Hello Everyone ,

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I've recently gone through
a riverchange (moved from Adelaide to the beautiful river town of Mannum).
The house we've moved into has a little veggie patch in the front yard which
gets full sun pretty much all day and the soil is quite sandy. My question
is what sort of veggies will grow well here, bearing in mind as of January 1
we have major water restrictions. Any ideas for what I could plant now and
then down the track what are good winter and summer veggies for this soil.
Or should I be trying to improve the soil.

Another question, is horse poo a good manure compared to chook or cow? many
people here sell horse poo for $2 a bag (the bag is huge) not sure whether
the poo is good for gardens or not

Cheers Luke

In article , "Luke"
wrote:

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I've recently gone through
a riverchange (moved from Adelaide to the beautiful river town of Mannum).
The house we've moved into has a little veggie patch in the front yard which
gets full sun pretty much all day and the soil is quite sandy. My question
is what sort of veggies will grow well here, bearing in mind as of January 1
we have major water restrictions.

I have no experience with sandy soils, but root vegies generally do well in
sandy soil because it is easy to push through. Carrots, parsnips, etc prefer
it.

Any ideas for what I could plant now and
then down the track what are good winter and summer veggies for this soil.
Or should I be trying to improve the soil.

Definitely, because the down side of sandy soil is that it doesn't retain
water very well.

Another question, is horse poo a good manure compared to chook or cow? many
people here sell horse poo for $2 a bag (the bag is huge) not sure whether
the poo is good for gardens or not

Horse poo is quite variable. It is a 'cool' poo, unlike fresh chook or moo
poo, so it won't burn your plants and will increase the water-holding capacity
of your soil -- the flip side is that it isn't high in nitrogen, unless it
includes the horse wee as well (ie, is from a stables).
Some people here have said that horse poo from a freshly-wormed horse will
kill garden worms and other critters.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Chookie wrote:
all good stuff
Horse poo is quite variable. It is a 'cool' poo, unlike fresh chook or moo
poo, so it won't burn your plants and will increase the water-holding capacity
of your soil -- the flip side is that it isn't high in nitrogen, unless it
includes the horse wee as well (ie, is from a stables).
Some people here have said that horse poo from a freshly-wormed horse will
kill garden worms and other critters.

I said that, but it may be just an urban myth. My main objection
to horse poo is that you get lots of weeds, because horse
digestion is pretty primitive compared to cow or sheep. If it
were cheap and readily available then I would probably use
it anyway. You could always compost it first.

"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article , "Luke"

wrote:

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I've recently gone
through
a riverchange (moved from Adelaide to the beautiful river town of
Mannum).
The house we've moved into has a little veggie patch in the front yard
which
gets full sun pretty much all day and the soil is quite sandy. My
question
is what sort of veggies will grow well here, bearing in mind as of
January 1
we have major water restrictions.

I have no experience with sandy soils, but root vegies generally do well
in
sandy soil because it is easy to push through. Carrots, parsnips, etc
prefer
it.

Any ideas for what I could plant now and
then down the track what are good winter and summer veggies for this
soil.
Or should I be trying to improve the soil.

Definitely, because the down side of sandy soil is that it doesn't retain
water very well.

horse poop is an ideal soil conditioner and fertiliser. If you are prepared
to wait until autumn to plant a garden mixing horse poop in with the soil,
or even simply sheet mulching it on top of the soil, will improve the
quality surprisingly quickly. If you are worrid about seeds coming up cover
the poop with black plastic (staked down) or something like old wool based
carpet or hessian carpet underlay. Any weeds coming up will either get
scorched to death by the black plastic or die under the carpet due to a lack
of sunlight. In autumn you will have really nice crumbly soil, good humus
and likely a stack or worms. The soil will be much better at retaining
moisture and be choka full of nutrients. Whilst horse poop is low is
nutrients on a pound per pound basis with synthetic fertilisers in bulk it
is perfect.

rob

"George.com" wrote in message
...

"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article , "Luke"

wrote:

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I've recently gone
through
a riverchange (moved from Adelaide to the beautiful river town of
Mannum).
The house we've moved into has a little veggie patch in the front yard
which
gets full sun pretty much all day and the soil is quite sandy. My
question
is what sort of veggies will grow well here, bearing in mind as of
January 1
we have major water restrictions.

I have no experience with sandy soils, but root vegies generally do well
in
sandy soil because it is easy to push through. Carrots, parsnips, etc
prefer
it.

Any ideas for what I could plant now and
then down the track what are good winter and summer veggies for this
soil.
Or should I be trying to improve the soil.

Definitely, because the down side of sandy soil is that it doesn't
retain
water very well.

horse poop is an ideal soil conditioner and fertiliser. If you are
prepared
to wait until autumn to plant a garden mixing horse poop in with the soil,
or even simply sheet mulching it on top of the soil, will improve the
quality surprisingly quickly. If you are worrid about seeds coming up
cover
the poop with black plastic (staked down) or something like old wool based
carpet or hessian carpet underlay. Any weeds coming up will either get
scorched to death by the black plastic or die under the carpet due to a
lack
of sunlight. In autumn you will have really nice crumbly soil, good humus
and likely a stack or worms. The soil will be much better at retaining
moisture and be choka full of nutrients. Whilst horse poop is low is
nutrients on a pound per pound basis with synthetic fertilisers in bulk it
is perfect.

rob

another good thing to get if you are going to let the bed lie fallow for a
period is used coffee grounds from a local cafe. They should be free and can
be spread over the bed and mix up with the poop. Bits of paper in the
grounds won't be a problem but avois bottle tops n plastic and the like.

rob

"George.com" wrote in message

horse poop is an ideal soil conditioner and fertiliser. If you are
prepared
to wait until autumn to plant a garden mixing horse poop in with the
soil,
or even simply sheet mulching it on top of the soil, will improve
the
quality surprisingly quickly. If you are worrid about seeds coming
up cover
the poop with black plastic (staked down) or something like old wool
based
carpet or hessian carpet underlay. Any weeds coming up will either
get
scorched to death by the black plastic or die under the carpet due
to a lack
of sunlight. In autumn you will have really nice crumbly soil, good
humus
and likely a stack or worms. The soil will be much better at
retaining
moisture and be choka full of nutrients. Whilst horse poop is low is
nutrients on a pound per pound basis with synthetic fertilisers in
bulk it
is perfect.

I'd agree with most of this post but in my experieince, I've not found
that horse poo has many weeds and I wouldn't recommend the plastic
sterilisation technique. Yes, the odd weed does come up, but given
how stunning horse poop is for improving the soil, the few weeds
produced come out very easily. The disadvantage of the plastic
sterilisation trick is that it stops the soil microbes going to work
and improving your soil.

I use copious quantities of horse poop and in your situation, I'd
recommend mixing the sandy soil with a good quantity of poop add
generous amounts of Dynamic Lifter and then water well and then
slather the whole top of the area with as much horse poop as you can
lay your hands on. This top layer is just to protect the lower layer
and let the microflora of the soil go to work and can be sacrificed
later if it drys out and looks like it'll never hold water again. I
also wouldn't plant now but would wait till Autumn.

"Luke" wrote in message
...

Hello Everyone ,

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I've recently gone
through a riverchange (moved from Adelaide to the beautiful river town of
Mannum). The house we've moved into has a little veggie patch in the front
yard which gets full sun pretty much all day and the soil is quite sandy.
My question is what sort of veggies will grow well here, bearing in mind
as of January 1 we have major water restrictions.

hmm, without considering water restrictions, here is a list of veg which
prefer sandy soil (c/- john seymour): jerusalem artichokes, capsicum,
cauliflower, asparagus (that's a perennial, keep in mind), carrots, lettuce,
melons, okra, onions, peanuts, swedes, turnips and (not from j. seymour)
eggplant (apparently). in terms of water, sandy soil needs more of it &
there's no way around that. if i were you, i'd consider areas to get the
water from in order to water it (e.g. shower, washing machine rinse water).
or keep it small & therefore easily watered by hand. or install a timed drip
system. after it becomes loamier, it will need less anyway, of course. mulch
over the top.

Any ideas for what I could plant now and
then down the track what are good winter and summer veggies for this soil.
Or should I be trying to improve the soil.

i'd add my voice to "improve the soil". :-) after you've seen a bit of
improvement, you can start planting.

it needs organic matter. like farm1, i'm having good experiences using horse
poo & lots of it, (we have clay) & it's magnificent. ime, you can
sheet-mulch with it & there are no weeds... (mind you, i think our
supply-horse is mainly eating hay - therefore you'd expect few to no weeds).
sand does not hold moisture well, & humus from organic matter will improve
that. not immediately, everything takes time, but sooner than you might
expect. but the decomposition process needs water, too. no amount of dry poo
in dry sand is going to help much.

Another question, is horse poo a good manure compared to chook or cow?
many people here sell horse poo for $2 a bag (the bag is huge) not sure
whether the poo is good for gardens or not

ya. get it.
kylie