Ambitious certified black thumb- I’m in over my head SOS pls send help

[campingshaws]

I’ve been trying to get pics off my old phone but no real luck. Instead I have current (today) pics of the gardening space. It’s near the camp pool. The beds are 4x8 and only 10” deep. I never tested the soil because I just assumed the miracle grow mix was what I needed.

Here’s an album. A couple are out of order and I can’t figure out how to fix it on my phone.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/albums/gardening-2018.7428161/

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I found purple cow peas at Lowe’s one year, wonder if that’s the same? I can’t tell peas and beans apart.

I think the beds are 2ft deep. Our weather looks about to turn but I’ll try to remember to measure when I go check on the ducks.

I’m glad you said arbor... I was going to try to make a bean wigwam but I wonder if a volunteer group would do an arbor instead?

Mine are purple pole beans, they are purple on outside & make them easier to see to pick. Once cooked they turn green. I will try to remember to get a picture of my arbor/tunnel that I grow them on.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I’ve been trying to get pics off my old phone but no real luck. Instead I have current (today) pics of the gardening space. It’s near the camp pool. The beds are 4x8 and only 10” deep. I never tested the soil because I just assumed the miracle grow mix was what I needed.

Here’s an album. A couple are out of order and I can’t figure out how to fix it on my phone.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/albums/gardening-2018.7428161/

I've found the miracle grow soil dries out too fast if that is all the dirt you are using to plant in. Maybe if you added mulch/compost blend to it it would help it retain moisture better.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

When you open up a pea pod, peas are round. Beans are kidney shaped. Peas are yummy, beans, not so much. Except green or yellow beans, i love those.

Cap, the purple beans I'm talking about are just like green beans. Once cooked or sautéed they turn green. Very yummy indeed.

 

[deepbluesea]

Hi Chickenlady2014! Have you looked at Baker Seeds (rareseeds.com)? They have a couple of different kinds of purple pole beans, at least: Purple-podded Pole and Blauhilde Bean, which are also purple bole beans. It's a neat site, to boot.

 

[Birdinhand]

wow, you have a challenge, you can't use manure as fertilizer, well that's kind of like telling you that you can't have a garden. it is still possible, but more expensive and a bit harder. since what you have is more like a demonstration garden for kids to learn then maybe you can justify the expense of store baught fertilizer. my favorite is Dr Earth. I have taken several plastic watering cans and drilled out the holes large enough to let the grains of fertilizer go through with the water (about a 1/4 inch), the side benefit is that the watering goes much faster. I basically make tea from the fertilizer. first, when planting starts or preparing a bed, I add dry fertilizer with a small spoon, below where I plant the plants and then to the water before I water, about every 2 weeks. sandy soils tend to be acidic, so you want to check the PH of the soil and see if it is acidic or basic. sometimes yellowing comes from the nitrogen being locked up in the soil from too much raw plant matter, which acts as a sponge to the nitrogen/potassium. if you have been adding lots of mulch that has wood chips in it, it may need to break down more, or maybe this year its finally broken down enough and you'll have a banner year (fingers crossed). a lot of municipalities that accept yard waste get a little impatient and don't break down their yard waste enough to use in gardens, accept as a mulch. it's best to buy the mulch the year before you need it, if it's got a lot of wood chips in it, and let it compost some more in a pile. You can add unscented ammonia as a source of nitrogen to speed it up and turning it will help keep it aerobic, you'll have to read up on the dosing and experiment a bit to get the hang of it.

the best ready to use fertilizer I've found is Dr earth, I'd go with the 25 lb bag of Tomatoe, vegetable and herb, or maybe two bags of it. I use it as an all purpose veggie fertilizer. I then repack to ziplock bags since nitrogen is volatile and can evaporate: Dr. Earth 733 Organic 5 Fertilizer, Tomato Vegetable Herb, 25-Pound . for the plants that are acid lovers, like blue berries and raspberries, you can use a rhododendron mix.

another more expensive but cool option is to get a jora tumbler composter, it's insulated and capable of getting the temps up to 130F or more, enough to zap just about any microbe that would be dangerous for kids from animal manure. I have this kind of composter and create about 1,000 lbs of compost a year, since it dramatically speeds up the process, making soil from chicken droppings (I raise about 70 meat birds a year) and kitchen waste in just 3 weeks. it's really an amazing system and I'd be swamped without it. there are days it's steaming so much you can see plumes of steam coming out the vents. https://www.amazon.com/Jora-Compost...1517593126&sr=8-2&keywords=joraform+composter

 

[Kiki]

What about use of manure 90 - 120 days prior to crop planting or harvest?

Either way, you can certainly grow a garden without use of manure. Deep mulch, and compost will be your best friends.

You can also do green manure crops to beef up your soil. You can even grow green manure crops that you can eat: Do a 10' x 10' bed of bush beans, or short vine peas. Sugar snaps would be a great edible green manure crop. You could do any number of greens. Sow a wide bed of them, harvest the first growth for salads, then let them continue to grow and till them back into the soil.

You apparently have lots of land available to you. How bout planting a row of Bocking # 14 Comfrey. This is a perennial that will not self sow. It mines minerals from deep in the soil. The leaves can be repeatedly cut and used as mulch or to feed a compost pile. Good stuff. However, don't plant it any where you don't want it to live for ever! The roots grow 10' deep, so it's a plant it once, have it forever plant.

No matter what, you will most likely have to do a lot of watering, and add some fertilizer to keep stuff growing in your sandy soil. Pick up a bag of 5-10-5 or 10-10-10, and don't be afraid to use it.

What is green manure?

 

[lazy gardener]

It's a crop you grow specifically so you can then till the green matter into the soil to increase the humus content and enrich the soil.

Why you hidin' unda' dat chair, Kiki???

 

[Kiki]

It's a crop you grow specifically so you can then till the green matter into the soil to increase the humus content and enrich the soil.

Why you hidin' unda' dat chair, Kiki???

I get embarrassed when I have to ask what something is.

 

[lazy gardener]

No need. To ask is to know.