I started my garden a couple of years ago, and I have to say I did little more than digging down a foot or so, (which almost killed me because it was like rock), and then adding compost on top.
I have to admit the first year I didn't attempt to grow much, but I have added compost about twice a year ever since, and have fairly good results with most things. I haven't ever tested the soil for pH or anything. I add fish emulsion to various crops that I grow every couple of weeks or so, and other than that leave it be.
I live in North Scottsdale in an area that used to be Arabian Horse ranches apparently, so I was full of unrealistic optimism that it would be more fertile. (Hope springs eternal right?) It was actually very dry, impacted, desert soil initially but with amendments seems to be very rich and fertile now. Hope this helps a bit :)
I started my gardening experiment one year ago. I live just north of downtown, and had the same clayey soil as you. A friend gave me a copy of Desert Gardening for Beginners by Cathy Cromell, Linda A. Guy and Lucy K. Bradley, a small, Arizona-published book. It told me what I needed to know to get started.
Basically, after testing the soil, I mixed it with homemade compost and sand I had bought, and mixed it with a couple of bags of store-bought gardening soil by hand as I filled up my garden boxes. The sand allows the soil to drain. I planted in September and again in January-February, and yielded a good crop of collard greens and brocolli.
I would suggest the lasagna gardening approach to amending you soil. Basically you layer compost, mulch, and an amendment such as chicken pellets, fish emulsion etc. on top of your existing soil (no digging) The gardening class that the guild puts on is is very informative for everything that you would have to do to get a garden started. My mother and I started tomato plants at the same time while she just put a little potting soil in the hole and I did the lasagna gardening method. Her tomato plants are around the same size as when she bought them, mine are about 5 times a big and have tomatoes on them. I highly recommend the class.
I have been waiting for responses to your discussion as I am in similar shoes. I grew some beets cabbage and brusselsprouts and peas last cool season in bermuda turf with roots removed and about 4 dirt to one homemade compost. Made into raised beds the soil was quite productive. I put a cellar on my property. I tried to make beds out of the deeper soil with roughly the same procedure for this warm season. Those beds have failed, the deeper soil is fairly devoid of organic matter.
When I dug (with back-hoe 11 ft deep) the organic matter was quite visible for about 12 inches, below that, sand and clay, no silt and no organic matter. As an interesting geological note, pure river sand at 11' I was going to twelve feet, but when I hit sand I stopped.
My limited experience- Old turf is fertile with some compost. Clay/sand with little organic matter will take at least 50% compost.
My Goal is a commercial quantity from my 20,000 sf garden next cool season.
My strategy- 10,000 sf sheet compost (working on that now)
- 5,000 sf Coffee and woodchip mulch, propably 12 inches thick to kill the bermuda. The coffee will supply the nutrients to the microbes so they won't use the nitrogen in the top soil. I will leave the mulch and plant transplants.
- 5,000 sf of cover crop probably teperary beans most killed before flowering though I will let a few mature for seed collecting.
If somebody smarter than I (thats a big group) reads this I would appreciate comments.---charly
Replies
I have to admit the first year I didn't attempt to grow much, but I have added compost about twice a year ever since, and have fairly good results with most things. I haven't ever tested the soil for pH or anything. I add fish emulsion to various crops that I grow every couple of weeks or so, and other than that leave it be.
I live in North Scottsdale in an area that used to be Arabian Horse ranches apparently, so I was full of unrealistic optimism that it would be more fertile. (Hope springs eternal right?) It was actually very dry, impacted, desert soil initially but with amendments seems to be very rich and fertile now. Hope this helps a bit :)
I just used the playground type. Worked great!
Chris
I started my gardening experiment one year ago. I live just north of downtown, and had the same clayey soil as you. A friend gave me a copy of Desert Gardening for Beginners by Cathy Cromell, Linda A. Guy and Lucy K. Bradley, a small, Arizona-published book. It told me what I needed to know to get started.
Basically, after testing the soil, I mixed it with homemade compost and sand I had bought, and mixed it with a couple of bags of store-bought gardening soil by hand as I filled up my garden boxes. The sand allows the soil to drain. I planted in September and again in January-February, and yielded a good crop of collard greens and brocolli.
Chris
When I dug (with back-hoe 11 ft deep) the organic matter was quite visible for about 12 inches, below that, sand and clay, no silt and no organic matter. As an interesting geological note, pure river sand at 11' I was going to twelve feet, but when I hit sand I stopped.
My limited experience- Old turf is fertile with some compost. Clay/sand with little organic matter will take at least 50% compost.
My Goal is a commercial quantity from my 20,000 sf garden next cool season.
My strategy- 10,000 sf sheet compost (working on that now)
- 5,000 sf Coffee and woodchip mulch, propably 12 inches thick to kill the bermuda. The coffee will supply the nutrients to the microbes so they won't use the nitrogen in the top soil. I will leave the mulch and plant transplants.
- 5,000 sf of cover crop probably teperary beans most killed before flowering though I will let a few mature for seed collecting.
If somebody smarter than I (thats a big group) reads this I would appreciate comments.---charly