New house, new garden

Hello Frank,

What is the ground/soil like where you want to put your garden, sloped, flat, compacted, clay, loam, covered with trees or grass? What you want your garden to look like? Do you have access to a rototiller? Do you plan to garden organically? Do you want to use the tilling method in your garden or are you more interested in a no-till garden? What gardening/soil amendments do you have easily available? These questions can help you plan your garden better.

What you do depends on what you want to achieve. If your soil test indicates that your soil is low on nitrogen, you can plant a cover crop such as a legume that will help pull nitrogen out of the air and you can till these plants into the soil before you plant your spring crop, increasing the nitrogen supply. Even if your soil is rich in nitrogen, if you dig your garden bed now or in the fall, you may also want to plant a cover crop to hold down your soil during the winter to protect your topsoil from erosion. There are tall cover crops, such as Winter Rye or shorter crops such as white clover. On the other hand, if you have good access to composted cow manure, you might want to spread the composted manure over the land where you want to grow your garden next year, feeding the soil that way. Straw and fall leaves on top of the manure can help keep it from washing away and further improve your soil.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

that’s our Robin .. all you need to know “in a nutshell”

lots of good information. Thanks Robin

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan