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- #21
I want to start a veggie garden but I have never done it before..help?
- Thread starter Dar
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If you don't want to till, google how to start a bed using old cardboard, mulch, top soil, I think it is called a lasagna garden. Now is a great time to start a garden area to get it ready for spring planting.
- Thread starter
- #23
This is a very interesting article describing 3 different methods of gardening and the results.
http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com...a-three-year-study-of-home-gardening-methods/
http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com...a-three-year-study-of-home-gardening-methods/
- Sep 20, 2011
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Quote:
Portland, ME 43°39′54″N 70°16′9″W
Elliot Coleman and you are on the same parallel, you can follow his ideas to improve your harvests.
He is a simpler-is-better type of gardener and either of his books, The New Organic Grower or Four-Season Harvest will explain the concepts well.
You have the same amount of sunshine as they do in the South of France.
Whatever grows in the South of France you can grow.
I own the book Four-Season Harvest and it includes planting schedules for every season, also discusses preferred varieties he uses.
It discusses techniques, tools and structures including composting.
This would be a great place to start.
Cheers
Portland, ME 43°39′54″N 70°16′9″W
Elliot Coleman and you are on the same parallel, you can follow his ideas to improve your harvests.
He is a simpler-is-better type of gardener and either of his books, The New Organic Grower or Four-Season Harvest will explain the concepts well.
You have the same amount of sunshine as they do in the South of France.
Whatever grows in the South of France you can grow.
I own the book Four-Season Harvest and it includes planting schedules for every season, also discusses preferred varieties he uses.
It discusses techniques, tools and structures including composting.
This would be a great place to start.
Cheers
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Wow, lots of good advice. Here's a little more:
I heard (from a farmer, I think) that if you roto-till, it may upset the delicate balance of the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. As others have already said, don't trash the top layer. If you think you need to "get rid of it", at least put it into a compost bin, so it will break down and help the soil later.
I have had two 4x4 Square Foot Garden plots (or "squares"), a bit longer than I've had chickens. The book is All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, copyright 2005. (The first edition, from 1981, I think, was pared down a lot, and made easier to follow). The Square Foot Gardening Foundation website is full of information, at http://www.squarefootgardening.org. They have a great forum,(where I used to "live", before I got my first chickies, and got addicted to this one) located at http://squarefoot.creatingforum.com, and http://www.squarefootgardening.com is "where you can purchase anything you need to have a beautiful and economical SFG raised bed garden."
Another book I got this year is small plot, high-yield gardening by Sal Gilbertie & Larry Sheehan. I met Sal in person when I bought his book this past June after a garden seminar -- and even have an autographed copy. His method looks like a way to have a larger garden (as my other half does), that is more thought-out and concentrated than a typical rambling old row garden. (And here, I thought he was just the name behind the herb gardens that supply many of Connecticut's garden centers with organic herbs)
Good luck!
I heard (from a farmer, I think) that if you roto-till, it may upset the delicate balance of the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. As others have already said, don't trash the top layer. If you think you need to "get rid of it", at least put it into a compost bin, so it will break down and help the soil later.
I have had two 4x4 Square Foot Garden plots (or "squares"), a bit longer than I've had chickens. The book is All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, copyright 2005. (The first edition, from 1981, I think, was pared down a lot, and made easier to follow). The Square Foot Gardening Foundation website is full of information, at http://www.squarefootgardening.org. They have a great forum,(where I used to "live", before I got my first chickies, and got addicted to this one) located at http://squarefoot.creatingforum.com, and http://www.squarefootgardening.com is "where you can purchase anything you need to have a beautiful and economical SFG raised bed garden."
Another book I got this year is small plot, high-yield gardening by Sal Gilbertie & Larry Sheehan. I met Sal in person when I bought his book this past June after a garden seminar -- and even have an autographed copy. His method looks like a way to have a larger garden (as my other half does), that is more thought-out and concentrated than a typical rambling old row garden. (And here, I thought he was just the name behind the herb gardens that supply many of Connecticut's garden centers with organic herbs)
Good luck!
Quote:
At the Heirloom Expo, I ran across a nifty site called http://www.smartgardener.com/. It might be helpful for you to try it out. Helps you figure out what to plant when for your zipcode and where to plant it based on the orientation of your plots to the sun.
At the Heirloom Expo, I ran across a nifty site called http://www.smartgardener.com/. It might be helpful for you to try it out. Helps you figure out what to plant when for your zipcode and where to plant it based on the orientation of your plots to the sun.
May I make a suggestion? I haven't had a vegetable garden, but in terms of starting a flower border, I have experience with preparing the ground. And there is an easier way than actually removing the sod.
Get lots of newspaper and/or big cardboard boxes. Smother the grass in the area you want to plant with the newspaper to five or more layers thick (or one layer of cardboard). Cover with a few inches of mulch or compost, and wet it down. Then put a plastic tarp over the mulch or compost, hold it down at the edges with rocks or bricks, and leave it over the winter.
Come spring, remove the tarp and check to see what's going on underneath. When I've done this, virtually all the grass and weeds were dead and composted, and I just planted away.
I learned this from a rose book a few years back and tried it out. You will probably find the odd weed or two, but the whole process is nowhere near as hard as tilling. By keeping the grass and weeds under the newspaper/cardboard, mulch and tarp, you're not only killing it, you're composting it, and the worms and bugs and things will mix it up for you.
If you want to make the soil even better, you could plant a cover crop of clover or alfalfa first, then put the newspaper or cardboard down just before it gets too cold to do yardwork. That way, you have some nitrogen fixation from the clover or alfalfa, and more "green manure" to add organic matter to the soil. You could also throw in any manure, bone meal or other soil amendments under the tarp, and by spring, you'll have nice, dark, crumbly, workable soil.
ETA -- dang...I should have read through the other responses....someone beat me to it.
Well, I can tell you it worked for me.
Get lots of newspaper and/or big cardboard boxes. Smother the grass in the area you want to plant with the newspaper to five or more layers thick (or one layer of cardboard). Cover with a few inches of mulch or compost, and wet it down. Then put a plastic tarp over the mulch or compost, hold it down at the edges with rocks or bricks, and leave it over the winter.
Come spring, remove the tarp and check to see what's going on underneath. When I've done this, virtually all the grass and weeds were dead and composted, and I just planted away.
I learned this from a rose book a few years back and tried it out. You will probably find the odd weed or two, but the whole process is nowhere near as hard as tilling. By keeping the grass and weeds under the newspaper/cardboard, mulch and tarp, you're not only killing it, you're composting it, and the worms and bugs and things will mix it up for you.
If you want to make the soil even better, you could plant a cover crop of clover or alfalfa first, then put the newspaper or cardboard down just before it gets too cold to do yardwork. That way, you have some nitrogen fixation from the clover or alfalfa, and more "green manure" to add organic matter to the soil. You could also throw in any manure, bone meal or other soil amendments under the tarp, and by spring, you'll have nice, dark, crumbly, workable soil.
ETA -- dang...I should have read through the other responses....someone beat me to it.
Well, I can tell you it worked for me.
Last edited:
oh no! that squarefootgardening site has an expired domain!
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