On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 15:58:20 -0800, "SteveB" meagain@rockvilleUSA
wrote:

We bought a house with a garden. Irrigation system in, but I will be making
some changes.

The soil locally is blow sand from red sandstone. A friend of mine gave me
a big tiller for doing some work to help him clean up after a fire. I got
it all cleaned up and put new gas in it, and it fired right up. So, I took
it on a couple of rows of the garden.

The soil is light and fluffy and not rocky as the adjoining soil.
Apparently the previous owners had put a lot of organic material in there.
It's really nice looking soil.

Is there some simple tests that I can do to see what's sand and what isn't?
Say, put some in a bucket and see how much floats vs. how much sinks?

Should I go buy some garden soil (I already have five big bags) and till
that in, too? Should I till in some general fertilizer for the whole
garden?

What would be some good things to do now that I have a blank palette, and
don't have to redo what someone else has done?

Steve


You're best bet is to start with a complete soil test from your local
cooperative extent ion. Sand is not particularly useful, although
some plants prefer it. Put a handful of soil in a glass mason jar,
fill with water, shake, allow to settle. You should see separating
layers (Did this in 10th grade earth-science class). From your soil
test, you will know what kinds of fertilizers and how much to add and
how to adjust the pH. Or, you might consider plants suited for your
soil and conditions. I like to till in last fall's leaves, old
sawdust, and compost as that's what's available here and free. Some
plants, like peppers, may actually decrease yields with too much
nitrogen.

We bought a house with a garden. Irrigation system in, but I will be making
some changes.

The soil locally is blow sand from red sandstone. A friend of mine gave me
a big tiller for doing some work to help him clean up after a fire. I got
it all cleaned up and put new gas in it, and it fired right up. So, I took
it on a couple of rows of the garden.

The soil is light and fluffy and not rocky as the adjoining soil.
Apparently the previous owners had put a lot of organic material in there.
It's really nice looking soil.

Is there some simple tests that I can do to see what's sand and what isn't?
Say, put some in a bucket and see how much floats vs. how much sinks?

Should I go buy some garden soil (I already have five big bags) and till
that in, too? Should I till in some general fertilizer for the whole
garden?

What would be some good things to do now that I have a blank palette, and
don't have to redo what someone else has done?

Steve

In article ,
Phisherman wrote:

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 15:58:20 -0800, "SteveB" meagain@rockvilleUSA
wrote:

We bought a house with a garden. Irrigation system in, but I will be making
some changes.

The soil locally is blow sand from red sandstone. A friend of mine gave me
a big tiller for doing some work to help him clean up after a fire. I got
it all cleaned up and put new gas in it, and it fired right up. So, I took
it on a couple of rows of the garden.

The soil is light and fluffy and not rocky as the adjoining soil.
Apparently the previous owners had put a lot of organic material in there.
It's really nice looking soil.

Is there some simple tests that I can do to see what's sand and what isn't?
Say, put some in a bucket and see how much floats vs. how much sinks?

Should I go buy some garden soil (I already have five big bags) and till
that in, too? Should I till in some general fertilizer for the whole
garden?

What would be some good things to do now that I have a blank palette, and
don't have to redo what someone else has done?

Steve


You're best bet is to start with a complete soil test from your local
cooperative extention. Sand is not particularly useful, although
some plants prefer it. Put a handful of soil in a glass mason jar,
fill with water, shake, allow to settle. You should see separating
layers (Did this in 10th grade earth-science class).
Clear off any plant material from surface of soil. Take a 1 foot deep
soil sample (leaves a cylindrical hole 1 foot deep). Shake with water in
a clear container.
The sand will settle out in about 5 min. or less, the silt in about 45
min., and the clay in 24 hours. The thickness of each band over the
thickness to the total deposit is percentage of composition. For
example, if the the total sediment is 3" thick and the bottom layer
(sand) is 1 3/16" thick (19/16 divided by 48/16 = 39.56% sand). Good
garden soil is 30 % - 40% sand, 30 % - 40% silt, 20 % - 30% clay.
From your soil
test, you will know what kinds of fertilizers and how much to add and
how to adjust the pH. Or, you might consider plants suited for your
soil and conditions. I like to till in last fall's leaves, old
sawdust, and compost as that's what's available here and free. Some
plants, like peppers, may actually decrease yields with too much
nitrogen.
--

Billy

Impeach Pelosi
Bush & Cheney to the Hague
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1248.shtml

Cut & Paste from another subject. Where are you located?

Good questions. Don't have the answer. Your environment is very different
than this one in South Eastern PA (USA). If we were to make a raised bed
garden I would start with a boundary for raising the bed, I would try to get
some black locust logs. I would surely not consider using railroad ties or
any other type of treated wood with attention on the chemicals in treated
wood leaching in your garden. Black locust as it dies or as parenchyma
cells die (symplast) the nitrogen based substances move out. So in order
for common fungi to break down the wood, such as a post in the ground, Some
people ask me if I have a PhD, yes, I have several post hole diggers
somewhere. Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) was named after the first
arborist. The first arborist's name was pronounced "row-bin"(sic)? I was
taught the tree was named after him, i.e., from a reliable source. Then I
would go get a dump truck load of Certified Organic Mushroom soil from
Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms. [http://www.organic.com/] I then would
(Land lord makes final decisions) would add about a dump truck load (7
commercial yards) of screened top soil. Together by mixing the both I would
hope to end up with good soil. Defined as a substance made up of sands,
silts, clays, decaying organic matter, air, water and an enormous number of
living organisms. I myself like zucchini and it grows well with little if
any so-called pest. I think we are going to close this garden in. A late
client and his wife had a organic garden - WOW! They wrote some sections
for me http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/bradley/index.html. My father has an
organic garden and he is going to start some plants for me. I would get a
load of leaf compost from somewhere. Its great when its just been screened.
I would mulch the plants with leaf compost to keep down 99% of undesired
plants (so-called weeds). It would be serving multi functions like feeding
the soil micros and retaining moisture. I hope we get one together. Good
luck with yours. What are some of the native trees in your area? Does
anyone have a suggestion related to keeping the leaf compost off the stems
of the plants. On those plants I would put the leaf up to the plants.
Chicken manure would be best if composted for a year or more. The people I
have gardened with don't use products like preen. Don't require it. Why
waste the money on something not required to have healthy plants? Leaves
are great. I would make an attempt at adding some composted wood chips to
feed the soil cellulose. As long as they are composted and symplastless I
would think they would be fine. Any thoughts?


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Forester & Tree Expert
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"SteveB" meagain@rockvilleUSA wrote in message
...
We bought a house with a garden. Irrigation system in, but I will be
making some changes.

The soil locally is blow sand from red sandstone. A friend of mine gave
me a big tiller for doing some work to help him clean up after a fire. I
got it all cleaned up and put new gas in it, and it fired right up. So, I
took it on a couple of rows of the garden.

The soil is light and fluffy and not rocky as the adjoining soil.
Apparently the previous owners had put a lot of organic material in there.
It's really nice looking soil.

Is there some simple tests that I can do to see what's sand and what
isn't? Say, put some in a bucket and see how much floats vs. how much
sinks?

Should I go buy some garden soil (I already have five big bags) and till
that in, too? Should I till in some general fertilizer for the whole
garden?

What would be some good things to do now that I have a blank palette, and
don't have to redo what someone else has done?

Steve

http://weloveteaching.com/spring2008...ock-cycle.html
go down to number 3, just use a bit of detergent.
scoop the organics off the top. measure how much of each you got.

On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:40:35 -0500, Phisherman wrote:
You're best bet is to start with a complete soil test from your local
cooperative extent ion. Sand is not particularly useful, although
some plants prefer it. Put a handful of soil in a glass mason jar,
fill with water, shake, allow to settle. You should see separating
layers (Did this in 10th grade earth-science class). From your soil
test, you will know what kinds of fertilizers and how much to add and
how to adjust the pH. Or, you might consider plants suited for your
soil and conditions. I like to till in last fall's leaves, old
sawdust, and compost as that's what's available here and free. Some
plants, like peppers, may actually decrease yields with too much
nitrogen.

In article ,
"symplastless" wrote:

Cut & Paste from another subject. Where are you located?

Good questions. Don't have the answer. Your environment is very different
than this one in South Eastern PA (USA). If we were to make a raised bed
garden I would start with a boundary for raising the bed, I would try to get
some black locust logs. I would surely not consider using railroad ties or
any other type of treated wood with attention on the chemicals in treated
wood leaching in your garden. Black locust as it dies or as parenchyma
cells die (symplast) the nitrogen based substances move out. So in order
for common fungi to break down the wood, such as a post in the ground, Some
people ask me if I have a PhD, yes, I have several post hole diggers
somewhere. Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) was named after the first
arborist. The first arborist's name was pronounced "row-bin"(sic)? I was
taught the tree was named after him, i.e., from a reliable source. Then I
would go get a dump truck load of Certified Organic Mushroom soil from
Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms. [http://www.organic.com/] I then would
(Land lord makes final decisions) would add about a dump truck load (7
commercial yards) of screened top soil. Together by mixing the both I would
hope to end up with good soil. Defined as a substance made up of sands,
silts, clays, decaying organic matter, air, water and an enormous number of
living organisms. I myself like zucchini and it grows well with little if
any so-called pest. I think we are going to close this garden in. A late
client and his wife had a organic garden - WOW! They wrote some sections
for me http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/bradley/index.html. My father has an
organic garden and he is going to start some plants for me. I would get a
load of leaf compost from somewhere. Its great when its just been screened.
I would mulch the plants with leaf compost to keep down 99% of undesired
plants (so-called weeds). It would be serving multi functions like feeding
the soil micros and retaining moisture. I hope we get one together. Good
luck with yours. What are some of the native trees in your area? Does
anyone have a suggestion related to keeping the leaf compost off the stems
of the plants. On those plants I would put the leaf up to the plants.
Chicken manure would be best if composted for a year or more. The people I
have gardened with don't use products like preen. Don't require it. Why
waste the money on something not required to have healthy plants? Leaves
are great. I would make an attempt at adding some composted wood chips to
feed the soil cellulose. As long as they are composted and symplastless I
would think they would be fine. Any thoughts?

Yeah, chicken manure is about 4 times higher in nitrogen as steer
manure. Apply accordingly. I could have said more but I am just trying
to answer the question.
--

Billy

Impeach Pelosi
Bush & Cheney to the Hague
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1248.shtml