New garden spot

We purchased a lot beside our house and in one area I had top soil put down and the area disked. I use the cultivator to go between rows and use 10-10-10 on my green beans, corn, tomatoes. But nothing seems to be producing like it should. I have the same items planted in a small area in my back yard and they are much further along with far less sun. The top soil seemed rich enough.

Any suggestions for how to prepare it for next year to keep weeds down or killed off? There were tons of thistle in the lot so I often get those monster popping up only to be sprayed or pulled. But I would like a good option for preparing it for next year. I recall someone had sprayed a garden area with Roundup or something like that and after about 3 weeks they could plant in the same dirt. Is this true? The top soil is about 6 -8 inches deep and the ground was scrapped up with a bobcat before he put the top soil down.

As far as soil fertility, you should have a soil test done. You can do that through your county cooperative extension service or a private company. Once you know what you're working with, you can figure out how to ammend it. A thick layer of composted manure is generally a good way to go.

You might do a search on lasagna gardening. I've read a little about it and people seem to have good luck with weed control in new beds. I've never done it, but I did put a layer of newspapers everywhere on the soil where I hadn't planted. Put the mulch right on top of it to cover it. It's been doing a really good job of holding the weeds back so far. Or if you can get the mulch thick enough, you shouldn't really need the newspaper. My mulch budget this year was limited, so the newspaper trick works. I called the printing department for the local paper and they said the ink is soy-based and safe for gardening.

My community garden sprayed roundup and planted a week or so later. Nothing died from it. Not even the crabgrass and some of the other weeds. Popped right back up. Most people will tell you that roundup is safe when used properly. I'd use it as a last resort, myself, but I'm one of those tree-hugger types. ;o)

There are no requirements or standards to define top soil. It can be soil scraped off any lot by a landscaper or land clearing corporation. It could be completely sterile, incapable of supporting life.

I would talk with a soil company and see about getting some garden mix delivered and look at building raised beds (with or without lumber or stone sides).

At the very least, get a soil test as recommended by Divide. Call me crazy, but I like to know what kind of soil I am growing my plants in.

Good idea. You are exactly right about what could be in that soil. I'll do a test this week. I'll let you know.

I would fertilize with a fertilizer that has a higher middle #. Phosphate promotes blooming. Too much nitrogen (first #) will produce beautiful green plants but limit the amount of blossoms.
Lisa

So for tomatoes any special kick I can give them? I'll use the higher phosphate on green bean? That's a huge help.

My Dad was the best gardener I have ever seen. Tomatos were his pride and joy. When Dad set out his tomatos he always put a ring of 33.5 Ammonia Nitrate around them. Said it kept the cutworms away and fertilized the plants as it dissolved. When the tomatos fruited up he side dressed them with the same Ammonia Nitrate fertilizer. He always raised about 150 tomatos. Some to eat and can and a lot to give away. One year, just before he died, he asked me to come to his house and look at his tomatos. He had me pick one plant at random and count the tomatos down to silver dollar size. Sixty tomatoes on one plant. Raised the best crop he ever had the year he died.

There are fertilizers that are supposed be just for tomatoes. Beans are a legume and they actually add nitrogen. Tomatoes need some nitrogen but they are not heavy feeders and they will stop blooming if they get too much (I added too much horse poop and my tomatoes promply stopped blooming). I like Hasta Grow 6-12-6.
As for the weeds- I have sprayed with round up and waited a week or 2 to plant and there were weeds coming up along side my starter plants. If you find a way to get rid of them let me know.
Lisa

Jim,
what a great story! I'm going to stop at the Farm Store on the way home and see if they have Ammonia Nitrate. That is the most amazing tomato story I've ever heard. I can't imagine how the stalks held that up. Did your dad have a couple of favorite varieties? I think my dad used Big Boy and I love Roma for salsa and hubby loves Mr Stripley for sandwiches. There's another variety I I always get but the name has left me at the moment.

Darn rabbit hate the top off my green beans yesterday because something happened to my solar electric fence and it wasn't putting out the power! I did use the stinky mix which DOES work - 2 well mixed eggs, 2 cups water, 2 T garlic powder, 2 T tobasco, and let it sit in a closed container just the size to hold it so it will feriment. About 2 days later in the sun you dabble it around the garden and deer think it smells like a dead dear and rabbits too - my coworker swears by it and I've used it too. I first used it in an orange juice jug and I think it didn't feriment enough because of the added space in the jug. She used a larger vinegar plastic container and boy did it smell.

God, I bet that does stink.
Lisa

You know it really isn't as bad as you would imagine. I thought it would be so bad that you would puke. It's bad but I've smelled far worse on the road kill. LOL

I didn't stop at the feed store today and hope to stop tomorrow and get the Ammonia Nitrate.

k

Shihtzumom, Back then the tomatoes he planted were Arkansas Travelers. That was a shipping tomatoe that got about as big as a softball, and absolutly no hard spots. It was one of the best tasting tomatoes I've ever eaten. For some reason they put them under quarantine and you couldn't get seed. They are selling one now called Arkansas Traveler but it is not the same tomatoe. I stuck Dad's tomatoes for him when he got to old to do it himself and he always kept his succored. When the tomatoes would get about four feet high he would pinch the terminal bud out of them to stop their growth.

There is a commercial product you can buy called Hinder. The soybean farmers spray about eight rows around there fields to keep deer and rabbits away. Doesn't do any thing to the plant or effect it in any way. I used to buy it for an older gardener in Caldwell Parish where the deer are terrible. He would hang some old rags around the fence of his garden and spray the Hinder on that. Never had any problem with deer after that. Had to refresh it about once a week.

I am using something called Predator Lights to keep the coyotes and coons out of my cantalopes. It is a solar powered light that blinks red every few seconds. Just hang them on a post at the corners of the garden. I found out about them from a friend who raises the big brown rabbits in a half acre yard. Put some up at ground level and some at about ten feet tall to keep the owls away. Haven't lost a rabbit since they put them up. Cost is about $20 apiece.

Isn't ammonium nitrate an explosive?
Lisa

It is a commercial fertilizer that can be made to explode with devastating effect if you know how. I personally don't know how to make it explode. I think it was what they used in Oklahoma a few years ago to blow up the courthouse. They used a whole truck load and how they made it detonate, I don't know. Cotton and corn have to have it to produce. We used to buy it 14 or 15 tons at a time when I was young. Stored it in an old tenant house on the farm. Never had any problem with it exploding.

I would be affraid that I wouldn't know how to NOT make it explode.
Lisa

I talked with our farm supply store. They said to put espson salt and bone meal around the tomatoes He had a large area of tomatoes so he uses a spray of some sort.