Old Garden needs Help

Hi, there.

My husband and I have planted vegetables in the same spot out back for the past 20 years. I'm ashamed to say we have never freshened the soil--ever. I need help!

I do have a compost pile, but it is just a little mountain of decomposing vegetables sitting on top of a mat of wiregrass. Sometimes I go out there and turn it over a few times with a shovel. I notice the dirt underneath is black and rich and full of earthworms. I love it! But how to get this nice dirt over to the garden ....? Ashamed to say it DOES have rooted crabgrass, or cablegrass mixed in it as well.

Is there any help for us? I would love to compost the RIGHT way.

Also--why do all the garden centers sell giant bags of peat this time of year--Are we supposed to be putting peat in our soil?

Please, any advice is truly welcome. I'm starting from square one when it comes to the outdoors.

The first thing you need to do as soon as the soils thaws, get a soil test. Your county extension service can provide this. To locate them look in the phone book under county government.

They will give you recommendations on what your soil needs.

paul

Timijo, in the winter I compost directly on top of my veggie garden, by spring everything is partly composted and I plant directly into it.

timmijo, Delaware right? Your soil is probably sandy loam like mine. I bet you need to add much MORE quantity of organic material, and trace minerals. A good load of manure would do wonders. If not that, a load of LeafGro. Here you can get that about 30 bucks a 'yard' . Don't buy "topsoil". At minimum, save all grass clippings for mulch between rows. And buy shredded mulch or straw if needed to mulch it all, and that becomes soil help as it breaks down.
I save all the leaves from my trees and it is not near enough for my yard after composting.

docgipe recommends Ironite for trace minerals.

Before just randomly adding anything to your garden get a soil test.

Oh, yes, Sallyg, the soil is practically all sand. You can water it thoroughly, and in an hour it will be dry to the touch. Grass clippings? Our "grass" is really wild weeds that have rooted on our acre and kinda look like a lawn. So I dispose of all of those clippings by tossing them in the ditch out back. No, I can't use grass. Grass is what takes up all our time when we weed the garden. It's cable grass--nasty stuff that won't pull out cleanly since it has networks of roots at least 18" down.

I can't do anything professional to the yard on our meager income. I do what I can to make it look acceptable. The garden I am willing to invest a little money in. Just a little, not break the bank. I have friends who freely give horse manure and straw away.

My husband and I do our best to keep the weeds at bay in the garden, but around August it gets overwhelming. That's when he tills between the rows. That helps, but by August, the plants themselves look bad, have little output, and usually succumb to insects/disease. Call me an April to July vegetable gardener. After that I'm a quitter. Is there any hope for us?

timmijo, I am sure there is help. I have that wiry weedy grass too, it is such a pain in the neck. Anyway, start by looking up your state university extension, or any source for a soil test for 5 or ten bucks. I believe paulgrow has done articles about it- click on his name above, scroll down and read his article titles and click them to read.
Free horse manure is a wonderful thing and I would bet money you will benefit. Even if you take the family sedan and get a few buckets or bags at a time, you'll help. Think about the garden plan now and use it just where the plants will go. Ask for the oldest part of the pile. I've been told by an experienced organic gardener that if I improved my soil. my pest and disease problems will be less because the healthy plants can resist better.

FREE HORSE MANURE AND STRAW!!

is the horse manure in straw or wood chips..

I do get free manure as well, just this is my first year that I am going to put it on the veggies.

I, for a few years picked up a reletively small ( approx. 1 yard) load of manure in pine shavings, cover it with a bale of straw and let it sit for a few months.. quite possibly the best thing ever for tulips, lillies, and blackberries and raspberries..
your leaves as well as your neigbor's leaves in combonation with as much manure/straw as you can handle moving should make a world of difference. It may take a few seasons to get back to the soil you started with, but the results will show almost immedietly.
spend the summer collecting and piling up the leaves, manure, and straw - or just pile it on the garden at the end of the season, by next year it will be ready..

-joe-