The art of building a great home garden begins with building great soil. I start my garden the same way every year by pulling freakishly large weeds that have appeared in my two-month dormant season. Digging several 18 –inch deep holes in the ground, adding up to five cubic feet of organic compost that’s been decomposing in heaps for several months as a top dressing and then dropping my Mantis tiller in one of the wholes and frantically churning the earth.
Once I’ve tilled several 12sf sections, I check the ph. balance of the soil using a soil testing kit from the local Home Depot; restart my tiller and go back to wantonly macerating my dirt. This year the ph.level is right on target for growing San Marzano and big tasty heirloom tomatoes. If I need to revitalize my soil, I’ll add some organic nitrogen and calcium in the spring.
By experimenting with my garden in the nine years I’ lived here on my mountain, I’ve realized I don’t need to rotate my annual tomato crop I my garden. I’ve grown many tomato vines in the same spot on my garden for as long as I’ve lived here. What I’ve learned is:
I need to pay more attention to grow hours than I do mineral depletion.
My solution to depleted nitrogen—a $.99 bag of cheap manure tossed casually around the base of a plant or in my garden—works just fine.
Compost—lawn and other organic waste belongs in my soil, not in the green waste bin don on the street on trash collection day. When it comes down to organic soil, I am an unabashed compost pimp.
Consistent watering is as beneficial to my vegetable crops as boosting the mineral nutrients in my soil. Once I map out my Garden later this spring I intend to add drip irrigation. My complete failure to grow watermelon sis due to two things I will remedy this year; melons absolutely require consistent watering and here in San Diego they only thrive in loamy soil with sand.
The best solution to keep marauding gophers and burrowing meadow mice (aka voles) isn’t a fancy windmill with an eccentric cam beating a constantly thrumming metal stake in the ground, but a well-aimed .177 high velocity pellet delivered by my Beeman air rifle directly to the head of the furry vegetable destroying vandals. Moreover, their decomposing carcasses add nitrogen to the soil—a gentle nod to organic gardening.
Although News Years is still a fresh memory, I’ve already started my 2012 garden. My flourishing artichokes, strawberries and freakazoid Brussels sprouts make me hopeful of the crops to come and the joy I find in my restorative gardening hobby. Please, Mother nature no hail this year,OK?.—Jim “Farmer” Forbes on 01/15/2012.
Once I’ve tilled several 12sf sections, I check the ph. balance of the soil using a soil testing kit from the local Home Depot; restart my tiller and go back to wantonly macerating my dirt. This year the ph.level is right on target for growing San Marzano and big tasty heirloom tomatoes. If I need to revitalize my soil, I’ll add some organic nitrogen and calcium in the spring.
By experimenting with my garden in the nine years I’ lived here on my mountain, I’ve realized I don’t need to rotate my annual tomato crop I my garden. I’ve grown many tomato vines in the same spot on my garden for as long as I’ve lived here. What I’ve learned is:
I need to pay more attention to grow hours than I do mineral depletion.
My solution to depleted nitrogen—a $.99 bag of cheap manure tossed casually around the base of a plant or in my garden—works just fine.
Compost—lawn and other organic waste belongs in my soil, not in the green waste bin don on the street on trash collection day. When it comes down to organic soil, I am an unabashed compost pimp.
Consistent watering is as beneficial to my vegetable crops as boosting the mineral nutrients in my soil. Once I map out my Garden later this spring I intend to add drip irrigation. My complete failure to grow watermelon sis due to two things I will remedy this year; melons absolutely require consistent watering and here in San Diego they only thrive in loamy soil with sand.
The best solution to keep marauding gophers and burrowing meadow mice (aka voles) isn’t a fancy windmill with an eccentric cam beating a constantly thrumming metal stake in the ground, but a well-aimed .177 high velocity pellet delivered by my Beeman air rifle directly to the head of the furry vegetable destroying vandals. Moreover, their decomposing carcasses add nitrogen to the soil—a gentle nod to organic gardening.
Although News Years is still a fresh memory, I’ve already started my 2012 garden. My flourishing artichokes, strawberries and freakazoid Brussels sprouts make me hopeful of the crops to come and the joy I find in my restorative gardening hobby. Please, Mother nature no hail this year,OK?.—Jim “Farmer” Forbes on 01/15/2012.
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