Failed Garden

camprn wrote:Miracle Grow will work but will be spent in a few months; your garden mix will be better if you add more compost! If you want to top dress with compost that will help.

Thank you, I found homedepot online selling worm castings so ill get that as a top dress. In the mean time, miracle gro and fish emulsion

You do have a compost pile....don't you?

camprn wrote:You do have a compost pile....don't you?

I don't, it's my first year and I'm not sure how to start a small scale compost pile.

Don't give up! It's got to get better!

I had a great 1st yr. I did add some organic fertilizer to the tomatoes.They just quit growing and looked bad. I got some 'unfinished' compost, smelled like Jim Beam. I didn't know a thing about compost. It finished in the beds and it turned out to be a good compost, a good yr.
Then came my 2nd yr. Total failure, Southern blight, milipedes, all sorts of bugs, beetles, etc. You name it and I had it.
Found out why I had so many bugs! Neighbors on both sides decided not to plant a garden this year. (They both live at least 3000 ft away) Also won over to SFG my DH, so he did not plant his row garden, I think planting some flowering stuff away from my SFG is going to be a necessity for the bugs.
Watering is 1 of the hardest things to keep up with, but is essential in SFG. You'all might try making some compost tea or worm tea to help with the fertility of the soil.
Jo

Nymiko wrote:

camprn wrote:Miracle Grow will work but will be spent in a few months; your garden mix will be better if you add more compost! If you want to top dress with compost that will help.

Thank you, I found homedepot online selling worm castings so ill get that as a top dress. In the mean time, miracle gro and fish emulsion

Just ordered 2- 15lb bags of worm casting... so excited to see what it can do. I have a 8x4 box and when I planted I staggered it by two weeks and the second planting looks like it's 2 months behind???

Nymiko wrote:

camprn wrote:You do have a compost pile....don't you?

I don't, it's my first year and I'm not sure how to start a small scale compost pile.

Start it from the bottom instead of the top

Seriously find a place where it can go it does not need to be in a walled bin it can be a cone shaped heap if you feel like it. Just keep putting all uncooked veg matter on it . To get a better final compost once it's rotted down enough to call compost you can add other materials as you build the heap .

If you have Mel's ANSFG book ( see my strap line ) there is some guidance as to what you can put in it. If you don't have the book perhaps it's still not to late to write a letter to Santa enquiring about one

Compost pile: Be sure its at least 3 feet wide and deep. Layer some cardboard down or several sheets of newspaper, then any leaves you can find, kitchen scraps, and wet a bit. Just cover the raw foods with more shredded newspaper or dry fall leaves so the animals won't think its dinner. Look up 'compost' on google and read the lists of what can and cannot go into c piles.
No-no on meats, animal waste, fats.
You don't even have to turn it, just keep piling it on. Mother nature will break it down very slowly even without turning.
Good luck.

I somehow missed all the posts going on here. I stepped away for the winter and now ready to get back gardening again. Thank you everyone for your confessions and suggestions.

My gut tells me, my gardens have too much peat. I need to figure out where to get the soil tested and what to add to get it to grow vegetation. I don't really follow any calendar. I plant everything when I have time in our bust schedule. I did the same in the gardens at our old house and we were successful. These gardens were not square foot gardens.

I'm also hoping to add three more beds this year in addition to the 3 we started last year. So I am definitely not giving up! My kids are also planning their garden this year too!

I have compost this year (at least I think I do) so I'm hoping that will definitely help out this year.

Dave - I would be interested in where you found the DR. Earth compost. (I love your blog. Glad to see all the snow we had in pictures and not on the ground anymore.) Also, my son and I discovered the community gardens while taking a bike ride, they looked great!

Syrah, I got the Dr. Earth compost at Green Path Garden Supply on rte. 20 in Northboro. They also carry 6 cu. ft. bags of coarse vermiculite you will need for your new beds, plus they carry Happy Frog and Vermont Composting products. Applefield Farm down the road in Stow carries McEnroe compost from NY state, and Lancaster Gardens has the Gro-Well products. Agway has the Coast of Maine composts and Jo-Barb Farms on Annie Moore Road sells their own compost from a cart on the road. See my organic compost review.

Thank you, thank you, Dave!!

I just want to go build our new beds and get them ready even though we are getting more snow, lol. It looks like Greenpath is open now so I can at least start gathereing compost. I will also check out Jo-Barb since they are local! We will start getting the materials together now and build the beds in between soccer and baseball practice and games.

I can't wait, this year we are planting asparagus, raspberries and blueberries to start getting them established. I'm also hoping we can get our table garden going this year. It will be nice to have lettuce and spinach all summer. Snap peas, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, radishes, strawberrise, swiss chard, only to name a few, in the beds!