Oh, dear.. there's no forum for "Brown Thumbs"

[Gal6:7]

Thanks again for all of your enouragement.

@digitS' - by field greens I mean mixed salad greens - meslun, arugula, endive, etc. Yeah... these tend to grow up quickly before the weeds come up and choke the rest of my garden.

@rebetzzin - how do you know if you have good soil? What do you replace it with - bags of soil from Home Depot?

@thistlebloom - lasagne style?


@ANYONE - should I get a rototiller? Does Home Depot or Lowes rent them? Would a Yard Butler Rotary Garden Cultivater work OK?

 

[Collector]

Welcome, to TEG. I have somewhat of a brown thumb also, I am hoping to start turning that around this coming season though. There is a lot of knowledge and experience on this forum. I have already learned a whole lot here already, and plan on having a better garden this spring. There is hope for us yet lol.

 

[digitS']

Tina, this would just be my preference:

For a 12' by 12' garden, a spading fork might be your best tool. You can cultivate the soil to the depth of its tines - probably about 11". It may take you a few years to get to that depth but you can go a little deeper and build a little more with compost into the soil, each year.

Another way that a spading fork can help -- you can actually find the "unidentified weeds" thru the tangle before they are broken up and you have scattered roots about in the soil. Each root piece of many perennial weeds may well be capable of growing another weed - 12 pieces, 12 weeds :/.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

For such a small plot I wouldn't bother with a tiller.
Lasagne gardening is basically building up soil on top of the ground over a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard. You don't need to prep the ground your building the bed on, and I have built several right on top of lawn.
My method is to gather a huge amount of newspaper(no glossy or color) a large tub or rubbermaid type bin full of water, lots and lots of layering type stuff;(gather more than you think you'll need, you'll want the finished bed to be about 2 feet thick ) compost, potting soil, peat, manures (aged 3 -6 months). It's handy if you mark out your plot with stakes and string or even flour to sort of help you " color in the lines ", but not necessary.
Lay down your wet paper , thats where the tub of water comes in, about 8 sheets thick, making sure to overlap the joints well. Then start layering, maybe something like this:
manure, compost, peat, manure,compost....I spray each layer with water before going to the next. Don't get it soaking wet, just dampish.
Also, if you use peat, don't finish with it because it will crust and prevent water from moving through the bed. It's not necessary to use it.
Let the bed sit for about 6 weeks, keeping it moist. It will "cook" down several inches. Some people let it sit a year or more, but who has that kind of time? Or patience? I have planted in some of mine in as little as 3 weeks without any problems.
There are many variations on this and probably every gardener who's used it will tell you something a little different.
The beauty of it is that you have instant , almost, good soil, and no weeds. You shouldn't have a weed problem at all the first year, weeds will blow in from other places and the next year you will have to pay more attention to that end of gardening.
I hope this is understandable, I don't think I left anything out.
Whichever way you end up going have fun with it!
:coolsun

 

[hoodat]

I agree with Rebittzen. Soil is the key. On old adage is,"Don't feed the plants. feed the soil". If your soil is in good enough shape almost everything else gets a lot easier. Only a couple of years ago one corner of my garden was so poor even the weeds were stunted. After working in lots of compost and a couple of crops of clover and millet that was turned under, this year I hope to bring that area into production.