On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 7:31:38 PM UTC-4, Terry Coombs wrote:
Well straw anyway , the rain never showed . I got the entire garden
covered with straw today , and it's looking like I'm headed in the right
direction . My soil is in much better shape now than a couple of years
ago . When I started gardening here 4 years ago I didn't realize how
easily the best part of the soil would wash away . Not only does the
straw slow the flow and help control erosion , but it puts much-needed
organic material into the soil . Except for about 3" of topsoil , what
we have here is clay silt and rocks - rocks from grain-of-sand size to
bigger than I can lift alone .

It erodes easily ... but what I'm doing works . I have high hopes for
this year . I'm using a 50/50 mix of compost and manure plus a
tablespoon of Epsom salts to enrich the soil in each hole I plant a
seedling in . I'll be using the same in the hills for cukes/zukes/etc
... and this year I don't have a major construction project (and my
wife) looking over my shoulder . Depending on the weather , I expect to
get the rest of this years choices planted by Thursday some time .
Tomorrow is my annual VA physical and probably more rain , but Thursday
looks good .

--

Snag

Our garden is on a slight slope, so my wife came up with a method to slow erosion. She made raised mounds perpendicular to the fall line of the hill so that the water gathers up behind them and slows the current. On the long paths between garden sections that follow the fall line, she dug dips between the perpendicular mounds and made small hills between the mounds, again to slow the rush of water and channel it behind the mounds where the vegetables are planted.

Paul