okay im preping my garden for winter.. i have mowed everthing off.. and tilled it 4 times two times going length wise each row, and two times going the width on each row.. then i emptied my compost bin on top of my garden.. spread it out.. then being a bunny farmer and rabit poo being one of the few animal poo you can stick directly on w/ out it breaking down any.. i went cleaning under my pens.. took it up and coverd over my garden w/ that..
i have pine trees that are looseing lots of needles right now... so i wonder.. will it hurt if i rake up those loose needles that are brown and scater them on top of my garden will it add as a cover instead of covering w/ straw ..

im posting here beacuse seems like yall know your gardens.. I'm realy hopeing to get a nice turn out on my garden next summer. I'm also hopeing by then I'll be stay home mom so ill have more time to spend w/ my gardening.

I'm realy just looking for any tips someone could give me to give my garden a nice yummie treat for the winter... soon there will be blankets of snow covering it .. so i will not be able to add any more compost to it.. so i have now moved my compost bin since i didnt like its location... and i have started fresh.. that was a gift when my son started scouts last year they had some big gardeners of america come do a big presentation and they donated bins for each scout... i love the compost bin... except for the smell every now n then when it was hot in the summer but... ohh im sure its gona make my garden happy...

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Wow, gilley, your garden sounds wonderful! :butterfly

I'm not much of a gardener, but one thing I know about pine forests is that the soil in there gets acidic. Maybe this is in part from the breakdown of the pine needles? Or maybe it was acidic to start with and that's why the pine trees grew there in the first place? Or maybe it's both, sort of a cycle of increasing acidity?

Anyhow, the pine needles sound nice, but maybe someone else knows if they're likely to make your soil more acidic than you want it.

Hope this helps

Alice

well my main problems w/ my soil this summer was i had an over abundce of snails.. and the soil is just getting burnt out.. i have only been liveing here for under two years.. and befor that other people gardend it.. not many w/ sucess.. my uncle lived in the old farm house that usto stand where my house is now.. and befor he passed away he had the most georgus garden cucumbers like crazy everything was nice.. well i think he took the nice things from the garden w/ him... and the fact it probly needed some good fertlizer (not just cow poo..) lol..

the pine needles if not totaly broke down by spring i will rake them off the garden. but im sure they will have broke down by then..

anyway..

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Hi, Gilley.

If you use pine needles for a top dressing, add some lime - powdered lime, you can get at any agricultural or garden place. As Alice points out, pine needles tend to make the soil more acidic. The lime will neutralize that.

Sounds like you're on the road to a revitalized garden bed!

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okay 1 more question i was reading on a web page if your garden is realy heavy w/ clay you can add sand.. how would one go about that... do you just lightly dust it w/ some sand.. what sand.. play yard sand.. (i have a sand box that i was gona dump beacuse the sand has mud mixed in it.. and i think my little one might have peed in it.. i just dont want that being played in .. )

any other ways to make the soil more loose .. im thinking if we dont get snow befor thanks giving i will take and rototill my garden 1 more time.. to mix in the stuff i put on top... and to cut down any weeds that might have started .. im also thinking of doing plastick over my garden next summer to cut down on the weeds.. I'm realy wanting to get a wonderfull turn out of my garden.. beacuse i sold some squash to the local farmers market and he sold them for 50 cents more than i sold them to him... next year if i have a GREAT turn out of all my produce maby ill just set up a stand (if that is legal.. lol..)

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Most books call for "clean sharp sand" (whatever that is, LOL!) I don't see any reason in the world why you couldn't use the sand box sand. Spread it over the top and till it in with whatever else you've used for a top dressing. Another possiblity is to add a "green manure" by seeding your plot with winter rye. It'll start growing a bit now and will renew when the snow melts. Then just till it under when you're ready to plant.

I must say, however, in all my years of gardening, there is nothing that can change the nature of your soil better than lots and lots of hay - rotting hay (which is no longer suitable for animal feed) is best. It's also cheapest. LOL!

Gilley, the black plastic mulch is fine for things like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. They're tropical and appreciate the extra heat in the soil. Other things don't like it so well. I tend to use lots of hay or straw (whatever was most available and inexpensive) nice and deep (often broken off in "books" - do it once with a traditional square bail, and you'll see what I mean) over a "foundation" of regular newspaper for most crops.

I learned about mulching from Ruth Stout. Here's a link to one of her books. How to Have a Green Thumb Without An Aching Back I think she may be out of print, so that's why the books seem so pricey. Maybe your library has it? The woman was a genius of no-work gardening.

HTH.

p.s. If you do any heating with wood, throw the ashes all over your garden throughout the winter. Right over the snow is fine. It will do the same as liming - just more gently. Just don't use coal ashes - too many heavy metals.

And for the pH question (acid versus alkaline) your local agricultural cooperative extension will usually be happy to test your soil for various things for little or nothing. Little test kits that you can use yourself are also available at agricultural/gardening places.

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wow thanks so much and to think there is this huge pile of rotting hay that when ivan hit wind knocked part of a door from barn open and soaked at least 10 bales.. i could probly stick 1/2 that on my garden if i tild it every week lol... think that would loosen up my soil? lol...

I'm in for a winters worth of reading ect to get my garden in tip top shape..

thanks to everyone for all the info..

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My advice would be stick it ALL on. Don't till now. Let it sit until the spring. Then, till it in, if you want. If, by then, you haven't totally accepted Ruth Stout's approach, you can pull what's left back, till, plant, and use the remainder for mulch.

The best gardens I've had happened after years of deep hay mulching, with the leftovers being deep tilled into the soil in spring.

HTH

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hrm wonder if my dad can bring his uniloader over tommrow and hall the bales from the field to my garden.. and to think the minanite farmer down the road just set on fire 2 tractor trailor loads of molded hay .. SIGH.. obviously they are not as green thumbed as you might think.. I might be fenceing in my garden next summer.. as to seem my male rabbit has escaped and has came back to the cage to eat his food and get a drink and every time i try and shut the door agin he zooms out and runns off.. spoiled brat just wants to eat greens.. and i cut him off cuz he was getting to fat and lazy and wouldnt breed.. anyway..

thanks for the loads of info.. !

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7-05-04 198 8/30/04 - 190 (got lost after that-)
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i found this link incase anyone would want the same information i was looking for .. not very bold about things but its a run down of fall prep for the entire garden..(flower, veg, yard, ect.)
http://gardengal.net/page41.html

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01/02/04-248{ 4/29/04- 218} 6/30/04- 204
7-05-04 198 8/30/04 - 190 (got lost after that-)
4/03/08- 261 -
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Thanks for the garden talk, you guys! My mother was always a great fan of Ruth Stout's system. She used grass clippings for mulch and always had a wonderful garden.

Good luck with selling your veggies, gilley. If I lived near you I would love to buy some of your yummy fresh produce.

Alice