fall is the time

FALL IS THE TIME
my wife she came home one day from a party
they want you to look at their garden
it wont grow anything

so my mind gets agoing
why wont someones garden grow stuff
so
around here its dry theres no soil
dig down a few inches and its rocky
well the dirt does grow stuff here
its rocks
theres lots of trees

so
i told her its either

not enough light
not enough good soil
not enough water

occasionally someone has dumped poison on a bed
to kill weeds and it wont let anything grow

so i agreed to do a garden consult

so this is what i saw as i walked up to the garden
with a shovel in hand

light
it sits amongst trees so that it gets morning sun
then stays in the sun until around 300pm
in the winter the pecan trees on the south side
will lose its leaves so even more winter sun will hit the garden

conclusion
sunlight is not an issue
it seems to be just right so it will avoid that hot late afternoon
plant killing sun in the summer

soil
i dug down at about 4 inches it gets hard to dig further
without a lot of effort
the soil is bone dry
the soil the top 2 inches has some character to it
the rest seems devoid of plant debris and thickness
it seems to be dead soil

conclusion
it needs a lot of plant material leaves mulch compost
it needs to be alive with good bacteria and fungi
worms
more nutrition is needed to feed the microorganisms
and the plants
conclusion
they need more soil depth and more soil nutrition
and organic material in the soil

water
its bone dry
nothing will survive in bone dry soil
even when being rested it needs some water
like us garden soil has to have water

so here are my recommendations

the light to the garden bed is fine
dont do anything about that

the soil depth needs to be deeper
i suggest they do at least 2 layers of raised beds with
those concrete blocks
this will give them at least 18 inches of soil to work with
a third layer would be even better
when my wife she did this at her school garden
it made a huge difference in how well the garden did
but
i recommend that they start with two layers
then add another one in the future if its needed
you can also sit on the side of the garden
and
use those little block spaces to plant stuff

yes its safe in an organic garden to use concrete blocks

now for the soil
what i recommend is that they go buy a good garden soil
instead of making their own soil like ive done recently

its got all the goodies in it thats needed
just dump and plant is all they need to do
then they can keep it improved after each planting
by adding compost and much later working it into the soil
continually adding plant materials to the soil


now where they live i recommend they either get
the hill country garden soil from lady bug in bags
or
buy a bulk order of good garden soil from the nearest
supplier which for them is gardenville
thats malcolm becks old company
hes the god of organic gardening in texas

remember you put a $5 plant in a $50 hole

after the soil is added
buy the best compost they have and put down 3-4 inches
working it into the soil
then
add the recommended amount of a good organic fertilizer

i personally use lady bug brands 8-2-4
or medinas growin green or gardenvilles brand
then

add a dusting of cottonseed meal
i usually use lady bug brand
this adds a nitrogen fertilizer that is quickly taken up by
the new plants while the organic fertilizer is slowly released
then

add a recommended amount of liquid molasses over the
whole bed
this provides an energy source for all the living organisms
in the soil
a requirement for good crop production
note this is whats missing from non organic gardening
is a good alive soil

then
cover this all with a good mulch like pine straw or leaves
to hold in moisture until planting time

keep the garden watered well until planting time

when its time to plant
just rake back the mulch and plant


when you plant transplants
add a recommended dose of earthworm castings


water them in with seaweed
they will get a jump start
the seaweed stimulates root production

when seeds are planted they need to be watered daily
sometimes twice a day if the weather is hot and dry

i know this seems like a lot of stuff to buy to add to the
new soil
but this stuff will last several seasons
one good crop of say tomatoes will pay for all this
just price an organic tomato

then all you have to do is water the garden regularly
and
enjoy the best time to garden in central texas
the fall and winter

here is what i plant in the fall/winter
lettuce
spinach
carrots
beets
cabbage
broccoli
asian greens
arugula
swiss chard
kale
garlic
sweet peas
cilantro
strawberries
onions and potatoes in late january

after the season is over
pull the old crops
add compost fertilizer cottonseed meal molasses
cover with much
until the next planting occurs
it is good if all this sits for a few weeks before planting
eg
my fall garden bed has been done for several weeks
just sitting there letting all that stuff brew its brew

so
hopefully this togd consult
will result in a bountiful harvest

if you are going to garden around here
this is the time of year to do it

the organicgreen doctor