thanks Odenwald, we are learning a lot in this process..treating the soil like my own body, would not put anything that i would not put in my body. Many argue that ultimately the plants absord Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus, Boron, Nickel and Silica etc and not the mulch or the compost tea or any organic matter put into the soil. Hence so much talk about leaf spray fertilizers and those colored granule fertilizers and slow release fertilizers that Monsanto and miracle gro have flooded the market with, that everyone talks about in fruit growers groups. But the same is true for human body, one is deficient in Calcium or Phosphate or Magnesium or potassium etc( I know this because i do blood tests in hospital everyday) . And they have started to give direct potassium or direct calcium tablet or magnesium tablet to ingest . But the absorption percentage into the body of these direct minerals compared to that through the intake of those minerals tin the food is low. Plus there is a whole network of beneficial bacteria in the gut , similar to the network in soil that feed of of the food to keep the balance. These beneficial bacteria will not feed on Ca tabs or magnesium tabs ingested.
Because there is pest problem in the garden we always are tempted to solve the problem right away with organic sprays but i have seen given time, and enough support to the plant , compost teas, mulch, rain water and soon we see predators coming in too...we are learning but it seems like patience is the key, and courage to make mistakes, and learn in the process...