Garden soil reconmendations?

[paplinker]

Hello all.

Getting ready to rip up some lawn to plant my first garden this weekend.

Its not going to be a big one this first time as I don't really need a lot more yard work and i want to see how much my girlfriend wants to take on. Maybe 10' by 30' area

My question is other than pulling up the turf and tilling it is there anything I should add to the soil this first year? Maybe mix in while tilling?

Nitrogen, lime ,bagged topsoil etc?

I plan to plant mostly tomatoes, some sort of hot pepper variety and beans for her. I want to plant some kind of herbs around the edges like oregano and Basil for me.

Rich

 

[RGVshooter]

First before adding anything to the soil you first need to find out what it needs, if anything. Go to Lowes or Home depot and get a soil testing kit to test for PH. It will also test for levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Do that first.


P.S. Do you drink coffee? Instead of throwing away your used coffee grounds add it to your soil. It attracts earthworms and adds organic material to the soil. I know Tomatoes will benefit from them. If you use a drip machine just dump the used grounds and the paper filter to the ground and mix it in the soil with a garden rake or shovel. If you use a K-cup machine just open up the cups and dump out the used coffee grounds.

 

[Frank46]

I had a 12x30 foot truck garden.Each year would grab a sample fom as many places as I could and mix it well.Take the sample over to the court house and have the local farm agent run some tests. Gave the size of the garden and after testing he'd give me a list of what was needed to till into the ground. I'd take some triple 8 and broadcast on the dirt before tilling. Corn, bush beans, peppers, egg plant, radish, carrots to name a few. with the exception of the pepper and egg plants all the rest was from seed. For the spuds I'd go to a grocery store and get the bags with all the eyes. Those were my seed potatoes. Frank

 

[soFlaNative]

Do you have sand, loam or clay?
The sand down here really should be prepped the year before.
Once it's cleared and turned cover with visqueen for a couple weeks to sterilize the soil.

 

[ralph7]

Please let us know how your forth coming battle with the bugs and critters goes with your 'maters.

 

[misswired]

Instead of 'rippin' out the lawn... till the grass into the soil. It will provide good natural nitrogen as it is decomposing. Till, add slag, till again,add lime....keep tilling until the soil is powderized. The better the prep the easier down the road.

For tomatoes I'll plant winter rye as thick as possible, plant the tomatoes spaced right in the thick of the rye. For the first few weeks you'll wonder whose going to win the rye or tomatoes? Of course the tomatoes will outgrow the rye. The rye is so thick it will prevent any weed growth until it dies in mid-summer in effect leaving your tomatoes mulched for the season .

Along with coffee grounds and vegetable waste, throw all your eggshells in throughout the winter. This will provide natural calcium to prevent blossom end rot on your tomatoes.

I also plumb the garden with pvc pipe drilling a small hole at each plant. Cap off one end, rig a short piece of female' hose onto the other end to attach the male' end and you can water the entire garden while sitting in the shade enjoying a cool beverage.

The neighbors tend to tolerate the year round shooting noise better when you give them baskets of vegetables! The one or two that do complain, don't know what they're missing

 

[Rule3]

Take soil samples to your local County Extension service to have it tested.

You can not know what to ADD until you know what you HAVE

Call them first to check the details.

 

[VaTom]

Whenever I make a new flower bed for my wife, I get bags of the cheap top soil at Lowes and mix it with "Black Cow" manure from Lowes. Ratio is 3 bags of topsoil to one bag of black cow. If the soil is not too my h clay mix it in also.

 

[nachogrande]

COMPOST, COMPOST, COMPOST!

Whenever I make a new flower bed for my wife, I get bags of the cheap top soil at Lowes and mix it with "Black Cow" manure from Lowes. Ratio is 3 bhttp://smith-wessonforum.com/images/blue_style/editor/menupop.gifags of topsoil to one bag of black cow. If the soil is not too my h clay mix it in also.

Composting makes sense in so many ways. It cuts down by 1/3 - 1/2 the amount of trash going to the street, saves $ on garbage bags, gives you better "garden gold" soil than you can buy from ANY gardening store, at high & getting higher prices. Buy a cheap Jerry Baker gardening book, they are full of common sense how to's/ & recipes for ANYTHING you may need made from CHEAP common household items. I agree with the soil testing 100%, county AG extensions usually do it free.

 

[misswired]

Wearing retro skinny jeans to turn in your soil sample is probably OK,but, I'd recommend stepping into a pair of shirtless overalls for work. You can disregard a hat until the back of your neck is sunburned.

I've had good luck with raised beds for smaller year to year plots.

Pics of winter rye smothering weeds in a tomato and garlic bed.

When the Japanese Maples put on their first leaves around here...you know it's time!

 

[nachogrande]

RAISED BEDS.

Pros: easy on the back, soil gets warmer, more organized, looks nice.
Cons: hard to get a rototiller up into them.
One worth a try: Picture a 4' x 8' section of bleacher with 3 tiers & 12 holes (a 12 hole outhouse), buckets or pots can be put in/moved around EASY, great for flowers/herbs.

 

[Rule3]

Composting makes sense in so many ways. It cuts down by 1/3 - 1/2 the amount of trash going to the street, saves $ on garbage bags, gives you better "garden gold" soil than you can buy from ANY gardening store, at high & getting higher prices. Buy a cheap Jerry Baker gardening book, they are full of common sense how to's/ & recipes for ANYTHING you may need made from CHEAP common household items. I agree with the soil testing 100%, county AG extensions usually do it free.

The VICTORY GARDEN! a gazillion bales of peat moss!!

Jim Underwood Crockett

From the original show and book! Not what it became.

 

[arjay]

Get a soil test so you know what it needs and rent a rototillerr to churn up the grass and turn it under.Give it 3-4 weeks to break down before you plant

 

[Frank46]

We have at least where I live a combination of loam and dirt in Louisiana. Used a 6hp sears tiller for about 4 years and always had fresh veggies. I actually use a garden hose to water the plants as a few days without water down here will affect plant growth. Too old now to do a garden that size. Was fun though. Frank