Starting From the Very Beginning

[Noetisch]

Hi there. :) I just joined a the forums a few moments ago. Anyway, I'm hoping someone here may be able to lend me some advice.

I've always wanted to have a garden, but we've never lived in a suitable place. Recently, however, we've moved into a little rental house that happens to have quite a nice back yard, perfect for starting a garden. When we first got here, though, the place was quite a slum. We've since fixed it up a lot, and we're still working on it. We've gotten rid of the massive sticker bushes that had since claimed the charming little yard for what seemed like years of neglect.

To get to the point, the yard is quite a dry and unhealthy one, and I was wondering what I should do to get it back on the right track. I feel it's got a lot of potential, with large trees, plenty of sun, and even a brick fireplace. The grass is yellow and grows in clumps, which I believe is called crab grass (honesly, I know nothing about gardening :stupid: ). I'm thinking it would be best to get rid of the grass completely and start over, but I have no idea where to go from there.

Any help it all to a complete rookie such as myself would be greatly appreciated. ^^ Try not to go too hard on me, though.

[Fischer]

Best bet would be to bring in a photo and a soil sample to a local nursery and ask for some advice. They would better know your climate and growing season, and the types of plants best suited for what you have.

[FarmerCop]

as for a garden it depends on how much of a garden do you have time to deal with, and how much are/what are you wanting to plant?


I started out with landscape timbers stacking them and then filling with topsoil, composting at times to prepare it, i then planted it, so far I have taken over sixty pounds of tomatoes, some chives, basil, zukes, okra, cabbage (winter crop really), carrots etc..

you make it as big as you like or as small, bracing should be kept in mind when building it bigger alot of soil weight.

by the way I have had no weeds whatsoever with this method

[Noetisch]

Thanks for the advice. :)

I'm thinking I'd want to start out small, since it is my first time. Ideally, I'd like to grow mostly herbs. I'm seventeen and still in high school, so I've usually got free afternoons every day, and a free summer, too, of course. I'll have plenty of time to spend working on it.

Getting help locally is a great idea. :) I'll be sure to do that. Thanks again!

[suemarkp]

You can spray RoundUp on the grass. It kills green things quickly, but stops working after a week so things you plant after that will grow. You could rent a rototiller and grind up the yard. This will help you determine if you have rock or shale a few inches below the dirt, or there is good deep dirt. The tiller just mixes things up. Even better would be to apply some topsoil, compost, or other soil amendment before tilling, especially if you hit shale. You want at least 6" of topsoil and preferably at least a foot.

You need to till for a garden at least once to get the soil in good shape. You can do this for grass too, but tilling is a rather slow job if the soil hasn't been tilled for years. You may even want to buy one if you can only work on this a few hours a day, but have lots of days avialable.

Then you can plant grass (cheapest), hydroseed, or put in already grassy sod to start the yard. You can create the garden perimeter and begin planting appropriate things now too.

This is the wrong time of year to be planting grass. It needs to be kept moist so September may be better (depends on how hot your area is and how cold winter gets). Spring works too, but you'll need to water during the summer until it establishes itself well. Be prepared to run a sprinkler every day to keep it moist for a few weeks at least (Placing a thin layer or staw on the seeded dirt will keep in moisture, grass places use some kind of green sawdust looking stuff to do the same thing - hydroseed). If its is quite dry and sunny when you plant grass, you may go bankrupt when the water bill comes, so let nature help you with some cloudy days and rain.

Now is also late for most crops, but some things grow fast enough you could plant them now. You could also just hold off on the garden for now and use it as a place to dump your grass clippings. Then next spring, till those into the garden dirt with the rototiller and plant things when they are supposed to go in the ground (typically May or June, depending on the plant and your location).