getting the garden ready.

[cowboyjames74]

Anyone know how I should prepare my garden soil for spring planting?
Our soil out here in NW Arkansas is mostly sandy with a little stone in it.
Im going to plant about 40 plants and a variety of vegestables and have a large garden area.
Any info on how to prep this soil would be useful.

 

[Daniel]

Here is a start, http://homeguide123.com/articles/How_to_Improve_Sandy_Soil.html
You may also want to look up just what tobacco likes in the way of soil. I will tell you from my reading it likes a soil on the sandy side. even more important it likes a soil that stays damp but not wet. Sandy soil requires more watering to keep moisture in it.
My number one suggestion which is not surprising since it is prety much the number one suggestion for improving any soil. Is to add organic matter to it. This means green compost. Not composted manure but composted leafy and plant matter. Also since sandy soil tends to be low on nutrients Iwoudl suggest a 1 inch layer of composted manure tilled in. So in total you could go with 1 inch of composted manure, with a 3 inch layer of green compost (regular compost) tilled into the top 6 inches of sand. This give you a start. as you repeat this compost adding year after year your soil will improve deeper and deeper as the compost tends to break down and get washed deeper into the sand.
You will also want to get soil tests done each year in order to know what fertilizers you need to add.

One other suggestion to add to sandy soil is Silt. I am not sure I would go that far and silt is almost impossible to hold in a sandy soil without the addition of compost and still lots of it is washed down into the sand. Your soil will build up silt on it's own if you just keep adding organic matter.

 

[Chicken]

theres been some good discussions on here lately, about soil,,, modifying it,,,e.t.c.

use the search button,yo<