Making A Garden?

[thenightmare]

Title says it all, I need some help, tips, information on making a garden. Im trying to grow herbs and non-gm plants. Anyone know any good stores to buy non-gm seeds? Also, what soil i should use because my backyard isnt going to grow anything. Any help is appreciated, Im tired of not knowing what im really eating. Im kind of new to gardening so if anyone could get me started with a site or something. Thanks:)

[fuggles]

the easiest to grow would be sprouts, like wheatgrass, herbs etc. barley grass etc.

potaetoes, tomatoes , elderberries are easy to grow in a plant.

[supertzar]

What is your soil like? What part of the world are you in?

[thenightmare]

What is your soil like? What part of the world are you in?

The soil is kind of odd, one side of my yard is all dry and broken, the other side has grass and a few plants. Overall, the soil is bad. I doubt anything would grow on it. Is there a way to fix it or do i have to buy some rich soil? I live in Houston, Texas in the US. Climate is mild most of the time but we get average rainfall. Any suggestions as to what herbs or seeds i should get? Any good sites to get more info on gardening? Any suggestions as to what i should do first?

Sorry for all the questions, im new to this. Thanks.:)

[r3sonator]

For herbs, this pretty much rounds it up:
http://www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/gardenherbs.html

For bad soil i recommend em (monsanto's enemy hehe)
A friend of mine is a distributor, has astonishing results with it, but not to be the commercial type i won't post his link here instead some (realy valuable info)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_Microorganisms
Make some bokashi with em from your home/kitchen waste, mix it with the soil and you'll see...

[lemonique]

Hi the nightmare, Maybe the no dig gardening way would be best for your yard.

Google no dig gardening, also Utube has a no dig gardening section.

Don't forget your local library ! the gardening section in my local library is HUGE.

You could buy a couple of bags of compost and cut smallish holes in it and put your herbs directly into the bag...don't forget to water :) You can grow pretty much anything in the compost sacks.

Good luck with it all

Lemonique

[thenightmare]

Thanks guys, ill try some things out.:D

[pacoquerak]

your soil needs organic matter, humus, compost, that good stuff yah know?

start composting all your leftover food scraps, if you have a large enough pile you can even put meat in it, just as long as it gets hot enough and is outdoors. organic animal waste does absolute wonders. The best seed catalog is the seed saver's catalog, not exactly sure how to get it, however i own it and it's practicly a bible of different varieties. I would start out with simple easy vigorous things, Sunchokes are a great eddible cover crop which will do amazing things for breaking up your soil. Alfalfa is eddible but only the unsprouted seeds as they have a toxin that starts forming from germination, it's one of the greatest nitrogen fixers there are. I would really really stress planting buckweat, it chokes out bad weeds, breaks up the soil, adds organic matter and makes a great edible grain. Amaranth was the main crop of the azteks and grows to great heights with just a bit of nitrogen, it's also really healthy and can be eaten for the green or the seed. Lambsquarters and Purslain are probobly the healthiest green vegetables in existance and they grow like weeds, INFACT THEY ARE WEEDS... hundreds of years ago there were hundreds of cultivated kidns of both. Clover is edible (not too tasty) but a really important cover crop nonetheless. Chicory and dandelion are really important as they have super long tap roots which break all the way through the soil to the hardpan and bring up essential trace minerals. Though bitter they are also really tasty and very very good for you and strengthen your blood. Don't forget to compost your own human waste as well as all animal fertailizers you want to use.

I really suggest trying those fast growing cover crop type plants before going in too deep as success with others will be limited in poor soil conditions. It's amazing how even the worst land can be revived with the proper soil treatment however. Don't be afraid to try other crops, just don't be surprised if it doesn't turn out the way you had hoped. cover crops are they key to farming


btw i'm a vegetable farmer in upstate ny. I wish i could give you more detailed information for texas but i am still learning. The best i could tell you different from here is that there you would grow alfalfa while here we grow hairy vetch. I know all the plants i listed are very growable in texas however!


oh here is how you get ground ready for planting. Take your shovel and insert it strait down into the ground as far until the blade is almost all underground and lift out a chunk. it should be pretty box shaped and with the proper motion of setting the shovel blade onto the opposite edge of the whole you have dug and then quickly pulling it away so that the soil falls off the shovel and goes top down back into the whole. This quickly puts grass and weeds underground and stores their organic matter in the soil instead of letting it decompose in the air. Now you just have to rake your ground flat. Make sure you only do this when the soil is relatively dry. To test whether your soil is ready, take a scoop and hit it with the shovel, if it's ready it should break into powder instead of clumps. Clumps can be very very hard to work with.

[fuggles]

theres a tree down the road from me with loads of berries on it !! I will have to pick it later.

No other neighbours are eating off it, so I may as well tell them all, and if they want to steal from it, let them. If not, I will get most of it before winter comes.

Its overgrown because an old woman who used to live there died and no one is living there anymore.

i remember my neighbour only a month ago actually grew tomatoes in her garden and gave them to everyone on the street.

im currently growing hemp leaf , the legal stuff, with no THC, as its very nutritous. I will add the leaves to my salads when they grow.


the berry tree down the road from me has inspired me to grow food myself more.

[carole21]

start with a composter they are ace I have one but I dont have a garden

[cew91]

Texas? The best option would be to research what the native Indians grew in that part of the americas, maybe some tough corn varietys.