Frank wrote: ...
which isn't ever going to happen... especially considering it would likely come back for various reasons.
even if we have a lot of clay it has taken me a long time to get the garden soil in some of the patches to be fairly decent. i'm surely not going to be removing it. also considering i don't have any easy way to move it around other than a wheel barrow or bucket at a time.
i can live with it as it is. :)
songbird
Not a lot of choice. Even growing tomatoes in pots on the deck getting it, I replaced all the soil with new and still got it. I just put up with the lower yields.
I read "Ruth Stout's No-Till Gardening" when I was about 13, and I haven't been the same since.
The county yard waste place takes in brush/branches and grinds it for free mulch. The only down side is that I have to load it myself. Well, that and the fact that the garden is uphill from the driveway.
My garden has been going for about 12 years. When I was tilling last year, I was pleasantly surprised at how dark and fluffy the soil was. It started out as yellow clay, which is still what is down under the reach of the tiller.
I really should get it tested this year. I have no idea what the N/P/K condition is, just the texture.
i've read so many different books on gardening...
well of course! :) they didn't plan any of this here and certainly would have been much better had they brought in fill for where the gardens are at now... too late now though.
i've never formally tested any of the gardens here. how things grow can tell you a lot about what you're lacking. when i first started out i couldn't grow beets well at all and onions never got very large. once i started adding the worm compost the differences were pretty easy to see. beets grew well, onions got bigger.
i'm now able to add some of the worm compost to some of the poorest soil gardens i have and i can see how that is helping the beans i normally plant in there. the rows where i can get some down the beans are darker and bigger and produce more pods/beans.
if i were a little more dilligent about chopping and using the green manure patch higher nitrogen greens (alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil) i could make a lot more progress in that regards too as those being chopped and left on the green manure patch has really improved the soil back there. it's sweet. :)
songbird
HI Drew,
I saw this running discussion on leaf spot. You may find it helpful:
Remedy for Septoria Leaf Spot?? Help!!!
-T
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