Preparing soil for a vegetable garden
tdsmith_gw
7 years ago
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chickencoupe
7 years agoauthereray
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Preparing vegetable garden
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!...See MorePreparing New Vegetable Garden
Comments (10)excellent choice... I would suggest that you do some further research by getting yourself a good book because simply setting up the bed would not be enough.. There are many aspects concerning soil,fertilizing, plant rotation, disease, insects, pests, plants that do well together (and plant that dont), irrigation, plant covers (for frosty nights and for insect protection), etc.. For instance my problem has to do with rabbits and raccoons.. Some may have to contend with mice, birds and deer. You could create a removable frame with chicken wire to protect your plants from birds and other such pests. Also try to learn how to grow your vegetables from seeds inhouse because many may require sowing before the last frost date. Also another good site to check out is Mother Earth News. Your idea for rock chicken is something else. (by the way, avoid using fresh chicken poop as fertilizers because they are far too hot, if not too concentrated... In fact, don't ever add any fresh manure to a garden bed, it has to be completely composted first) Wish you much luck on your endeavours....See MoreFree vegetable garden preparation
Comments (4)Fantastic idea - wish I could take advantage of it, but I'm hopeful someone out there sees this and can use your help! Sharon...See MoreHow to prepare my garden for vegetables?
Comments (5)YW. This is one of the less-watched forums. For a question like yours, you'll get more responses from the vegetable gardening forum. Go ahead and cross-post it there also, and I think you'll find a lot more input. In the meantime... I probably should have asked, but I suppose you are hoping to plant right in the ground. A lot of people build raised beds, but unless your soil is deficient, your chosen spot has drainage issues, or you need the extra height for handicapped reasons, it's unnecessary. I garden using 4' wide beds of varying lengths right in the ground and do just fine. Soil type can be determined by a soil test. Reach out to your local community (it's usually on the county level) for your local agricultural agent. In most states, a soil test is quite reasonable. Here it's $7 and well worth it! They will tell you how to take the sample, where to send it, what type of soil you have, the pH, the nutrient profile, and what to amend with for your planned use. In general, if you take a handful of moist soil, squeeze it in your hand, then poke it with your finger, a good soil will break apart, but not fall apart. If it doesn't break up - generally speaking it has higher amounts of clay. If it falls apart, or won't come together at all - it has higher amounts of sand. So, for weeds, and preparing the garden... there are a lot of different ways of handling them. I use organic mulches in my beds. It's a thick (4" - 8") layer of straw, leaves, grass clippings, hay, etc.. around all my plants during the growing season, and covering the bed during winter. I have no real weed problem. The thick mulch smothers just about everything. There are some tough weeds that poke through, but they don't concern me too much. If you know that you have some of the worst, you can spend extra effort in making sure you get every trace of root, but that's not always easy. To prepare my beds the first time. I didn't do anything special, I just got in there and turned the ground. I removed all the weeds I saw that I knew would be a problem, but that comes with experience, and I still didn't get them all. If I see a weed poke through my mulch, I just try to get as much of the top, and the root out as possible, and put an few extra handfuls of mulch on top. The mulch forces it to use up all it's stored energy and after a few attempts to reach the sun, and subsequent pulling by me, it usually dies out. The plastic idea that you wrote about probably won't work in your climate. It's called solarization and it needs very hot sun to work. First, you might be too far north to get the direct sun necessary, and it has to be done in the hottest part of summer. So, for a garden this year, you would have to have done it last summer. You could consider trying it if you expand your garden, but you could also just pile a bunch of stuff on an area to smother it back some. A compost pile, whole leaves, or a lot of grass clippings is a good choice for putting on top of a future bed. That said, a lot of people simply put down cardboard/paper as a weed block. You can either lay down cardboard and build a bed over top... which I don't prefer because of the expense and effort to bring in soil/medium/compost etc... Or, you can till/turn the soil, lay down thick layers of paper or a layer of cardboard, cut holes and plant through the cardboard. You could also plant, then put the paper/cardboard around your plants as they sprout. I think these are effective methods. I don't, nor have ever tried them, but those who do swear by it. If you think the area is fairly fertile, and has decent soil, you may not have to add much of anything. The soil test is the best way to know for sure, but honestly, most garden soils are at their best through mimicking nature. Adding generous amounts organic matter and compost is often the best way to build a healthy soil. If you have access to clean, uncontaminated, composted manure from rabbits, chickens, or farm animals, that can be good, but you have to make sure it's not contaminated. If the hay the animals were fed had herbicide on it, that can make your garden pretty much unusable. There are simple tests you can do right at home, and the best way to get good advice for your soil (aside from the test) is to post specific questions in the Soil, Compost and Mulch forum. I hope that gives you an overview and at least starts your thinking toward your options, and gets you started. Don't hesitate to ask these same (and more) questions in those other forums. They are watched more often and are very active. We all do things differently depending on our preferences, needs, conditions, and ability, so the more input you get, the better you can find what is going to work for you....See Moretdsmith_gw
7 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years agochickencoupe
7 years agotdsmith_gw
7 years agochickencoupe
7 years agoAmyinOwasso/zone 6b
7 years agotdsmith_gw
7 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years agoAmyinOwasso/zone 6b
7 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years agohazelinok
7 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years agoOctavia Hunter
7 years agojlhart76
7 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
7 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
7 years agochickencoupe
7 years agomerrybookwyrm
7 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
7 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
7 years agoauthereray
7 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
7 years agochickencoupe
7 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years ago
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7