BenGman wrote:
Jerry Baker also makes a good book called "Easy, Easy Vegetable Garden"
and it is quite helpful. Its my first year too, and I live in the
California Bay Area. Soil is VERY IMPORTANT, as i learned the hard
way. I have a 12ft x 24ft. garden with a variety of veggies, and when
i started, i figured that since i had really bad soil (all rocky and
lots of clay) i better get a rotatiller and mix in fertilizer. I mixed
in 10 bags of manure, hoping that would be enough. However, i planted
my heirloom tomatoes in april, and their only about 3ft. high and not
full at all! My tomatoes (big red, heirloom, roma, and cherry) are
still really small and not very thick and full. None of my garden is
growing very well (healthy, but VERY SLOW at growing). So, i would
say, if you think your soil is bad, do a raised bed, or really go
through your soil with a rotatiller and sifter and get all the clay and
rocks out of the soil and put A LOT of fertilizer, compost, and
vitamins in it (like vitamin b)

You don't want to get rid of *all* the clay--you want some inorganic
material in your soil for minerals. You also have to be careful with
your compost/manure....both need to be well composted, or they will
actually reduce the amount of nitrogen availabe to your plants. If you
get compost from a city leaf collection program, it's rarely "cooked"
all the way. OK to use as mulch (and will be better broken down into the
soil by next year), but not to mix into where the plants' roots are growing.