Need Tips For Next Years Garden

[Dshlogg]

I want to create a killer garden for next years grow. My space is 30'x100' on a gentle slope. Up until last year it was all lawn grass. The soil is mostly clay. I have some ideas but could really use some extra input.

Once my last peppers are harvested, my plan is to mow whatever is left of this years garden very close to the ground. Then cover the entire space with newspaper to control the weeds. I also plan on dumping all of the fall leaves in there to cover up the paper. Then I think I'll get a cubic yard of leaf compost and spread it evenly over the leaves. That's it for this year. I will just let it stay that way until spring.

Once the winter weather breaks I want to add something for drainage. Maybe perlite, but that could get expensive. Perhaps sand? Or wood chips? I'm not sure yet.

Then I want to till the whole garden to get everything well mixed. Will the newspaper be well decomposed? Maybe... Maybe not.

Next I'll start my rows. I think raised rows are a good way to go. Should I just dig trenches between rows and use that soil to build up the rows? If I do that, I think I need to dig drainage trenches along the ends of the rows. I don't want to end up with a mud pit between each row.

Finally I want to cover the ground with landscaping fabric to keep the weeds out and warm the soil. I'm not sure if I want to put in a watering system because I never water my peppers anyway.

What do you think? I would appreciate any advice, tips or tricks you guys can give me.

Thanks, happy growing.

 

[chileaddict]

The first thing I would do is study what Silver Surfer, Windchicken, and Spicy Chicken have done on their larger plots.

 

[RouteBound]

Dont forget to check out Wayright and his spicy jungle.

 

[muskymojo]

+1. Plastic mulch may be better than fabric. 1 yard of compost isn't going to go far in a 3000 sq ft garden. I did plastic mulch this year and love it. I only tilled the planting rows and left the paths, added compost and manure and tilled again. That was plenty to create raised rows. No need to dig trenches. Just simply tilling is enough to create somewhat raised rows. I used landscape fabric and pine bark mulch on the paths. Really low maintenance.

 

[Dshlogg]

Thanks. I've definitely checked out many beautiful gardens, including those mentioned.

Great idea to just till the rows. That will save me soil amendment and be less work. I will probably need more than a cubic yard of soil but I'm not going to use it on every inch of the garden only the rows. I used hardwood mulch around my plants this year and it worked great for water retention. I may end up using fabric and mulch.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Jetchuka]

Clay soil? Gypsum spreads itself out pretty good. You wouldn't need too many bags for that size plot and it would soften the dirt up a noticeable amount.

Home depot and Lowes carry it, $6 for a decent sized bag.

 

[AlabamaJack]

for an area 30' X 100'

There are several ways you can go with a large plot like this...and the guys that have mentioned others are right on track...

Your soil is the key to creating a good crop...your soil needs to be light enough to allow good rootball development...if you have not had your soil tested, you definitely need to...then build your soil according to what the test shows...a couple of samples over the area should be plenty for a smallish plot...

Plastic mulch is the cats meow, especially if you use drip tape underneath it...keeps weeds down, retains moisture, and you only feed the roots of the plants...

row spacing...depends on what you grow and how well they grow for you up there...my scorpion project rows are on 42" centers but the plants themselves are on 18-24" centers within the rows...the 18-24" spacing within the rows works well because the plants will support each other in the wind...

good luck in your venture...

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Black plastic mulch and woven geotextiles/fabric mulches are both good choices. Plastic prevents water/fertilizer penetration, so it's often used with drip irrigation or fertigation, or used in strips where water can seep in from the sides. It loses less water, but may also prevent some gas exchange between the soil/roots and the air (although I read one study that said that it doesn't). Fabric mulches allow gas exchange and water/nutrient penetration but lose more water to evaporation. Both keep dirt from splashing all over the plants when it rains and keep a clean environment in case you have pods touching the surface.

You can also use clear or white/silver plastics. Black plastic will warm the soil in the Spring because it absorbs light, allowing you to plant out a little earlier and get better growth early in the spring, and also protects from too much water from the month-long monsoon we get every Spring (I assume it's the same in MD?). Clear plastic warms the soil even more, but light still penetrates so weeds still grow. White/silver reflects light so they keep the soil cooler, and also reflect light back at the plants which gives them more useable light and may deter aphids. If you're using black or clear plastic, in the summer when it gets hot and you don't want to heat the soil any longer, you can put some straw over the plastic/fabric to keep the soil a little cooler.

As for the clay, sand is probably not a good idea.

The problems occur when sand and clay are mixed in incorrect proportions. An ideal soil has 50% pore
space (with the remainder consisting of minerals and organic matter). The pore spaces in a clay soil are
all small, while those in a sandy soil are all large. When one mixes a sandy and a clay soil together, the
large pore spaces of the sandy soil are filled with the smaller clay particles. This results in a heavier,
denser soil with less total pore space than either the sandy or the clay soil alone. (A good analogy is the
manufacture of concrete, which entails mixing sand with cement - a fine particle substance. The results
are obvious.) A soil must consist of nearly 50% sand by total volume before it takes on the
characteristics of a sandy soil.

Adding organic matter seems to be the best thing for hard clay soils, especially leaf compost. I would definitely lay down a thick layer of leaves this fall and then till it into the soil in the spring like you planned. That's how it's done in the forest and it seems to work extremely well. Plastic and fabric mulches are extremely effective in controlling weeds, so I don't see any need to do the newspaper thing.

Researchers at Texas A&M swear by expanded shale for loosening clay soils also, and it is inorganic so it's more of a permanent solution. So if you can find that, that's another possibility. A lot of people say wood chips work very well too, although they will tie up some nitrogen as they decompose.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Clay soil? Gypsum spreads itself out pretty good. You wouldn't need too many bags for that size plot and it would soften the dirt up a noticeable amount.

Home depot and Lowes carry it, $6 for a decent sized bag.

I did the gypsum thing this year, but there seems to be a lot of debate and mixed opinion. According to a professor of horticulture at Iowa State:

Gypsum, or calcium sulfate, is often applied, but seldom needed, due to a classic misunderstanding arising from its association with improving water movement and soil structure on sodic (high sodium) soils that are typically found only in semi-arid climates [TWG Editor: such as California]. The calcium in gypsum displaces salt in the soil. The salt then reacts with sulfate to form sodium sulfate, which is highly water soluble and easily leaches away. Removing the salt from the soil helps to aggregate soil particles, which eventually restores the soil structure. But this situation only occurs when the soil structure deteriorates because of high salt. These wet, sodic soils are slick, sticky, and have poor drainage...very similar to heavily trafficked clay soils that are not affected by excess salt. Both situations create hard soil with poor structure and drainage. Only a soil test will determine if there is a true need for gypsum application.

Doing a google search for gypsum + clay and selecting "scholar", practically all results are for soils with high salt concentrations. I tried to find results for non-sodic soils and gypsum but couldn't find anything, so it appears that this may be somewhat of a horticultural myth. It's hard to find any scientific evidence that supports it, mostly just amateur gardening websites, yahoo answers, forum posts, etc. repeating the same thing. I'm going to do some more searching though.

 

[Trippa]

I did the gypsum thing this year, but there seems to be a lot of debate and mixed opinion. According to a professor of horticulture at Iowa State:



Doing a google search for gypsum + clay and selecting "scholar", practically all results are for soils with high salt concentrations. I tried to find results for non-sodic soils and gypsum but couldn't find anything, so it appears that this may be somewhat of a horticultural myth. It's hard to find any scientific evidence that supports it, mostly just amateur gardening websites, yahoo answers, forum posts, etc. repeating the same thing. I'm going to do some more searching though.

I often think that scholars do a lot of research that is not backed up in the real world.

I would trust an older farmer or gardeners ideas on soil (in the area they have farmed or gardened) over a scholar everyday of the week.

Thats not to say that this particular scholars idea about gypsum is correct/incorrect, just that too much emphasis in todays world is put on research with too little on attained knowledge and knowledge from past generations and intuition.

 

[Jetchuka]

I did the gypsum thing this year, but there seems to be a lot of debate and mixed opinion. According to a professor of horticulture at Iowa State:



Doing a google search for gypsum + clay and selecting "scholar", practically all results are for soils with high salt concentrations. I tried to find results for non-sodic soils and gypsum but couldn't find anything, so it appears that this may be somewhat of a horticultural myth. It's hard to find any scientific evidence that supports it, mostly just amateur gardening websites, yahoo answers, forum posts, etc. repeating the same thing. I'm going to do some more searching though.

It produced an immediate and noticeable difference in the clay soil i have here in northern NJ. The soil became so soft that i kept playing with it for a few days like a kid in a sand box. I'm not getting any of those big clay "dirtballs" anymore either, i see a few small ones but they crumble easily now. Water no longer pools in the rows like it did before either.

OT but i won't be at this location for much longer to see how this soil holds up next year, i'm packing up and moving about 20 miles west which is a different climate zone (6a vs my current 6b) but the soil seems similar from what i've checked out. I'll soil test before mucking around with amendments.

 

[Dshlogg]

Thanks everyone for the info. I will do a soil test ASAP and post the results. Can anyone recommend a place to have it tested? UMASS will test for a number of things for 9 dollars.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

I often think that scholars do a lot of research that is not backed up in the real world.

I would trust an older farmer or gardeners ideas on soil (in the area they have farmed or gardened) over a scholar everyday of the week.

Thats not to say that this particular scholars idea about gypsum is correct/incorrect, just that too much emphasis in todays world is put on research with too little on attained knowledge and knowledge from past generations and intuition.

I guess I think differently about it, because I think too many things in gardening and in general are just kind of accepted as truth without proper research and fact checking. The problem is that far too much of what is considered "knowledge" from past generations or even considered "common sense" turns out to be false. The only way we can really know for sure if anything is true is by applying the scientific method. Not to mention that the people at the universities who are doing the research are themselves extremely experienced gardeners who also know the science behind it. And for what it's worth, I also frequent that other gardening forum, and a lot of very experienced gardeners over there are against the gypsum for normal clay soils thing, which is what got me googling.

Here are some more opinions...

From Spectrum Analytic, a soil-testing company

One of the most common misconceptions is that gypsum will help reduce mechanical soil compaction in clay soils that are not damaged by excess Na (sodic soils). There is no research data to support the claim that gypsum has any significant effect on reducing mechanical soil compaction. The belief that gypsum will reduce soil compaction probably comes from its effect on crusting and sodic soils. It needs to be understood that both soil crusting is caused by a different process than mechanical compaction and that compaction caused by sodic soils is extremely rare in the vast majority of fields in this country.

3. Gypsum has long been recognized as being effective at improving the soil structure in sodic soils. When soil contains enough excess Na, the soil is unable to form aggregates. The result is similar to crusting, only it involves the entire topsoil layer, not just a fraction of an inch on the surface. Very few fields east of the dryer parts of the Great Plains have sodic soils that might benefit from gypsum. We find some in small areas around old oil wells where large volumes of salt water were pumped out onto the surface of the soil. Some years ago, researchers found that if they applied large amounts of gypsum (1-10 tons/acre) followed by large amounts of irrigation water, the excess Ca from the gypsum displaces the Na in the soil and the excess water leaches the displaced Na below the root zone of the planned crop. This permits a crop to be grown successfully on that land. Of course, the excess Ca will also displace other nutrient cations such as K and Mg, so the fertility program would need to be adjusted to compensate for this loss of nutrients. From this you can see that if a soil does not have excess Na there is no mechanism for gypsum to provide relief from this source of compaction.

LSU Ag Center

Adding gypsum to sandy or nonsodic soils ( low in sodium) is a waste of money and natural resources and can have negative impacts on plant, soil and ecosystem health. Excessive soil calcium may release cations like aluminum or tie up nutrients like phosphorus. In our noncoastal soils, the soil calcium (Ca++) concentration is much higher than the sodium (Na+).

Purdue University Extension (which is one of the best agriculture schools in the United States)

Gypsum (calcium sulfate) generally
has no effect on soil tilth when
applied to a heavy clay and/or physically
compacted soil. It is used out West
where the compaction and impermeability
of the soil is due to a high sodium
content. The calcium in gypsum
displaces the sodium which can then be
leached away. It helps open up those
sodic soils so that water and other
nutrients can get in. Unfortunately,
there is little the gypsum can do for
soils that are compacted from heavy
traffic, construction, packed clay, etc.
Adding organic matter such as finished
compost, dried animal manure, or peat
moss, would be much more beneficial
types of problem soils in Indiana.

Washington State University Extension

Adding gypsum to sandy or non-sodic soils is a waste of money, natural resources, and can have
negative impacts on plant, soil, and ecosystem health

And finally one that's especially relevant, because the OP is in Ohio, Ohio State Unviersity

Questions have trickled in recently about "gypsum" as a soil conditioner for heavy clay soils in Ohio. Gypsum is traditionally applied to soils that have high levels of sodium (Na). High sodium, or "sodic" soils lose structure and have very low water infiltration rates. Sodic soils also become very hard when they are dry. When gypsum is applied to sodic soil, it displaces, or knocks the Na off the clay soil particles. The Na is then leached out of the soil.

Sodic soils in Ohio are very rarely seen. In 10 years of Extension visits I have seen only one site in NE Ohio that had elevated levels of sodium in the irrigation water. With that in mind, there really isn't any benefit to applying gypsum to heavy clay soils that do not have a sodium problem. Amending with good quality topsoil and organic materials like compost will offer much more benefit.

After more searching, it seems the universities and labs are all saying the same things, only add it to certain clay soils with excessive sodium, and the only ones saying to add gypsum to normal clay soils are the people selling it or very uncredible (sorry Firefox spell check, I'm reviving this word from it's 400 year nap since incredible doesn't have the same meaning in American English nowadays) sites like ehow and yahoo answers. So after doing more searching, it seems to me that adding gypsum without having a soil test done is likely to be a waste of money, and possibly counter-productive in some ways. I've been guilty myself of perpetuating this claim for gypsum, but I don't think it has a lot of merit after looking into it more.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Thanks everyone for the info. I will do a soil test ASAP and post the results. Can anyone recommend a place to have it tested? UMASS will test for a number of things for 9 dollars.

I think that's a good idea. It's the best way to know for sure what you're working with and what you need, well worth the money in my opinion. Considering all the ways we spend money on our hobby, a soil test is probably one of the best. Most university extensions do the soil tests, I would check out all the local universities. A lot of them will give you a recommendation if you ask, some of them probably even if you don't ask.