Hello all!
Let me just start by saying that I seldom post but read all of the forums almost daily and you folks are GREAT!
I live in Zone 6b and started "seriously gardening" about 3 years ago. I have about 1/2 acre so went with Square Foot Gardening and the first year it went very well. Last year, things went a bit worse and this year, I have to say the garden was quite the failure!
Tomatoes (when they ripened) were the size of a quarter or silver dollar at most. Okra grew about 12 - 18" tall and got no fruit, cucumber, zuke, and squash never produced anything and died almost immediately.
A bit of back story, I added a lot of composted horse manure and worm castings to the beds this Spring but left the plastic sheeting on the bottoms of the beds (as per SFG), and my thingking is that the 6" or so of soil along with the drought was just not enough.
Now, I live in the mountains so my soil is very rocky and clay(ey?). I am thinking next year that I should strip off the plastic sheeting bottom and recharge the soil with compost (I made 2 bins this year), vermicompost and composted horse manure but the plants will still only have 6" or so of ammended soil before they hit the red clay zone.
Can I get some suggestions on anything else that might help? I mean, I bought canning jars and the Ball book this Spring with hopes of canning, but didn't even get enough to munch on throughout the Summer.
Thanks for reading this "Novel" and any insight you can give.
Tom