Stupid Question from a newbie gardener

[undergroundnomore]

hubby and I are growing our first kitchen garden. We spent all morning tilling it. We live in Georgia so our soil is a clay dirt mix. We are thinking of using a soil conditioner. Does anyone know anything about that? does that sound like something we should do? How do we keep grass from re-growing in the garden? Do you mulch the garden once you've planted? With what? Would straw work?

I told you I have no clue. Really I don't. I've been growing everything in containers but now it's time to move these things into the dirt and I'm afraid I will kill all my plants because we are so utterly clueless.

[elleng]

1. I have nothing sophisticated for you,

but use the same principles you've used with your containers.

As to mulch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulch

[RedEarth]

2. You might want to check out these forums

Georgia Gardner...


http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/gagarden/


Main link to the Garden Web site...multitude of forums covering just about any issue regarding gardening.....good luck.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. Clay has lots of nutrients

I have clay here too. I added lots of compost, some peat moss and perlite. The trick with clay is not to work it when it's too wet or you will end up with rock hard clumps. You're lucky enough to have some dirt mixed in with yours. :)
Grass will re-grow, keep the hoe handy and use it often. Straw makes decent mulch, just make sure you don't get hay (lots of seeds).

Improving Clay soils...
http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/improving-clay-soils.aspx

[Kolesar]

4. That article on clay soils was a great read

Our soil is sandy, so I need not solve the clay soil problem. However, the points on retaining organic matter were quite insightful. :)

[madeline_con]

5. Add peat moss or something to lighten up the clay.

Mulch after planting. I put a soaker hose in FIRST, then plant along both sides, then mulch over that. It's a great water conservation method. Just be sure the hose can be connected and disconnected at the edge of the patch, so you can use the other part connected to the water source for other purposes, too. I use cypress mulch from Lowe's. Just leave a little space between mulch and stem to prevent some diseses from taking advantage.

TIP: Rotate your tomatoes to different areas each year. I didn't heed the warnings and am battling some type of fungus right now. :(

Otherwise everyone seems happy! :) I hope this helps. Happy gardening! :hi:


You can see my kitchen garden here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x11337

[Blue Gardener]

6. Start a compost pile if you can

For future use. It's fantastic for the garden. Straw works just fine for mulch if you can find it. Make sure it isn't hay or you'll have trouble with weed seeds.

[cwydro]

7. When working with the poor soil we have down here,

I usually mix in a good soil or compost with the ground soil. I work then into together really well before I plant. I've had great results, but then, everything grows well here.

My parents live in NC, same soil as you're describing and my dad grows wonderful veggies. He usually gets a truckload of manure from somewhere and tills that in with his soil before planting. But that's all he does except for maybe one more manure treatment halfway though.

[lib2DaBone]

8. How big is your kitchen garden going to be?

For large gardens... if you can locate a neighbor with a tractor... have them disc up the area to be planted. Then.. find a farm where you can purchase a couple of dump trucks of manure. Have the tractor till and mix the manure into the soil. As other posters have pointed out.. with clay.. you need to get sand, loam and other organics into the soil to break up the clay.

If you are doing a smaller kitchen garden.. you may want to look into contructing raised beds.

You can make raised beds from cinder blocks or 4x4 landscape timbers. The ideal raised bed is 3 1/2 feet wide by 18" high. They can be as long as you have room for. (Basically, you are making big planter boxes). Leave a path down the middle between boxes so you can water and weed.

Line the bottom of the planter beds with newspaper or if you can afford it.. weed cloth from your garden center. Contact you garden center and have them bring you a truck load of nice top soil and garden loam. Viola.. instant garden beds. You'll be amazed how many vegatables you can grow from 2 garden beds 10 feet long.

Plus, with raised garden beds.. you can put fences around them to keep out the deer, foxes, racoons, rabbitts.. lol. These little critters will pick you clean before you ever get one vegatable.. so there is a lot to be said for the ability to fence your beds.

I had a garden bed with beautiful tomatoes.. the blue jays picked every tomato off the vine before I could get to it. Then the deer finished the rest... it's a jungle out there...


wood and cinder block raised beds under construction