Wow, that's all looking pretty good.

The control row (w/nothing) in on the right, right?

My onions and peas did pretty lousy last year, always have, so I'll be watching that for sure.

Thanks for the update!

left to right
control - azomite - ecomin - sea90

I picked my first cucumber today. It came from the ecomin section but could just as easily come from the azomite. The control and sea90 will be ready soon. This weekend I will likely be giving cukes away.

Overall, the ecomin and azomite section are clearly ahead in terms of growth, followed by the sea90 with the control in last place, but still growing.

Hmm, I'm surprised, I didn't think you'd see much difference at all. I'll have to look at getting some now and trying it out too

I wonder if the differences in the products would produce different results in different soils and locations. I suspect they might, but since our soil has almost nothing in it but clay and sand and rock, any amendments could help I suppose.

Personally I am jealous that he's picking cukes already... (It was a balmy 38F this morning)

I've eaten a couple of cucumbers from the azomite and ecomin sections and one from the control. The sea90 should have one ready in the next day or so. I imagine I'll bring a couple of cucumbers to my 80 year old neighbor tomorrow.

I picked a few cayenne peppers (azomite) and more are on the way (azomite, ecomin). I should see peas (azomite, ecomin) soon also, and saw one green tomato (azomite).

All sections are doing OK, but the azomite and ecomin and clearly ahead.

The tomatoes are wilting with the first few hot days (90s+) so I put up some shade screen. It's kind of hard to see in the photo. Hopefully it will help.

I've been picking one or two cucumbers per day for the past week or two. The ecomin section is far away the leader but other sections are producing also. I picked one pea pod today but it wasn't quite ready yet. Hopefully the heat won't kill them. Plenty of green tomatoes on the vine. I've picked a few cayenne and will probably get some more this weekend.


C=control, A=azomite, E=ecomin, S=sea90

Wow, I really am impressed. I can see a pretty remarkable difference now, and the ecomin row really stands out. I'm going to have to get some now, no doubt about it.

I made some cages for my tomatoes today. Got quite a few green tomatoes, but last year they all got devoured by bugs. This year I planted a few Marigolds in between them and I haven't seen many bugs yet, but it's still early for them. I'm going to cut them back this year too, they were growing like mad last year and just went crazy on me.

Based on your results (and thinking different soil needs different things), I think I will try your test in the Summer '14. We are moving so I'd like at least one year "raw" for comparison. Now granted I will have almost exclusively raised beds (they warm up faster) and the rule is replace at least a 1/3 of the soil with new mix. Add on top of that that every summer I've been here has been different weather wise - drastically different!

I am really enjoying watching your experiment!

I think one of the nicest raised bed gardens I ever saw was at a place called Five Mile. It's on the Dalton Highway about 5 miles north of the Yukon River. They also had great tuna salad sandwiches. Surprisingly, no salmon sandwiches.

If you do a control section there is no need to wait with the experiment. I think the more people that do the experiment, the more valid the conclusions we can reach. Different soils, different plants, different conditions all the way around. Could the better results be the result of a better plant and not the soil amendment? Maybe the lesser results were a result of the plant being the runt of the litter. That's where the repeat experiments will prove most useful.

Right now, I don't think it make much difference which amendment is used, although it seems that amending is better than not amending. Ecomin seems to be great for cucumbers but sea90 has the best looking tomato plant so far. I still can't wrap my head around applying salt, even sea salt (sea90), to my garden on a regular basis.

You bring up some great points there. In my garden I planted four tomatoes from a flat of transplants. Some of those are doing better than others, and the two that grew from seed that fell last year are actually doing the best. Hard to say what they are because there could have been some cross pollination going on there.

Same with my cukes. I planted about 4 varieties from seed this year and each seed has grown at their own rate, some way bigger than others, and they are all planted very close together.

I still have to get my pics posted

Duh - I'd just need one or more beds in similar areas (shade etc.) as the control(s). Donno what I was thinking. Hopefully I'll have time to cut trees and build garden boxes in the garden area this fall - oh and build a moose fence.

Last time I went up the Dalton that place was closed - but it was a bad fire year (as in one spot we stopped at we watched the fire crawl through the tundra right at the side of the road!)

The most beautiful drive I've done up here was Top of the World highway on the way to Dawson city over Labor day weekend a couple years ago.

The cucmbers have all dried up from the heat and the tomatoes aren't far behind. I also picked peas, picked an onion today and have more on the way, and have picked cayenne and Caribbean hot peppers.

(I am previewing this an the formattig just isn't working)
Tomato Control Azomite Ecomin Sea90
May 0 0 0 0
June 1 6 3 3
July 0 0 0 3

Total C=1, A=6, E=3, S=6

Cucumber Control, Azomite, Ecomin, Sea90
May 6 6 15 4
June 6 10 11 5
July 0 1 1 3

Total C=12, A=17, E=27, S=12

Wow, I don't really get all that much for my efforts! Still, I enjoy it.

I also put in a rain barrel with downspout diverter to collect rainwater for the potted tomato on the porch. I think future years for tomatoes I will stick to potted tomatoes on the porch as the heat seems to affect them less there. Might be the shade. I will use the garden space for peppers and onions and may try other stuff.

Well that's really interesting Perry. You've certainly convinced me that the amendments do work, and I need some in my garden too!

I guess that a mix of them might be best, at least that'd be worth a try too. I didn't really put much at all on my garden this year except some chicken and donkey manure and lime.

My cukes did awful this year, rabbits and crows got most of them, but bad as it was I did a lot better than most others here. My tomatoes are coming in now. I only planted 4 cherry tomatoes and one of some kind of heritage seed that produces a purplish fruit that's really tasty, but not the variety wasn't very productive. The cherry tomatoes are producing great, but the heat has been splitting them just about the time they start to ripen.

I'm looking forward to planting a fall garden soon. July has been so hot and dry that the garden has struggled all through it. The Farmer's Almanac says it's supposed to cool down and wet up this next month. August has been pretty cool the past couple years, so we'll see. I hope they're right...

I really want to thank you for keeping us posted on the progress and results of your experiment. It's been fun keeping up on it and I've learned a lot too, so, Thank You!!