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Vegetable Gardening

Preparing Soil for Vegetable Garden

11 years ago

I live in Western Loudoun County in Virginia where the soil is very red and constains alot of clay. My garden is 748 sq. feet and I did not condition the soil last year so nothing really grew very well. I would like to know the most economical way to condition the soil so my vegetables will grow this year. I would like to know what to add to the soil before I begin tilling and what to add after tilling the soil. Whatever needs to be added I am hoping I can buy in bulk because I am on a fixed income and do not have alot of money to buy individual bags of compost, etc.

Thanks for all your help.

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Comments (4)

User
11 years ago
The most economical thing is to gather up your fallen leaves in the fall with a mulching mower and till them in.
nancyjane_gardener
11 years ago
That's a good sized garden! The above is a great idea for next fall, but for this year you might check your dump and see if they have compost (I'm lucky to live in an area where the dump compost is certified organic) or a landscape materials place (those are also organic in this area, but more pricey)
You might want to peruse the soil and compost forum for lots of ideas for next year that will be cheaper than buying. Composting, sheet or lasagne composting, cover crops and much much more! Nancy
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Not necessarily. If you lay out your rows for spring planting in the fall, it could be set to go w/o tilling in the spring. I'd give a second thought to the peat moss, though. It can cause a lot of problems. As can purchased topsoil.
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Stop over complexifying. You're late getting started. You're only up there for a few months. Screw the solarizing and soil testing thing this year. Time to just whack some plants and seeds into the ground and get your feet wet. The only additional prep I would bother with this year is to find some prepared compost somewhere to mix into whatever soil is already in your raised beds. One additional bit of advice -- if those west facing beds don't get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, then don't bother planting vegetables in them. Find some nice part-sun/shade plants for flowers and foliage instead. Nothing wrong with feeding the eyes instead of the stomach of conditions demand it.
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Thanks kimmr and lazyg. for responding. I guess I forgot to mention that I had already tilled,,or I guess a better word is dug the areas to make new beds for a flower and vegetable garden. Before it was just an area with bushes and high grass. So again lazyg,,,may I ask what do you mean by layering 'compostable stuff' on the garden area? Do you mean just layer the area with leaves, grass, brush, etc. (not yet composted).. or do you mean covering with bags of store bought compost? Also, what are the 'mulch layers'. That from the organic material I've covered the area with? I guess I don't know the difference tween mulch and compost. Sorry I'm such an air-head beginner.
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Comments (17)
Everyone has given you good suggestions. Don't work more than you have to! That's why Interbay Mulch is ideal for your situation because it keeps the soil moist & composting with no watering on your part! Use both cardboard & burlap: The cardboard can still be used on the bottom to smother the weeds. We did both cardboard on bottom & burlap on top. As we gathered additional materials lifted up burlap & added. Eventually, the burlap starts to decompose, so by spring it might be shredding. Then just part it & plant. The burlap will continue to work as mulch suppressing any weed seeds that might be present & keeping soil moist. Shred the leaves with a mower: Leaves are slow to decompose & best used in compost projects in spring; however, I've gone ahead & added them shredded in fall because that's when I have huge amounts of them to put somewhere. The weather is warmer & drier in fall, so more pleasant to work in than spring. Also, then the leaves are there & begin to decompose when the temps are right without any intervention on my part. It's not pleasant to work outside in 42 degrees rain in spring. So, by spring you can still see parts of the leaves, but I don't bother screening it out. I use it as mulch or plant right in it. By fall I can't find any of the leaf parts & it's time for more leaves to be added on top. In some areas of our garden we layered materials right on top of pit run gravel filled with weeds all along our driveway. Years later we have raised beds with concrete block sides filled with herbs, but started with piles of materials & pulled the largest rocks out to the edge. before concrete blocks the entire length From 2010 flower garden Higher up toward forest where there was soil & we added materials on top. Burlap & upside down carpet is visible on the path between beds. Remember don't work more than you have to!
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Raw_Nature
11 years ago
This is the way I do all my beds:

-mow the grass as low to the soil as possible

-smother the grass with leaves,newspaper,cardboard whatever is adequate to smother and kill the underlying grass

- cover the newspaper/leaves/cardboard with compost/topsoil.. Basically making a raised bed

- mulch heavily with a couple inches of leaves,etc

-plant!

That simple.. You could be planting in a couple of days.. The only expense is the compost/topsoil you would fill the beds with.. But if you have a compost pile, everything is free.. Also lookout for your city giving away free compost.. That were I got mine from.. I would of preferred my own compost, but inhad such a large area, the compos pile had to be is big as my yard! I did this with over 1,260 square feet of beds.. Vegetables,strawberries,blueberries, flowers... It works like a charm!

Best of luck,
Joe
pnbrown
11 years ago
Joe, as you have made it clear in other threads that you never disturb the ground in any way with any kind of tool, could you give a hint as to how to plant! into sod? Because it sounds like your advice here is to cover sod with cardboard and etc and then before anything has decomposed begin planting.

Also, perhaps you missed that this OP mentions that his is a second-year garden so presumably it is not presently established grass sod. Also it is unclear how cardboard will on a short time-scale amend the soil beneath. Within days or weeks we expect nutrients from compost etc to leach through the cardboard and have an effect on the ground beneath it?

Ohio is not northern VA. There is a climate difference at least. In the latter place it's past time to plant spring crops, so the OP needs to amend the ground ASAP if he wants to have a chance to grow peas and lettuce and other cool-weather crops. Covering with cardboard won't do that, nor will it warm the soil. If he has not added lime in the past then the ground is surely acidic, and is the likely cause of last year's poor performance. The most effective tack to plant now is to make the rows or planting holes directly into the clay, incorporate goodly amounts of wood ash and compost, and plant!

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