bboy, we're talking vegetable garden here.....plants that have a high nutrient demand and that do grow best in amended, highly organic soils. And there is ample evidence that vegetables can thrive in virtually 100% organic 'soil', such as one would expect with using only compost. If the area in question has not been tended or actively gardened recently, it IS very likely organic matter is deficient and tilling in several inches of compost is going to help, not cause the problems you allude to, which tend to be idiosyncratic at best. One of the primary benefits of using organically sourced materials is that it IS pretty darn hard to overdo them. Because of the way they work - in tandem with soil organisms - it is virtually impossible to create "nutrient overload". And they tend to offer nutrients in very low levels anyway, so one would require VERY large quantities of anything, especially compost or other OM, to create "abnormally high levels". As to nutrients not "immediately utilized", that statement makes no sense. It takes time for organically derived nutrients to be converted into plant accessible forms - with almost no exceptions, nothing takes place immediately so the products cannot be utilized immediately. By virtue of these two principles, leaching of organic products and therefore pollution is very uncommon and is typically limited to runoff from large piles of manures.....hardly the case occurring in most home gardens. While Chalker-Scott sometimes has valuable things to offer, she also seems to have a very simplistic understanding of soils and soil biology. And organics. And I dislike her approach of stating everything in such no-uncertain-terms without offering any documentation or substantiation to support her theories. And she is not addressing cropping or the growing of harvested edibles, which is an entirely separate set of conditions. Interestingly, much of what she says is in direct contradiction to the Master Gardener publications she supposedly oversees. Here is a link that might be useful: WSU Master Gardener publications - vegetables

Dawn, sounds like you had a good year, all things considered! Our spring/summer garden was fairly pitiful. The only thing that produced was salad greens, walking onions, and garlic. We got only a gallon or ywo of summer squash before it went kaput. Tomatoes never did get it right after the rainy setbacks but we did get a decent flush this fall, enough for several days of good eating. Melons, not so much. Beans & cukes were a complete bust. The fall garden is seems to be doing better. Peas, cabbages, and cukes are showing promise, summer squash has just started putting lots of goodies, and salad greens are up a almost ready to start cutting. Walking onions and herbs are doing well now and I'll be setting out the garlic before much longer. The chiles finally started taking off in late summer so we've had a decent harvest of those and they're continuing. Spring = Fail. Fall = Much Better. Diane

you have to understand, tomato cages are not used where i live (croatia), you can't buy them, and making them would cost loads. and honestly, i don't see the point, except for tomatoes grown in containers (which is very very rare here). there are a myriad of simpler solutions, people here sometimes emulate the greenhouse system of tying, by putting in the ground two concrete poles on the opposite sides of the tomato row (we use them in vineyards to attach wire too) and string the wire between them at about 2 m high. then attach a single lead for each plant to that wire and the ground beside the plant. then as the tomato grows just wrap it around the lead, it ends up supporting itself no matter how big or heavy it gets. the thing is, i plant more of them so if a couple die, or get diseased i just don't care. also, i plant a lot of varieties and am not OCD about taking care of them. as i said, some just sprawl around, and i'm happy even if i pick a bit less fruit from them than if i was fussing over every detail and stressing out ( i have chillies for that lol ). i was just explaining this to my mother the other day, she was freaked out by some of the sprawling ones touching the ground : "oooomg why are they down there, you know they'll get diseased! and you didn't prune them, birds will fall from the sky when they fly over your tomatoes! no they won't, over the years i've realized tomatoes are much stronger than we give them credit for, leaving them the hell alone to do their thing is the best fertilizer in the world (as a member on another pepper forum said when i posted the above chilli pictures haha). to get back to tying them up, there is also this tunnel system used here occasionally, which may or may not have netting put over the top of that center line, again relatively simple and effective. about selling produce, i don't sell, would you believe? i cook a LOT of paste and sauces, and interestingly how ever much i make i always run out before the next season's harvest. relatives and friends have gotten used to the "tasty paste" and snag it all away haha. the thing is, here most people are still growing oxhearts (if they are growing anything at all, the "grow your own food" movement hasn't really caught on yet, especially among my generation - under 30), and simple red cherries were considered exotic not that long ago. so when i cook or give away a rainbow of colors from my 30ish varieties it makes quite a bang. about space, i have what would translate to 3.7 acres of land around my house, most of it just empty with some fruit trees and stuff. but planting all that in tomatoes would be insane of course, so i think of it as unlimited space but limited gardener time and energy :D anyhow, to sum this way longer than needed post up, i think one has to decide where their priorities are, and cross reference that with available nerve and happiness amounts. in the middle is what you do to your plants :)

You didn't say if you had sandy or clay soil. I have clay soil and greens, green beans and sugar snap peas do well. Other than that I do everything in containers. When I had sandy soil everything except tomatoes did well, again, I had to grow tomatoes in containers. I pretty much plant everything by seed.