The vegetable bed will be fifty feet long and three and a half feet
wide. It's located in my back yard which is sod right now. I'm going
to remove the sod by hand and then double dig the entire bed with with a
spade and will use a spading fork to loosen up the sub soil which is
clay. While doing this, I'll amend the bed with compost and leaf mold.
Next, I plan to use my Mantis tiller and only till the top five to six
inches of soil. I'll then be adding about eight pounds of a slow
release granular all purpose fertilizer and use a garden rake to spread
it into the soil three inched deep. I worked up my entire garden plan
on paper so I know where each plant will be as well as the spacing.
Since I'm going to use soaker hoses, I'll run them next. They will be
eighteen inches apart down the center of the bed. Since I want to try
intense gardening this year, I'll be planting three rows of different
veggies in this bed. Only thing to do now is get busy with this project
as soon as the weather breaks. I have asparagus crowns and Copra
storage onion sets that will be here around the middle of April. My
tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and ground cherries will all be started
indoors from seed under grow lights April 1. Don't know how it's going
to all work out but I'm going to give Hale's Best cantaloupes a try too!
Later in the season I also have some purple cauliflower and two
different kinds of turnips as my fall crops. Wish me luck, I may need
it but we never know until we experiment a bit

Rich

In article ,
(EVP MAN) wrote:

The vegetable bed will be fifty feet long and three and a half feet
wide. It's located in my back yard which is sod right now. I'm going
to remove the sod by hand and then double dig the entire bed with with a
spade and will use a spading fork to loosen up the sub soil which is
clay. While doing this, I'll amend the bed with compost and leaf mold.
Next, I plan to use my Mantis tiller and only till the top five to six
inches of soil.
I'll then be adding about eight pounds of a slow release granular all purpose
fertilizer
Of course, chemical fertilizers, which are a form of salt, can damage
the soils ecological community of microorganisms, who, if given a
chance, will feed your plants. At 100 lbs of chicken manure/100 sq.ft.
you would need 31.5 lbs. That is probably less than a bag, that sells
for $3. Then all you need is a couple of handfulls of rock phosphate,
and likewise of wood ash and you would be in business.
Rye grass, and buckwheat are great for breaking up clay and texturing
the soil.
After blending in the 10% - 15% organic material, you can put the tiller
away because in the future it will just break up the worm tunnels that
aerate the soil, and damage the mycelium and mycorrhiza of fungi that
convert organic material into nutrients for your plants.

Look up lasagna gardening, and see how easy it can be.

Three helpful books that you can get from the library a
"Vegetable Gardener' Bible" by Edward C. Smith.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gard...Gardening/dp/1
580172121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815454&sr=1-1

"How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...=search-alias%
3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=How+to+Grow+More+Vegetables&x=0&y=0

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis
http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microb.../dp/0881927775
/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815176&sr= 1-1

The last one is probably the most important to understanding the soil.

The country is losing topsoil every year due to plowing, and chemical
fertilizers. The less organic material in the topsoil, the more chemical
fertilizer needs to be applied to maintain production. By growing
organically, you are putting organic material back into the soil and
creating a precious resource.

Well, I'd better be running along before our local "single malt" drunk
gets going into one of his slimy rants.

Good luck.

and use a garden rake to spread
it into the soil three inched deep. I worked up my entire garden plan
on paper so I know where each plant will be as well as the spacing.
Since I'm going to use soaker hoses, I'll run them next. They will be
eighteen inches apart down the center of the bed. Since I want to try
intense gardening this year, I'll be planting three rows of different
veggies in this bed. Only thing to do now is get busy with this project
as soon as the weather breaks. I have asparagus crowns and Copra
storage onion sets that will be here around the middle of April. My
tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and ground cherries will all be started
indoors from seed under grow lights April 1. Don't know how it's going
to all work out but I'm going to give Hale's Best cantaloupes a try too!
Later in the season I also have some purple cauliflower and two
different kinds of turnips as my fall crops. Wish me luck, I may need
it but we never know until we experiment a bit

Rich
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/...ting_activists
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/headlines

On 3/1/10 9:18 AM, EVP MAN wrote:

The vegetable bed will be fifty feet long and three and a half feet
wide. It's located in my back yard which is sod right now. I'm going
to remove the sod by hand and then double dig the entire bed with with a
spade and will use a spading fork to loosen up the sub soil which is
clay. While doing this, I'll amend the bed with compost and leaf mold.
Next, I plan to use my Mantis tiller and only till the top five to six
inches of soil. I'll then be adding about eight pounds of a slow
release granular all purpose fertilizer and use a garden rake to spread
it into the soil three inched deep. I worked up my entire garden plan
on paper so I know where each plant will be as well as the spacing.
Since I'm going to use soaker hoses, I'll run them next. They will be
eighteen inches apart down the center of the bed. Since I want to try
intense gardening this year, I'll be planting three rows of different
veggies in this bed. Only thing to do now is get busy with this project
as soon as the weather breaks. I have asparagus crowns and Copra
storage onion sets that will be here around the middle of April. My
tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and ground cherries will all be started
indoors from seed under grow lights April 1. Don't know how it's going
to all work out but I'm going to give Hale's Best cantaloupes a try too!
Later in the season I also have some purple cauliflower and two
different kinds of turnips as my fall crops. Wish me luck, I may need
it but we never know until we experiment a bit

Rich


When you double-spit the area, make sure you incorporate bone meal or
superphosphate into the LOWER level. Plants such as tomatoes, corn, and
asparagus have very deep roots. They will need the phosphorus to be
equally deep.

When you buy the granular fertilizer, ignore its phosphorus content.
Mixed into the top 3 inches, the phosphorus will benefit only seedlings
and perhaps raddishes. Even carrots will grow longer than three inches.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary