New to Organic Gardening

[The Helpful Gardener]

Maybe help Unc out with his corn to mend the fence?

Corn in sand, he's gonna need it...

HG

[wwiding]

Can I mix moss with the soil? There's tons of it growing now that the snow is melting, and if it's nutrient value is high I could bread it up and mix it with the soil. I'm also going through the woods here to gather the dead logs, and crumbling them up to add to my soil mix. I love it, gardening for the cheap people(-:

[The Helpful Gardener]

Watch it with adding too much wood; you can lock up your nitrogen... make sure you add manure or greens to balance that wood out...

Moss is not a high nutrition food for anybody, but it won't hurt anything...

HG

[wwiding]

Whoops, meant to say I was going to break the moss up and add it to the soil, not bread it up. Maybe I'll try both I just had a thought, I know, it's hard to believe. Back in the 60's and 70's, a few barns, and a house burned down on the property. I bet if I move some of the metal that's been sitting there forever, the soil underneath would be really good, do to the moisture held under it, and the worms being there.(I was thinking of lasagna gardening when this idea struck me).

[The Helpful Gardener]

Fire can damage surface soils, but after some time, with the wood rotting and the left over charcoal, not to mention the leftovers from whatever was being kept in the barn (if it was cows, that's great; if it was tractors, not so good...)

HG

[wwiding]

Well hey no worries, no tractors were kept in the barn, it was all old fashioned horse equipment. Actually some of the equipment is still laying in the woods, no longer usable, but I'm going to pull it out any way, maybe I'll decorate the garden area with the stuff, and grow some flowers and vines on it.

[malkore]

The book I'm reading is the Vegetable Gardner's Bible. Its pretty straight forward and suggests organic gardening for the most part.

Narrow enough rows that you can reach in from either side (so 3-5 feet wide) and as long as you like.

So I have two almost 4' wide by 15.5' long beds just dug up this spring. Spring isn't the ideal time to 'put in' the garden space per lots of peoples posts here, but I figured my harvest may be weak this year but the roots will at least create some channels, add organics to the soil (we have a bit of clay here), and I'm putting compost on top and tilling it in.

Then I'm adding a bit of topsoil but not a truly 'raised' bed with any supports, at least not THIS year

Take on what you will enjoy working with. for me this above method was 'doable' to get started and I only have to deep dig the beds. I'll let the grass between them die and the soil compact...less to mow!

[wwiding]

Well, I've been fighting roots for the past hour or so, big ones, so I've decided that that is where I'm going to end my garden bed. Now I need to rake the rocks and loose roots out, put my newspaper down, and fill it back up. Next year maybe I'll rent some equipment and make the bed a lot longer, but for now it'll work. I'm going to focus on composting to make better soil, and growing my beans, squash, and zucchini. Maybe I'll grow some stuff to plow under in any empty rows.

[gixxerific]

I'm going to focus on composting to make better soil,

For now that is the best thing you could be doing, everything else will fall in to place.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Gixx is right; get your soil right and the rest is easy...

HG

[wwiding]

The more I look around the property, the more useful things I find! A couple years ago, my cousin had pigs in the chicken coop, I'm going to see if it's good enough to mix in with the soil. Any pointers? I know I want it to smell like dirt, and it's been sitting for a year or two. The pigs were only fed grains, no meat. I'm not sure if it broke down enough though, since it's been in the chicken coop, not outside in the sun.

[The Helpful Gardener]

It's probaly ok, but trust your nose to make the right call...

If it don't smell like poo, it'll probably do...

You are getting the hang of this fast...

HG

[wwiding]

Well it doesn't smell like junk, but it still looks like it, but it also crumbles, so I'll mix a little in. I just contacted some one around here that raises rabbits, now I need a truck. One truck load is broken down, the other is fresh! I think I was made for this.

[GrandMomMom]

This line is so full of great tips and information! I believe it will transfer well to my Pacific Northwest medium-town environment.

We rent, so it would be foolish to dump a lot of cash into the landlord's property. In the past he has done such things as put weed killer on the lawn. Once we had someone who came by looking for work clean out a neglected flower bed. The next week the landlord had about a yard of root-filled soil mounded on top of it, planted 6 hydrangea bushes about 2 feet apart and told us that we had to water them and make sure that they lived. Fortunately we had a killing frost a couple of years ago & took care of that. About the only good thing that happened there.

On the other hand, it is our environment. The landlord, however, only sees it as his property, and it is hard to argue with that.

This spring I am attempting to remove an ancient rose bush & a growing blackberry vine and replace it with grass. I'd like to go with bush beans & flowers, but who knows what HE would do about that.

I am loving all of these great healthy soil fill ideas for low cash!

[The Helpful Gardener]

I have gardened on a lot of rented property over the years and was almost always able to work it out with LLs with one exception. Just know what the boundaries are and most LLs will work with you so you can get your jones out, as they have a beautified property.

HOA's are a whole nother ball of wax...

HG