Gardening Preparation Notes

[kiya]

Links from whispercricket:

http://100milediet.org/home/
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rdsduse/ma.htm
http://www.earthworksboston.org/urbanwilds/UWinvasive_alt.htm
http://www.massforests.org/ma-forests/common-species.htm
http://www.umass.edu/plsoils/soiltest/soilbrochdec2003.pdf
http://www.enscseeds.org/diversity/index.htm
http://www.newfs.org/nursery.htm

Books:

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening, Louise Riotte
Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden In Less Space with Less Work, Mel Bartholomew

Cursing the Basil: And Other Folklore of the Garden, Vivian A. Rich

Comments

[ashlupa.livejournal.com]

If you don't already have it, skim SFG in the store first--it's not a bad book, but it's a very basic exposition of the fundamentals of raised bed and dense and succession planting.

[artan]

Unfortunately, carrots do not love lilairen...

[kiya]

True enough.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Feel free to email me if you run into problems or have questions about seeming hard (but really easy) stuff like soil testing and everything. I'm nto just an LArch! I'm a Master Gardener* and a certified plant nurseryman (state of CT).

N.
*I am uncertified because I did not complete my volunteer hours as I went to graduate school for LArch instead :)

[whispercricket]

Not really a hijack, I hope...(um, hi)

You mentioned soil testing - does the UMass Soil Testing (same link as lilairen put above) look useful to you? I was thinking it would be a good idea to make sure that at the very least, the flattest area in my yard to use wasn't contaminated with lead or anything (although I'm not sure it gets enough sun, in which case I'd probably container garden if I got around to it and thus wouldn't use the existing soil anyway). But I'm not sure really how to go about it or when / where to sample, or...anything. :}

I keep wanting to make a vegetable garden, at least in theory, but I'm kind of afraid to start, because I don't know if the soil is good, or it's too shady, or...

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's probably one of the best things you can do for your garden! No only will they test for lead (from paint) & arsenic (it used to be used as a fungicide esp. in apple orchards), they will test soil nutrient levels. They then will give you recommendations on how to adjust your soil levels depending on what you will be growing. That way you won't over fertilize, etc.

How big is the area you are looking at? Where is it located? Middle of a yard? Along the back of the house? Let me know and I can answer specifically where to take samples from.

It's really REALLY easy though. You'll dig down about 3 inches and take a small trowerful of dirt and put it in a ziploc bag. Label it A, B, or C, or number it. Make yourself a note where it came from. Best is to draw a plan of your yard and make a note on the plan where each sample comes from. Shake bag. Mail bag.

Testing ought to be about $5/bag. It's worth it to do seperate tests for a few different areas as the pay back is HUGE. The relatively small investment of $20-$30 dollars will be returned on for years. Especially when you are making a brand new bed. You can really do a deep prep of the beds as some things (like lime) only need to be done once over 5 or 10 years. They aren't yearly activities, but getting that pH right on your soil can make your crops many times healthier than they might have been before.

N.