What to use for soil - Page 2

 

Depending on how much of a rush you are in, you could plant some green
fertilizer. I'm growing rye and clover but buckwheat and sweet peas
would work also (look at cover crops:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_crop  ). The rye and buck wheat puts
out an incredible amount of organic material beneath the ground and the
clover, or legumes will fix nitrogen. Some nurseries have mixes called
"green manure". Once up, cut it or not, spread with amendments (manure,
bone meal, phosphate rock), and lay newspaper or cardboard over all of
it. Cover cardboard or newspaper with mulch (I prefer alfalfa). Hose
down the mulch and then poke in hole where you are going to plant.
Voila, no dig, lasagna gardening.
--

Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is
now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of
conception until death."  - Rachel Carson

 

Hi Paul, if you're from Brooklyn NY there's a general chatboard for people
from there and Queens called
http://members6.boardhost.com/QueensNYer/index.html?1237065356   or
http://members6.boardhost.com/QueensNYer/  you may want to check out. It's a
nice bunch of people from those boroughs who discuss everything.

 wrote:


Any organic matter or compost will work well.   Grass is easy to grow.
Your greatest challenge is keeping it moist until established.

 On 3/13/2009 3:08 PM, Paul O. wrote:

In a reply, you describe a plot that is about 5.6 square feet.  Get a
large bag (NOT a compressed bale, which is too much) of peat moss and
stir it thoroughly into the sandy soil that you already have.  Buy the
smallest boxes or bags you can find of blood meal and bone meal; stir
those thoroughly into your soil.  Broadcast over the soil enough gypsum
to create a 1/4 inch layer; stir that in.  (Desert soils often contain
salts; gypsum will help leach the salts away.)  ALL STIRRING should be
to a depth of at least 2 feet.

Plant.  Stand back.  Things will grow very quickly.

One thing you don't want to do is create a pit with one kind of soil
where the surrounding soil is entirely different.  The roots of some
plants might resist crossing the interface.  When summer gets really
hot, those plants will die because their roots are too shallow.
Instead, you want to improve the sandy soil but leave it sandy.  Then
roots will grow into the adjacent unimproved sandy soil.

The limiting factors in your garden will be water and heat.  Peat moss
will help the soil retain some water, but you will have to still water
frequently.  Many plants cannot take the heat of summer in the desert.
Check with a local nursery to find out what plants are suitable for your
climate.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/> .

Don't ask "Why is there road rage?"  Instead, ask
"Why NOT Road Rage?" or "Why Is There No Such
Thing as Fast Enough?"
<http://www.rossde.com/roadrage.html>

 

You can buy large inexpensive bags of topsoil and composted cow manure at
Home Depot or Lowe's and mix them with about 30% of the sand.  With a little
fertilizer added, your flowers and grasses should thrive.