? A veggie salad with tofu every night? I don't think so.

Are you aware of how many people are deficient in Vitamins A and D? Are you aware that birth defects are caused from these deficiencies? Are you aware that fat soluble vitamins NEED good fats to be assimilated properly(and absorbed). Are you aware that soy contains certain anti-nutrients that prevent the absorption of vitamins and minerals? With this being said, am I to eat a product that may harm the development of my growing fetus just because an animal will die? Let me ask you a question. Would you save the animal before your own child?

Please, go eat some GOOD food. I think that your deficiencies proceed you.

I couldn't help but join in this debate. All I have to say is that we are omnivorous beings. If anyone wants to be vegetarian or vegan that's fine, but those people need to leave the rest of us to eat as God intended us to.