T wrote:
songbird wrote:
....
well, glad that things are going ok. i'm
pretty sure i'd want something in there other
than peat moss, but at least it is organic matter
and better than nothing.

Peat changes my soil from alkali to acid. I have
used local compost for years and got no where
with it. I think the reason it that compost
is a booster and can not help bad soil become
healthy, as my alkali soil demonstrates.

any organic matter will help over the
long haul (humus is a weak acid).


My garlic is such a pretty pink!

So far the best I have done it Dr Earth fertilizer
at the bottom of the hole, a bunch of weeds, then
peat moss mixed with my awful dirt.




next time those holes will be easier to work with.
each season builds upon the last... next year you
can make more holes if needed, but the previous ones
can be planted with some other family of plant. made
a little bigger. keep chipping away.

Each year I learn something new. My wife says to
keep a journal of things learned.

we have pictures and maps of what went
in when Ma first started gardening here
many years ago. now i just take a picture
once in a while if there is something
interesting or Ma wants a record of a new
decoration or something.

she was going to throw the old records
and scrapbooks away but i was able to talk
her into giving them to me instead.


I think I have won the war with the squash bugs.
haven't seen one or eggs in over a week. Yippee!
I still check though.

yay! we never did find two of the three
tomato worms. i guess they went underground
as there hasn't been any more damage anywhere.


My garlic crop was poor this year. I feel so
ripped off that I have to wait another year to try
again. This time I will use peat, weeds and melon
rinds which I am collecting. And remember to occasionally
water them.

too much OM in the soil will encourage
diseases. the crop wasn't all that great this
year here either.


songbird