Garden Question?

bgmike8

bgmike8

Well-Known Member
so i have this friend who decided he wants to do a big vegatable garden in his back yard. i have been reading and it seems that it is recomended to till up 6-10 inches of dirt and add2-4 inches of organic matter. i take it that organic matter would be manure

my friend thinks that we can just till up 6 inches in his back yard and add sprinkle on fertilizer and start planting.

what do you guys think?
 
backyard gardens really have no distinguished setup. i grow my plants the same way mj is grown. my tomatoes are even in grow bags lol. just pick up some soil from lows and start growing. unless they want to be obsessive and enter contests. just give em the right nutes and water and you will be fine. btw, tomatoes need to be deeper than that. mine are in 1 gallon grow bags and 2 gallon pots . they are deep plants. strawberries and a bunch of other things grow shallow though
 
The earth will produce your garden in varying degrees. Depends on how good the native soil is. I have mostly sand after digging 3"'s down. My very first garden produced some good results, but the next year I had laid composted material in the off season and my harvest tripled, with far less problems. Your friend isn't wrong, but tilling sod will end up being problematic. Talk about a weed, grass is one of the toughest things to keep out. Also, while tilling gets you planting quicker, it's a killer to alot of creatures below the soil who might help you out.

One of the easiest ways is to get a bunch of 2X6X10' boards and make a raised garden. Fill it with good soil and off you go. :peace:


out. :blsmoke:
 
yeah I would have to agree with crackerjax... if the soil thats already there isnt that great of quaility I would get an old galvanised tank or something cut it around into managable garden sized "rounds" and voila. We just did it with a 44gallon drum and got 3 nice sized herb gardens, you just want to bend the top edges back over itself the tin is very unforgiving on a resting hand or arm. Oh and make sure you take the ends off you want good drainage.
Hope this helped

Cheers kwaka
 
I'm also with Jax on this, first you need to dig the grass and it's roots out. Grass will grow like a champ if it's somewhere you don't want it to be.

I'd add some compost too if it was me.

Here is an excellent companion planting guide that can help you get a better harvest with less chemicals used.

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

There are some plants that don't like each other, make sure to at least read about what you are planting so you don't plant enemies next to each other and lessen your harvest.
 
I do a veggie garden every year and I do it the same way every year. Till the soil and then till in plenty of cow manure. Plant and feed good nutrition. Removing the sod the first year is critical or you will spend all your time pulling the grass back. Lst year I had some 6' tall tomato plants.
 
Perfect advice. Triple result with good organic matter? Who would have Thunk? A Master Gardener said a couple years back that a garden with good soil will not have weeds.... WTF??? I later learned that most "weeds" cannot survive in a high nutrient soil. They prefer 'Poor' soil, like native clover. Some seeds will lie dormant for 6 or more years, like Bluebonnets, just waiting for the right moisture & heat. Tilling brings the weed seeds to the surface. Plus it exposes the microbes to the direct heat/Sun. 8 Billion microbes will till the soil well enough, and offer the roots 'bite size' nutrients. To feed them, add 1/4th cup of molasses to 5 gals. of good water. For easy feeding a garden, see a post I done called "Back Yard Growers". good luck People. For more info, see the "captaincompostalabama.com site.


CrackerJax said:
The earth will produce your garden in varying degrees. Depends on how good the native soil is. I have mostly sand after digging 3"'s down. My very first garden produced some good results, but the next year I had laid composted material in the off season and my harvest tripled, with far less problems. Your friend isn't wrong, but tilling sod will end up being problematic. Talk about a weed, grass is one of the toughest things to keep out. Also, while tilling gets you planting quicker, it's a killer to alot of creatures below the soil who might help you out.

One of the easiest ways is to get a bunch of 2X6X10' boards and make a raised garden. Fill it with good soil and off you go. :peace:


out. :blsmoke:
Click to expand...
 
I did use chem fert's on it though. Plants don't care which is used. As long as you use quality fertilizer, chemically or organically derived, they are the same NPK. :peace:


out. :blsmoke:
 
When the nut-cuttin' is all said & done, all that NPK monitoring & PH testing is done, it's all a tide that people are caught up with and in. When you feed the soil, it will absorb what it needs, unlike the Micro-managing shit, where on day 14, this, day 58 that. Good soil automatically does the PH & nute absorbtion. For info, ask a worm, or better yet, feed the worm, and let him do the work, intended for non-humans.


CrackerJax said:
I did use chem fert's on it though. Plants don't care which is used. As long as you use quality fertilizer, chemically or organically derived, they are the same NPK. :peace:


out. :blsmoke:
Click to expand...
 
That is THE Debate. "NPK" is all the same. This example applies to all chems vs. organic. Lab/man made calcium tablets sold in stores is #1. A low quality calcium compared to natural "Micro Live" Calcium. #2. The absorbtion of chem nutrients/minerials if 85% less than natural living vitimins, etc. End result is poor quality & less absorbtion. It is NOT just the NPK, it's a LOT more than that. Believe what you will.
 
Your mixing apples and oranges. No amount of organic fert can match commercial grade fert in food production. Kind of why the entire farming community uses it. Kind of why organic foods are so expensive. The yield is less....

My nursery grade fert will outcompete any organic in cost and effectiveness. :peace:

out. :blsmoke:
 
Desod the area, cover it with compost, till it, make it grow. And anything you kill in the process of tilling... there's probably millions more where they came from. Tilling increases yield substantially by allowing roots to grow bigger, faster, and stronger. Especially tilling in compost/manure.

I'm not sure what CrackerJax is going on about. My organic compost is 100% made-up from things I'd otherwise throw away. There is no cost. Only a small amount of labor. ;)
 
What method do you use to de-sod? I thought about covering the ground with tarps for the winter so things would die off.



TeaTreeOil said:
Desod the area, cover it with compost, till it, make it grow. And anything you kill in the process of tilling... there's probably millions more where they came from. Tilling increases yield substantially by allowing roots to grow bigger, faster, and stronger. Especially tilling in compost/manure.

I'm not sure what CrackerJax is going on about. My organic compost is 100% made-up from things I'd otherwise throw away. There is no cost. Only a small amount of labor. ;)
Click to expand...
 
TeaTreeOil said:
Desod the area, cover it with compost, till it, make it grow. And anything you kill in the process of tilling... there's probably millions more where they came from. Tilling increases yield substantially by allowing roots to grow bigger, faster, and stronger. Especially tilling in compost/manure.

I'm not sure what CrackerJax is going on about. My organic compost is 100% made-up from things I'd otherwise throw away. There is no cost. Only a small amount of labor. ;)
Click to expand...


I'm not going on about compost...I've never heard of chemical compost, so that part is a no brainer. I use compost myself for my garden. I was referring to fert's which are applied after. There is a lot of misinformation out there that organic fert's are superior to chem fert's. Nothing could be further from the truth. That's all. :peace:

out. :blsmoke:
 
what do you guys think of this- i planned on using my old reservoir juice in my garden. i change it every 2 weeks in the veg room and its DTW in the flower room, the ppm is pretty much the same when i change it. i planned on diluting it 50% or so as well.

good idea or no?
 
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