Want to start a garden NOW

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Its a beautiful day, and this is suddenly giving me the idea that I should finally get around to starting that garden in my backyard. I'd go with the square foot gardening approach, although I've never actually done that before.

I'm thinking I should get some 1x12 boards, and arrange them so I have two 4'x8' raised beds. But, then I gotta get some soil in there that is suitable for growing things that I'm going to eat. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Is there any soil company I can call that would deliver soil already suitable for growing? I'm guessing not. What's the best way to jump-start this without having to wait a year or more for the soil to improve on its own?
 
Ive been working on my garden for two weeks now.

I would say the best way to get a jump start would be to get some good compost and mix that in with your existing soil.
I have been making compost for years and had a huge pile of it . Enough to make a 10x20 bed when mixed with the existing soil.
Also added peat moss,lime, about half a truck load of old horse manure and about 40 lbs of used activated charcoal I had laying around and dumped in all the dirt from the containers I grew flowers and some veggies in last year.
Tilled it all in, watered well and covered it with some black tarps to help it cook for a while before I start planting. The black tarps will also help kill any weeds that may want to grow in there.
I cant wait to get some seeds in the ground but it is a bit early. We had a heavy frost two nights ago.
 
Since I'll be making a raised bed, I wouldn't be mixing it in with the existing soil. I'm not sure I'd want to do much mixing with that soil... I have no idea how it may have been contaminated in the past (by yard chemicals, etc.) I wish I had lots of compost sitting around, but I don't. I'm starting from scratch; anything that the garden needs must be purchased.
 
...I'm thinking I should get some 1x12 boards, and arrange them so I have two 4'x8' raised beds.

If you use common spruce or fir boards, your bed will not last till September. The long sides will bow. split, and rot, and will spill the soil. Visit a local garden supply center and look closely at how they construct their display beds. Act in haste, repent at leisure.

.
 
I'm scaling back to a couple of raised beds this year - maybe even container gardening. I've done them in the past and they were quite successful. Last year I decided I was going to do a 10x20 area, but it's funny what you find out when you actually start digging in parts of the yard you haven't dug in before: The area I selected never dried out. I knew it was wet there in the early spring, but I didn't realize how wet it stayed all year.... I was bummed because I really wanted to do corn last year.

Regarding dirt: Get bulk loam from your local landscape supplier and augment it with organics (mulch, composted manure, yard compost, etc.). Much cheaper than buying all those bags from HD.
 
If you plan to have a garden seasonally try to get a compost pile going. I have one where I throw grass clippings, leaves, vegetable waste, basically anything that would break down in to prime plant food. You can then use this to mix in to the area where you plan to grow the plants. It takes a little while to get a proper compost pile going but once it is going you get some great plant food out of it.
 
If you don't mind weeding, one of the best growing mediums is actually rabbit droppings. It is much more effective (and less aromatic) than cow manuer. The biggest problem with it is that rabbits eat mostly Alfalpha and Timmothy Hay, and the seeds in the hay can pass through their systems without breaking down, so they also contain alfalpha and timmonthy hay seeds that will germinate and sprout.

When we had rabbits, we used to collect their droppings and mix them 1:1 with common soil (back-yard) then add 2-3 containers of fishing nightcrawlers. The worms do a wonderful job of converting the droppings into nutrient rich, arated soil ready for planting.

If you're building a raised bed and you're going to use common 2x boards, you'll want to reinforcement them deep stakes every 2-3 feet (that's to keep them from bowing) and you might want to consider adding rolled plastic to keep the water off them so they don't rot. I've help build raised beds using 8" diameter pine logs (bark still on) You might be able to find some from the storm.

Drainage can be a problem for a raised bed, just as an in-ground, depends on the base soil. On my aunts garden (has been very successful) we dug 2" wide 2" deep slots under the bed and laid 2" PVC pipe with 1/2" holes in 3 rows every 4 inches, holes side down, into the slots. covered this with an inch of gravel then put the soil bed into that.
For her first year, she used a mix of comercial loam cow and horse manuer, tilled and backed (black plastic) then cut 2" crosses in the black plastic for each planting. As the plants started to sprout, she guided them through the crosses and out. This minimizes the need for weeding.

Each year now, she tills in a mix of horse and cow manuer, plus wood ash (she has a woodstove) in place of lime. She also have a very active compost set-up with a 4x8x4' tall compost bin made from ceder. Compost goes into pots and gets tilled into her soil bed as well.
 
Local farm centers will probably be able to hook you up with bulk compost. We have a place here that sells by the pickup full, bag full, or dump truck load.. Throw in with some regular clean fill and maybe a bag of bone meal and watch your veg grow. They'll be stronger, more productive, and better once your soil structures itself, but that should get you started.

Also, don't go 1x12, go 2x10 or 2x12 for sure, with corner braces cut from 1/4" PT plywood and square deck baluster pieces inside each corner with a couple wood screws to hold them together. HD usually has broken/warped ones on their cull lumber cart for $.50/ea, especially now during "deck season." If you don't brace your corners WELL, the bed will fall apart. Dirt's heavy and exerts a lot of outward pressure, even if it's only 10" deep. To keep the grass/etc from growing up through, just lay a layer of cardboard down before you throw your soil in - it'll keep the grass/weeds from growing up through your beds for a year or two, and by the time it composts the seed will have gone dormant.
 
Either get a raised bed kit with the corner connectors and the composite boards. You can find these at burpees. http://www.burpee.com/product/id/104961.do?KickerID=100446&KICKER not cheap but it is quick and easy.
Or if your yard is like mine use a pickaxe to remove the rocks and use those to build a border for the raised bed. I would stay away from the Pressure Treated or old rail road ties with the chemicals.

Compost is cheapest and easiest to handle in bulk if you can borrow a truck. The local farms here charge $27 a yard loaded, then just back up your truck, rake and shovel out.
 
The suggested soil mix from Square Foot Gardening works pretty well even if you aren't doing the square foot method:
1/3 Compost
1/3 Vermiculite
1/3 Peat Moss

Dump onto tarp...mix...spread into beds.

Get different types of compost from a few different sources...then in every future planting just add a trowel of compost (from your own pile) with each plant.
The hardest thing to find in any good quantity is the vermiculite (don't substitute perlite, etc).
 
If you're doing a small raised bed type thing, then borrow (preferred method) or rent (ouch) a cement mixer, and shovel in loam from a contractor (get more than you need, the big cost is transportation) with extras like peat moss, and composted manure (find a farmer with an OLD pile, not fresh stuff), plus lime. Tumble plenty, and then put that in the raised bed. Amazing! You'll have 100% compost in four weeks. Rich, black, productive. Check the loam for composition. If it's clay based, add some sand to the mixture when cement mixing. If it's sand based, it should already be fine.

Regarding dirt: Get bulk loam from your local landscape supplier and augment it with organics (mulch, composted manure, yard compost, etc.). Much cheaper than buying all those bags from HD.
 
I'm on my first year of gardening, and have been learning all I can over the last few months before getting started. The Survival Podcast is a great source of information, as well as various permaculture related sites and training videos.

It's too early to start any seeds now, weather has been whackey, and we're still a few weeks away from our average last frost. Make haste and start a few things in pots under a cold frame or indoors if you have an adequate window.

I'm not building raised beds, as over the winter I put leaves and kitchen compost on a square area that will be used as a bed. I also have a barrel forming further compost. I plan on preparing mulching some leaves this weekend in anticipation of transplanting my potted plants outside in a few weeks, and sewing new ones.

To help my indoor starts succeed, I picked up a few bags of miracle grow organic additive, mixed it with native soil, and potted with it. I will also be adding that with native soil outdoors.

I started my indoor plants just under 3 weeks ago, and already have onions, lettuce, herbs, cukes, and broccoli sprouting quite well. (Double window, southern exposure, 2nd floor avoiding most tree shade). Door stays closed in that room keeping it 70~ degrees.
 
If you're doing a small raised bed type thing, then borrow (preferred method) or rent (ouch) a cement mixer, and shovel in loam from a contractor (get more than you need, the big cost is transportation) with extras like peat moss, and composted manure (find a farmer with an OLD pile, not fresh stuff), plus lime. Tumble plenty, and then put that in the raised bed. Amazing! You'll have 100% compost in four weeks. Rich, black, productive. Check the loam for composition. If it's clay based, add some sand to the mixture when cement mixing. If it's sand based, it should already be fine.

Yessir! A composting barrel can be mounted on an A-frame for daily rotation, as a longer term solution. I look forward to mounting one of mine for frequent turning of kitchen scraps some time this year.

I'm not building raised beds, as over the winter I put leaves and kitchen compost on a square area that will be used as a bed. I also have a barrel forming further compost. I plan on preparing mulching some leaves this weekend in anticipation of transplanting my potted plants outside in a few weeks, and sewing new ones.

If you combined this with some of Duke's manure from the above post, you would wind up with black gold in a few weeks. [wink] Leaves and manure do wonderful things together - particularly if you put in the effort to fork over your pile every day or two. The pile will get going so well that you can watch it steam on cold days from all the organic goodness that's going on in there.

-edit- Mulched leaves also make a fantastic layer to leave (heh) on top of the bed over the winter. "Leaf mold" they call it. Good stuff.
 
If you don't mind weeding, one of the best growing mediums is actually rabbit droppings. It is much more effective (and less aromatic) than cow manuer. The biggest problem with it is that rabbits eat mostly Alfalpha and Timmothy Hay, and the seeds in the hay can pass through their systems without breaking down, so they also contain alfalpha and timmonthy hay seeds that will germinate and sprout.

When we had rabbits, we used to collect their droppings and mix them 1:1 with common soil (back-yard) then add 2-3 containers of fishing nightcrawlers. The worms do a wonderful job of converting the droppings into nutrient rich,arated soil ready for planting.
If anyones interested I've got some rabbit manure that I can give up as some garden karma.I probably got atleast enough to fill up two 5gallon buckets.PM if interested.The rabbits are fed high protien pellet feed(no seeds)
 
Local farm centers will probably be able to hook you up with bulk compost. We have a place here that sells by the pickup full, bag full, or dump truck load.. Throw in with some regular clean fill and maybe a bag of bone meal and watch your veg grow. They'll be stronger, more productive, and better once your soil structures itself, but that should get you started.

Also, don't go 1x12, go 2x10 or 2x12 for sure, with corner braces cut from 1/4" PT plywood and square deck baluster pieces inside each corner with a couple wood screws to hold them together. HD usually has broken/warped ones on their cull lumber cart for $.50/ea, especially now during "deck season." If you don't brace your corners WELL, the bed will fall apart. Dirt's heavy and exerts a lot of outward pressure, even if it's only 10" deep. To keep the grass/etc from growing up through, just lay a layer of cardboard down before you throw your soil in - it'll keep the grass/weeds from growing up through your beds for a year or two, and by the time it composts the seed will have gone dormant.

Pressure Treated (PT) wood contains arsenic which can get into the soil. I know you just mentioned it for some corner braces but my preference would be to avoid it altogether since it still gets rained on.
 
If your going with raised beds may I suggest making them 4 feet long and four feet long. This way you can reach completly in with out ever walking or nealing on anything. If you want a bigger garden just make a few of them and put them at least three feet apart so you can get through with a wheel barrel.

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Pressure Treated (PT) wood contains arsenic which can get into the soil. I know you just mentioned it for some corner braces but my preference would be to avoid it altogether since it still gets rained on.

Didn't they stop putting Arsenic into PT wood in the last few years because they were building playground equipment with it?
 
When I built my raised beds for the square foot gardening I added dried blood, bone meal and green sand. All available at the local feed store. I had awesome soil after that.
 
Ive got radishes, lettuce ,beets and onions up . Planted the Potatoes , Swiss chard and beans a few days ago and also just put some squash and melons out that I started inside a while back. Might be a little too early for them but they were out growing the cups I started them in. If they get zapped I will have to start over on the squash and melons.
 
Tip for those of you looking to start beds. I am in the process of a major garden overhaul this year. All my beds are dug up and I am screening the top 6-8 inches and then digging down another 10 inches to remove rocks...etc. I was in need of a fair amount of cow poop and was not about to pay $3/bag at Home Depot. While at the farm store, I met a guy with a dairy farm that had piles or manure that were 5-10 years old. He filled up my truck with some of the nicest cow poop you have ever seen (I have not seen much YMMV) and only wanted 10 bucks!

Moral of the story, go make friends with a local farmer. For everyone in near Ashby there will be the 9th? annual Poopapalooza in the center of town this Sat May 8. They have a truckload of llama poop for gardeners (donation) and they also sell plants. Only in Ashby would they be handing out buckets of poop in the center of town....
 
If you are still thinking about a new garden or a larger garden for next year start composting the leaves you are raking up now!
Works best if the leaves are already chopped up from a mower and then buried under 4-6 inches of topsoil.

Otherwise you can use the leaves in 2012 as compost.
 
Termites killed my last raised beds which were cypress. They even aren't supposed to like cypress! I had an epiphany at the end of this season as I was taking the cypress down, plain pine 2x8's. Now I know what you are thinking, besides being cheap they are a dinner bell for termites. I am going to do it a bit different next year in how they lay out. Rather than put the boards right onto the ground, they will be raised up on bricks. That will leave ~2" gap between the ground and the bottom of the board all the way around. On the inside of the raised bed I will lay in landscape cloth and staple it up on the board to close the gap. Once dirt is back in, it should all hold together nicely. Dirt won't touch the boards anywhere near the ground which seems to be where the termite issues start. Comments?
 
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