1st prize,
cinampa
Imagine using a canoe to do all your heavy carrying.

OK. So not everyone can buy a shallow swamp.

Please consider raised beds so that you are working with an upright posture. Much easier on the back.

I also recommend starting right.
Please read Permaculture (Bill Mollison) and
The Single Straw Revolution. These have ideas on how to get the best result with the the minimum effort.

Do not get caught up ideologies--by which I mean "organics." Gardening is complex, dependent on place and climate and variety, so blanket statements about "organic" versus "conventional" are meaningless. Do what you need to do to make your garden manageable and productive.

(Note: books like "The One-Straw Revolution" mentioned above are philosophical, uplifting, and really, really useless practically. I read it twice, thinking I "missed" something, but I found there was no there there. "Do nothing farming" is a myth. Maybe he has some pointers for growers of rice in subtropical regions, but who the hell is planning on growing rice? As far as I can tell, permaculture is a vaguely-defined, but harmless, cult.)

Home gardening is gratifying all by itself, and it saves you money, but there is no way to know whether it is the "way" to "surviving" a post-peak world because no one knows what such a world is going to be like, when it will arrive, how it will arrive. It could very well turn out that commercial conventional agriculture will be the one sector to thrive after fuels start becoming scarce, but what do you care if you like growing things and it saves you money?

I wouldn't give a thought to whether your method is "sustainable": I believe the concept is dead, especially in a world in which the net increase in the human population is over 10,000 per hour. All agriculture is unsustainable, no matter what ideological stripe it wears, because it just grows people.

You should get joy out of gardening. I might have more to say, but I have a raging toothache right now...

EDIT: One mistake people make--reading too many books! Just find a couple. If you really want to see what "organics" is all about, read Jeff Gilman from the University of Minnesota, The Truth About Organic Gardening and The Truth About Garden Remedies (Most home remedies don't work.)

EDIT: On something Gail says:

If you live in a colder climate, your garden is not as far along as a garden of someone in a warmer climates.

If you live in Northern New England and experienced the 80-degree weather today, do NOT succumb to the temptation to "push" your garden earlier. You will very likely regret it.

Hot weather crops (tomato, cuke, eggplant, etc.) never ever hit the open dirt here on this farm before June 1st. Keep them tucked under glass in big pots.

"What advice do you have for new gardeners?"

Green side up.

(1) Start small - If you try to do too much too fast, you inevitably get overwhelmed later in the season. Pace yourself your first year.

(2) Akin to #1, start with 'easy' plants. Once it's warm (i.e., a few weeks after the last frost of the year), things like beans and strawberries are the epitome of easy. Tomatoes are the next level up, and peppers and onions are a bit harder. Also, garlic is super low-maintenance, though it's a bit late for planting any this year.

(3) I have to agree with the raised-bed camp: They're simple to devise and really make weeding virtually obsolete. Plus, you don't need a tiller, and they look more aesthetically pleasing (which is important to tentative gardeners on small plots of land) than tilled lots.

(4) DON'T OVERWATER - This might be the most common 'newby' gardener mistake. Try to give your plants a good soaking of 1 inch per week rather than several light drizzles. Again, this is where raised-beds help (i.e., better for water retention).

(5) Grow herbs - Cilantro, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary (if your climate zone is >=8), & Oregano are all extremely low maintenance, easy to start, and pay the biggest dividends in terms of return per effort (just have a look at the price of fresh herbs in any grocery!)

(6) At least TRY organic - Yes, I agree it can be a liability to attempt to be fanatically/strictly organic, but in the end doing as much as possible towards this really pays off in the long run. Trust me. There's an astounding difference in terms of pest issues in my experience b/w organic and non. Besides, compost is cheap. Give it a try, you'll be hooked. :-)

Grow soil first -the plants will follow!
see example @ happyeggs.org

New to gardening? Find a neighbor or friend who has a record of success and volunteer. You'll get a cut of the "take" and learn more than you'll ever learn from books about gardening success in your area. I've never seen a good gardener who refuses help with tilling, planting, weeding or harvesting. Books are great (I have many) but success/experience can't be beat. If you have land, start a community garden. Invite folks who have knowledge but need more land. Run an add in the local paper and start a co-op to share land/tools/labor/seeds/etc.

I have had great gardening success with fertilizer produced by our 3 rabbits and 2 guinea pigs!

I give them grass which I collect along the road or in the garden or a few vacant lots. There is not enough if everyone were to start doing this but now it`s just me so it is sufficient.

In the winter (jan-march) I sometimes have to buy food for them....I give them barley or pellets.

I collect the fertilizer and mix it with soil and leave it for a few weeks. I plant veggies in our small garden and put the fertilizer around them.It makes a huge difference vs. not using fertilizer.

We don`t have a car so buying fertilizer (at a large home center shop) is not convenient. Picking grass or buying small amunts of barley in nearby supermarket is totally convenient. The rabbits and guniea pigs obligingly turn all food into fertilizer.

I don`t grow enough veggies to be self-sufficient (lack of space and time) but it`s a small yet helpful amount.

When I started about 5 years ago I had very little idea about growing veggies but now things are improving!

My advice: start small and don`t be afraid to experiment and think creatively. I use large glass ashtrays to improvise "greenhouses".

Mix animals and plants together. I would like chickens but we don`t have enough land. I am thinking about bees. If you put some old logs in a pile you will get lizards. Attract insects with flowers.

It can be very fun to try different things.

Some veggies come back, like artichokes and asparagus.

"If someone new to gardening were to ask what you have learned by trial and error, that might be helpful to others, what would you tell them?"

As other's have stated, use books only as a rough guide. Although not so applicable to Red River Valley clay near Moorhead MN, I like the concepts put forth in John Jeavon's "How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine".

Start with a few things that you really like to eat....expand in future years (the garden, not your beltline). Test both raised beds AND flat ground....raised beds can require much water if you have a drought situation, so if you have some of the crop up higher and some down low, you may be surprised at the outcome. If the soil is well tilled/turned and is healthy, you can grow plants more closely together than if not.....saves on space and reduces evaporation of the water.

Don't be put off by what some people say can and cannot grow in your area. We've been immensely surprised at the effect of microclimates on annual crops in our zone and some creative covering in the fall can extend the growing season more than you think.

See saving tip: You may already know that if you are saving hybrid seed, you will not get the same looking crop next year as you had this year. For non-hybrid crops like beans, non-hybrid tomatoes, etc., save seeds for next year. My wife likes to squeeze seeds out of over-ripe tomatoes onto paper and let them dry. They will stick to the paper and the paper can be stored in a filing system over the winter.

We pared down many varities of many things to those that we have found to be our favorites and that do well in our area. So although we started out with myriad tomato varieties, we are now down to one paste variety that we grow a huge amount of (and freeze for winter use) and a few summer eating varietes that stay naturally disease-free or mostly so. Even in our northern area, we are able to start the tomatoes indoors under lights and transplant on Memorial Day (statistically the last frost day). With the exception of large bell-types, we grow quite a variety of hot and mild peppers, eggplant, leafy greens, all possible potato varieties, and others. We're in the middle of large-scale wheat/barley, sugarbeet, soybean, and corn rotations so anything related to those will do well.

We are VERY LAZY gardeners....and still have more produce at the end of the summer than we can eat (still eating last year's potato crop from the root cellar and last year's tomatoes, squash, corn, beans, etc....all thrown in the deep freeze last fall). You will get into a rhythm of how much weeding, cultivating, fertilizing, pest control, etc. that suits your area, your energy level and motivation, and STILL eat well. I could not imagine a summer anymore without a garden.

As an aside, never thought the "plow fence-row to fence-row" USDA would ever have a "People's Garden" page (www.usda.gov/peoplesgarden). This website is interesting for more reasons that I would care to expand upon here.

Although I have a very large garden and orchard, I'd suggest that new gardeners start with containers* rather than trying to establish a regular garden.

They are a lot less work and just about anything that can be grown in soil works well in a container. Regular large pots can be used or one can buy a self-watering container like an Earthbox or make one.

There is all kinds of information on container growing as well as how to build your own self-watering containers on the Internet.

It might be worthwhile to note that even I use self-watering containers for some stuff (I have 16 of them that each hold 2 cubic feet of planting mix - the same size as an Earthbox) - only I made mine for a lot less money.

*FWIW, the current issue of the Mother Earth News has an article about using bags of soil mix where they slice open the side and just plant.

Todd

For a first time gardener I would suggest Steve Solomon's book:
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times

It takes the reader from a sod lawn through working it into a garden space through planting and harvesting with straight-forward simple methods.

You can even read most of it here on Google Books

Only thing I disagreed with was his choice of digging tool ;-)

Read Ruth Stout's No Work Garden or one of her other books. HEre is a brief description http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2004-02-01/Ruth-Stouts-...

Don't be tied to her system or any one system (she uses straw, I use leaves because I can pick them up free in a nearby town). Let your garden teach you.

I actually plant many plants in shallow depressions rather than using raised beds as we often have 4 or 5 months with no rain. Water for me just runs off of raised beds. With a depression I can lay a hose down and let it slowly soak a large area. What works in one area may not work in your area so try different things.

Get the Humanure Handbook, the Simplest way to compost your own manure. (or read it free on the web http://humanurehandbook.com/contents.html ). Even if you cannot do it now because of local regulations, that may change.

At least if you can't compost your poop, save urine, dilute it (I do 3 to 1 but some say 5 or 10 to 1) and provide daily nitrogen to your plants.

Your plants are your best experts. Trust them above anything. But the web is a great source for ideas about specific problems - slugs and bugs etc.

I work a bucket of chicken manure compost, 1 handful of eggs shells that have been run through the blender and 2 handfuls of wood ashes into every spot I dig up for tomatoes. I am sure that soon I will not have to do this as my garden soil gets richer every year but I garden on soil depleted by cotton farming.

For southern gardners this is a good source of seed heritage seed - http://www.southernexposure.com/index.html (Seedsavers Handbook will teach you to save your own seeds http://www.seedsavers.net/resources/seed-savers-handbook but you may also want to get some seeds locally. I get a great variety of kale at local stores. I like it better than any I have bought from catalogs and it is a whole lot cheaper. If a feed store is selling one variety they will usually get the one that does best in the local area.

Seminole pumpkins are great http://www.southernexposure.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Produ...

CULTIVATE WEEDS

!!!Lambsquarters http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/surprising-lambs-quarters/ is similar to spinach but with no major bugs and very hardy - self seeds in a continual mulch garden

!!!Chickweed http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/steme.htm is a great spring salad addition and also self seeds. Looks fragile but survives even heavy late frosts

check out http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTheWeeds.Com/EatTheWeeds.com/EatTheWee... for other edible weeds. I just discovered the perenial weed I was trying to get rid of was Florida Betony which has a nice radish like edible root http://www.killerplants.com/plant-of-the-week/20061002.asp

Usually a "weed" is quite hardy and persistant so if it is edible it may be a better choice than a domestic plant, especially when water gets harder to obtain.

Use your own/your family's urine as a source of nitrogen and other important elements for a healthy soil.
There's a good book about doing this: LIQUID GOLD: THE LORE AND LOGIC OF USING URINE TO GROW PLANTS, By Carol Steinfeld

I use it mostly by adding it to my compost piles which are mostly leaves I've collected in the fall.

But I also dilute it and sprinkle it from a watering can on things like leeks and onions. It's also good for corn, although I don't grow corn now since I don't have the space.

And I would echo others who say, start small. It's a long, but gradually quite satisfying learning and growth process.

As someone once said, "When life doth fail to satisfy, there's always the garden."

By far, the most important first step is to get your soil tested by your local ag extension service. It usually costs only a few dollars ($15 in my case at the University of Vermont) and will provide a detailed analysis of your soil profile (npk analysis as well as other important minerals and nutrients). The test results will also offer recommendations as to how to amend your soil to achieve the proper levels and balance of nutrients. Healthy plants are more disease and pest resistant, and healthy plants begin with a good balanced fertile soil.

Ok...all of this is fresh on my mind, as I've spent the last few weeks getting the garden in shape and starting seeds.

I would say the biggest difference between gardening and farming is that the farmer grows primarily for the market, while the gardener grows primarily for his own table. With that in mind, I always plan my garden around what I like to eat, so I start from cookbooks and move to seed catalogs from there. I also plan around growing what I know I can store easily, canning or freezing; for instance, leeks, onions and potatoes go toward a vichyssoise recipe I have made by the gallon for years, which freezes perfectly,

Another bit of advice is to begin keeping and composting every scrap of biodegradeable waste you can, including your neighbors leaves if they are willing, and putting it toward the soil. Its some work building up soil, but if you keep it up its just gets better and richer every year.

Keep a "garden book" and write down what and where you plant every year, dates you started seeds, hard frost dates, how different thing went, anything you think might help you to keep track and plan better as the years go along. I always start in January thinking about things by going back over my book.

I have tried various raised beds, plank paths, in ground watering, drip systems, rock mulch, etc, but have basically gone back to simple ground and hand watering with a hose. My planting beds are about 15' x 3', well tilled and mulched soil, separated by well trodden footpaths. I found drip systems and automatic watering to be convenient reasons to not go out in the garden, then things would go wrong "out of sight". Various permanent pavings, woodwork, hoses etc also just become housing and shelter for weeds and bugs, and barriers to cultivation. I find that if I walk the footpaths a couple times a day, their soil becomes too compact to support weeds well, while its easy enough to pulls weeds from the soft beds if they have no protection. Watering by hand doesn't take too much time, but encourages the most important part - seeing the garden daily.

And then the last thing would be to buy seeds locally, as you're most likely to find what will grow well in your area at places like the local hardware or feed store. I always try exotic stuff, especially heirlooms I can save seeds from, but most of what I grow is basic stuff I know will work, and just how it will be cooked.

OK - here's a question...

What would others suggest as a top 5 (or even top 2 or 3) list of tools (especially more specialized tools) that they've discovered they can no longer live without in the garden.

I know this has been mentioned before on TOD a refresher might be good.

Also any good recommended sources for garden tools ?

Thanks everyone.

Catskill

Don't overlook problems with deer and rabbits. I erected an 8 ft. enclosure after deer removed my first plantings. Cabbage and its relatives (broccoli, turnips, mustard, kale, etc.) tend to perform better in the fall in Deep South and insect pests are fewer. My best cabbages mature in December in southern Mississippi. Also recommend landscaping with edible bushes: blueberries or figs and not azaleas; strawberries instead of hostas, pansies, chrysanthemums.
Go for the dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees, and by all means try several varieties of summer grapes and fall muscadines.

Be cautious with bought livestock manure. Some of the herbicides used on broadleaf weeds persist in fodder and pass through cows and horses. Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, beans, peas, and lettuce are sensitive to some poisons at only a few parts per billion.

I can highly recommend the book Lasagna Gardening by Pat Lanza. Her method allows a beginner to start with any patch of sunlit ground and by layering various kinds of mulch, clippings, leaves, and other organic matter, to quickly create a fertile gardening spot. You can have a very productive garden with minimal effort. I am not claiming this method is sustainable (it requires either purchasing and/or drawing resources from other areas -- but if done properly it could be close to sustainable), but it will let you get up and running and have some fun success.

See:
http://tinyurl.com/lanzalasagnagardening [Google Books]
http://tinyurl.com/lasagnagardening [Amazon.com]

-- Philip B. / Washington, DC

First bit of advise is to start. So many people talk about gardening but dont get round to sowing.

Get a good book on how and when to sow, then keep a diary of what's sown, when and results.

Look after your soil! Compost, mulch, rotate, lime.

Only grow what you and your family will eat or be able to sell/barter.

Learn how to deal with gluts by storing and preserving.

Dont expect perfect crops, there are a myriad of things out there just itching to get at your plants before you can.

Finally gardening is a skill that improves with practice and experience.

Love your compost like you love your woman. That doesnt mean we want to catch you wriggling around naked in it though.

All these tips are great, but if you really are new to gardening you want to do very little in your first year - it's easy to get overwhelmed. My first year went something like this…

1. Buy some good compost from a reputable seller and mix with existing top soil in a mangeable patch, perhaps 6' by 4'.
2. Wait until late April or May, and then buy some plants that have been started off at a garden centre. Choose 2-3 plants of about 10 different vegetables (IIRC we went for tomatoes, courgettes/zucchini, chillis, potatoes, celery, beans, peas, corn, aubergines and probably some others that I've forgotten).
3. Water them from time to time if it's a particularly dry spell, and wait to see what happens

All very simple, and pretty much cheating by buying the compost and the plants, but the total cost shouldn't be more than £30-40 ($50-70). If our experience is anything to go by, some of the plants will wither and die, some will succeed. With a bit of luck you'll get some lovely veg and get hooked.

THEN - for our second year we made the raised beds, made our own compost, planted seeds in the greenhouse early, worked out what grew in what soil, introduced another plot etc. etc. But your first year should be about just getting something to grow and enjoying it.

The No. 1 thing to do before you even think about starting a garden is a decent irrigation system. Ideally you want a gravity fed system however no water = no food.

Regular water and plenty of sun and organic gardening is relatively easy.

I have seen many a failed garden due to the time it takes to water. We all have far to busy lives. Believe me, get an irrigation system in before you even consider developing your soil.

1) Buy a watering can (10L) and place outside kitchen door.
2) Every morning when you wake up pee into it (easier if you are a bloke), or pee into it whenever else you feel the need.
3) When you have about 1L of urine (usually a daysworth or less) fill up to top with water and pour on plants and or compost pile.
4) You save a) water in flushing the toilet and b) the use of N/P/K fertilizers - I have practically given up using commercial fertilizers on my veggie patches using this technique.

I could teach a whole course on this - in fact I have, several times (Sustainable Gardening at Granite State College). But here are a few items off the top of my head:

Buy a good gardening book that was written by someone in your area - gardening is a very different sport in different parts of the country.

Here in northern New England, Eliot Coleman writes very useful stuff, geared to our quirky climate.

Similarly, ask around to find out what varieties work best in your area. Buy seeds from a regional grower - I use Fedco Seeds in ME. A very informative catalog with plenty of varieties of everything.

Remember, too, that no 2 growing seasons are the same.

I tend to go with a set of veggie varieties that I know will work well, but try a new thing or two each year. Keeps things interesting, and who knows, you may find something that works better.

Think about timing. Plant successions of stuff. Planting isn't something you do once in the Spring, and then you harvest in the late-Summer/Fall. You want to eat all season long! Learn what's early, what stands the heat of Summer, what carries on into Fall.

Another useful tip: Keep written records of what you planted, and when. And a rough sketch of where - this will help you plan rotations sensibly.

Most of the tips put forth here are very useful. Start small, raised beds, etc. And talk to the experienced gardeners in your area - you will get lots and lots of ideas!

I grow organically. Feed the soil (compost, manure), not the plant. Pick bugs. There are organically sanctioned pesticides for when squash bugs, etc., come, if you are so inclined. In my area, the tomato hornworms come in early August, typically. I pick them off by hand - not hard to do.

When you first create a garden from, say a patch of lawn, it will take a couple of seasons to turn into a healthy, balanced soil. In the meantime, you might have problems. OTOH, if you've never gardened before in that area, you may have practically no pests - for a year or two.

I'm sure those of us who have been gardening for a while could go on and on, but the key thing is to get started, and learn your local soil, your local climate, your local pests, etc.

Good luck! It's gotta be better than last year, right? :-)

Stop and smell the roses. Plant flowers to attract pollinators and enhance the beauty of your garden. I always have plots of flowers scattered in my garden plot. It smells and looks great. Use perennials if possible for less maintenance. An added bonus of perennials is you make more gardening friends when you divide them and give the extras away. Mulch is your friend. I collect leaves during the fall from people for my garden; some look at me like I’m nuts, and never make the connection that I have some of the best soil around. Beware of most new fangled tools, they’re like most fishing lures - meant to catch fisherman and not fish. My favorite tool? The Italian grape hoe. It can make short work removing weeds and grass around grapevines and trees.

Gardening advice:

1. Location, location, location. Gardens need plenty of sun. Pick the sunniest spot you've got for your garden. If you've only got partial sun, you can still do a garden, but you'll have to adjust your ambitions and settle mostly for cabbage family and leafy greens. Many people will also find themselves in a situation where their sunniest location is not in a place where a dirt garden is feasible - on a patio, for example. In that case, think containers. I've successfully grown tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, summer squash, melons, lettuce, swiss chard, arugula, radishes, green onions, turnips, and many different herbs in containers on my deck.

2. Water, water everywhere. Unless you happen to live in an area like the Pacific NW coast that gets LOTS of rain, on an almost daily basis, you are going to have to water. Do not underestimate how important this is. Don't worry so much about the technology of watering, anything - hose, watering can, bucket - will do, the important thing is to get that water on the plants, every day - especially when the seeds are in the ground and haven't gotten established yet. If you are gardening in containers, try buying or constructing self-watering ones to assure that they don't dry out during the day.

3. Mulch! A thick layer of organic mulch helps the soil to retain moisture, so that the plants are less likely to get stressed between waterings. It also virtually eliminates weeds, which compete with your plants for moisture and nutrients, and makes gardening much less of a chore. The mulch gradually breaks down and is eventually incorporated into the soil, improving it.

4. Amend your soil. Very, very few gardeners are blessed with that thick, black, fertile loam that is ideal for gardening. Your goal must be to gradually improve the soil so it comes closer to approximating the ideal. You do this by incorporating soil amendments - organic matter such as compost, manure (well composted, preferably), and various other plant matter, well shredded. I've also always added generous amounts of an organic fertilizer (I use Espoma).

5. Keep your soil loose, but not shredded. The old notion of tilling the soil into near-dust is going by the wayside, as people increasingly appreciate that soil is a complex ecosystem of microscopic organisms, and that plants benefit from keeping that ecosystem largely intact. However, both your plant roots and the microscopic organisms in the soil will benefit from the soil being loose and aerated, rather than being tightly compacted. The best way to do this is with a broadfork, and while this is an expensive tool, it is one well worth investing in. With a broadfork, you simply lift the topsoil up; this opens up spaces underneath for water and organic matter to infiltrate down. Earthworms thrive in such an environment and do a lot of your tilling for you. I usually follow up with a thick layer of organic amendment, and then lightly incorporate into the top layer with an azada (another highly recommended tool) or spading fork, followed by a garden rake to smooth and level. Once you have your planting bed ready, NEVER EVER step on it!!! This means that you have to lay out your garden either in raised beds or in sections that are accessable on all sides. Some people who do not use raised beds lay planks down to walk or kneel on.

6. Plan your garden carefully. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to put in a garden all on one nice spring day, and that is their planting for the year. It is a sure recipe for feast and famine. What you want is to spread your harvest out for as long as possible, producing only what you can use fresh each week. Unless you are blessed with massive amounts of land, you are also going to want your limited garden space to be as productive as possible. I strive to keep every square foot of my garden space in production from early spring until well after frost if at all possible, which means that in most cases I am able to get at least two crops per year out of most of my garden beds. (Note: See Coleman's Four Season Harvest for details on how to do this.) All this takes very careful planning, which I spend each Thanksgiving break doing. (Yes, I do need to plan that far ahead.) I have a chart of each bed, and do all my planting and planning on a one-foot grid. (I do practice "Square Foot Gardening", and recommend that you get and follow the book.) Under each bed's chart, I have a schedule for seed starting, transplanting or direct sewing, and harvesting. I start by planning out the spring crops for each bed, and then figure out what to follow and what I need to do to have it ready to go. In some beds the summer crops finish soon enough that I can get a quick-maturing fall crop in as well. You also want to try to grow things in the same bed that have compatable cultural requirements; for example, peas, pole beans, tomatoes, and winter squash all can be grown vertically on a trellis, so my spring crop of peas will be followed by one of these other crops. After a couple of years of experimentation, certain pairings will become fairly standard for you. For example, I grow most of my brassicas together, with the spring crop of cabbage and broccoli followed by a fall crop of broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts. I'll have the fall crop transplants timed to be ready when the spring crop is done. If you have enough land and the inclination to do some food preserving, then rather than a succession harvest you will want to plan a crop to all come on at once, so that you can do batch processing. For myself, my pole beans are my succession harvest for fresh eating: I have a growing season that is just long enough to get in two crops of bush green beans, one after the other, so I devote a bed just to growing those and do two big cannings, once in July and once in early Autumn. I also grow a variety of tomatoes in containers for succession fresh harvest, and also a bunch of paste tomatoes in a bed for a concentrated harvest for canning.

7. Have a strategy for disease and pest control. Most gardeners - especially beginners - seem to be more worried about pests than about disease; actually, it should be the exact opposite. There are very few bugs that can actually wipe out an entire harvest, but there are plenty of diseases that can. Your first line of defense is to plant disease-resistant varieties. Now, this is bad news for those who are thinking in terms of planting o.p. varieties and saving their seed, for most disease-resistant varieties are hybrids which must be bought. Sorry, but that's the reality. Secondly, rotate your crops! You ideally want to try to set up a four-year rotation plan if possible, especially for brassicas (cabbage family) to avoid clubfoot. Another reason for careful planning. Thirdly, since in many cases "disease" means a fungal infestation, you want to avoid conditions that are favorable to fungal growth. Fungus likes moisture, warmth (but not to hot), still air, and as little sunlight as possible. Gardens in full sun and with good ventilation, with mulched soil (to control evaporation) and where care is taken to avoid wetting leaves when watering (drip irrigation is a great way to avoid this, and to conserve water - put it in if you can), are generally going to avoid a lot of disease problems. As a backup, I've found that a light dusting with sulfur will often be good enough to get the plant through to harvest. As for insects and other pests, I rarely have to do very much. I do spray my brassicas with bt to keep the cabbage worms to a minimum (or you could cover with Agribon), and I've got rotenone dust at the ready if I get an infestation of bean beetles. I spray my pole beans and grapes with pyrethrum when the Japanese beetles come. I've got some insecticidal soap and oil available to use if something else comes up, but pests just are not that much of a problem. Follow the other advice above for unstressed plants, and your pest problems should be minimal as well.

We would definitely recommend saving all your twigs sticks and dead wood for your Wood Burning Stove. But make sure you dry them sufficiently before using. It saves a fortune on kindling!

1. Draw up a plan

Until you know where the sunny, partly shady and shady areas are, year round, especially if you have a small space, you'll end up planting things that die or keep needing to get moved. It's expensive and disheartening.

I spent most of my first year in my new location digging out landscaping stones, removing unwanted concrete and dead plants, mulching, and just observing the sun. Ok, I planted fruit trees and veggies too. Something for now, something for later...

If you're planning to stay where you are for a long time, think future needs.

Gardening is about observation, understanding, planning and learning, before harvesting.

2. List the plants you'd like to start with, and divide them up into broad categories.

Sun requirements
Water requirements
Annual/Perennial in your location.

I am in US zone 6 - formerly zone 5, according to the Arbor Day foundation. It is, of course, just a general guideline - your microclimate may turn out to be different.

http://www.arborday.org/media/zones.cfm

A little homework up front is worth a lot of pain later.

3. Investigate use of perennials

I make heavy use of edible perennials in my front yard - many have "pretty flowers", which appeals to my neighbors.

http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/index.php

4. Start early

I have been gardening since February - my year starts with pruning. Then I start seeds indoors under grow lights, in March. I do work relating to the garden, up to and including my seed order, which I generally place in November. For those plants that winter indoors, activity continues while there is snow on the ground outside (citrus, banana, olive). Growing seasons can be extended by means of greenhouses, hoophouses and cold frames.

5. Be patient

Growing a productive garden takes time. There's no "instant garden", like there is "instant oatmeal" (just add water and heat). I'm 5 years in, at my new house, and still putting plants in, and building new beds.

Fruit trees, for example, can take a long time to get to bearing age. Kiwis can take up to 5 years.

This may sound like a lot of work up front, but a bit of study will teach a new gardener a lot, before they go out and spend a ton of money at the garden store, only to have things die on them.

Get a couple of good books and do some reading. Preparing planting beds properly before beginning pays dividends later, in terms of yields, quality and plant health. I like the Jeavons book. It's a pretty good guide to soil preparation, companion planting, seedling handling and has some good beginner garden plans.

Personally, I try and be as chemical-free as possible - firstly, because I have beehives, secondly, because who knows later on about availability/price ? What's the point in getting used to working with things that may be in short supply ?

A few ladybugs and insect-eating birds can accomplish wonders.

I'm trying to garden from this year. Got sick of the backyard lawn (+weed).

This is what I've done
- Read a couple of books. Esp one by Solomon specifically written for the northwest meritime climate (Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening). Then Square Foot Gardening & Let It Rot.
- Bought a composter and started composting.
- Built 2 raised beds 8x4, each 2 feet high. Bought vegetable soil mix locally for the raised beds.
- Bought local seeds (Territorial and Ed Hume)
- Made a complete plan of what to plant, where and when. Started seeds indoors & out.
- Now waiting for Sun to come out ;-)

I don't expect much this year - but hopefully I'll learn a lot for next year.

All good comments and I am enjoying the multiverse of views.

One thing not mentioned is vermi-compost. When we were living in Australia in 2000 we came across the "can-o-worms" and have two in our basement in northern Canada. 55 degree latitude has a long winter and composting is impossible half the year. Also in the spring when everything melts it takes a while to get going. The worm bin takes all our vegetable scraps and we harvest about 15 lb of pure worm poo (vermi-compost) every spring.

We have three large gardens and produce a good crop of potatoes, root crops, cabbage, corn (sometimes), peas, etc.

THere is a canadian distributer - where we obtained ours and many versions on the market.

http://www.allthingsorganic.com/
THis website used to post a research paper on the subject but I can't find it there anymore. I have it in my computer somewhere if someone is interested. It describes the soil chemistry of the product nicely.

One thing we have wanted to try was the tea. I think we will give that a go this year.

Some small tips:

Havent read all the comment so maybe someone has mentioned this before.
- Before you do anything drastic make sure you have a good workplan for your entire garden.

- If you dont know your garden well or just moved there, dont do anything drastic for a entire year. Just observe. Where are the dry parts, the wet parts, frostpockets. Wich areas gets more/less sun.

- The most fertile soil in your garden is the area you can view from your kitchen window.

-Live as you will die tomorrow, but farm as you will live forever.

- The only pesticide you should need can be made by a 6 year old. All you need is some vegetable oil, organic soap and water. The soap will help dissolve the oil in the water, the oil will cower the insect and suffocate it.

A continual mulch garden that is never tilled has some nice advantages. You can mix perennials with annuals. You can let crops self seed. You can let your perennials migrate.

My raspberries and strawberries all migrate. This may be a way for them to get fresh soil. I mostly let them go where they want and plan around them. Lately some have turned up in my sorrel beds and they seem to get along quite fine. In fact sometimes paths turn into rows etc. Every year I go out with last year's map and see where things are and then figure out what to plant where. As I pull back leaves to put in seeds or seedlings, it lets the lambsquarters and chickweed sprout. I let the early lambsquarters get about 1 foot high and then harvest them - if there are too many or they are in the way of my seedlings I pull them and add them to the top of the mulch. I let a few grow big to seed for the next year. I used the dried stems as kindling or more mulch.

By working with my perennials and letting those that want to move do so within limits it gives me the sense that my garden is not soil that I work, but a being that I partner with. Its a sort of personal relationship. Because I get leaves from town that others bag to throw away I sometimes get seed too. I never lack for red buds to move if I want another one somewhere. I have daffodils in the vegetable garden that I never planted. I got canna lilies one year. I got zinnias another year and they continue to self seed. I pull those that are in the way and let the others come up where the seeds fell the previous fall. Incorporating some flowers by intent or chance encourages pollinators.

I have a wonderful stand of garlic chives - perennial and self seeding. I have had to stop letting them seed as they are a bit too successful. But the seeds make great sprouts. They are much hardier than regular chives. http://oldfashionedliving.com/garlic-chives.html

Start with something easy:
- Sunroot
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Squash
- Onions

These plants are resilient, good for a beginner.

As someone who has been growing vegetables for 49 of my 55 years, here are a few comments:
-Just as with politics, all gardening is local. Most of what you read in the books doesn't apply to you, because you have a different climate and soil than the author. Experience and local knowledge sources are invaluable.
-In cool-weather climates, such as mine, season extenders are hugely helpful. This means walls-of-water, low tunnels, cold frames, hoop houses. I can grow vast quantities of heat loving plants in a location where summer night temperatures frequently drop into the 30's.
-I don't share the enthusiasm for raised beds. Tried them, and finally got rid of them. Just grow dense 30" wide rows with 12" wide walkways. Mulch the hell out of everything for both weed control and moisture retention. Mulch the walkways with straw; the growing areas with straw or compost. Don't till at all. The worms will transport all those organic goodies down below. Only have to weed in the early season before the seedlings get big enough to apply mulch. Plant your crops close together, so that they choke out the weeds (but without crowding each other.) DON'T emulate commercial farmers with their rows that are designed for tractor access.
-TAKE NOTES. Careful, thorough notes, on everything that could be meaningful. This is the only way I know to remember everything from year to year, and to become better every year.
Plan. Know ahead of time what varieties you want to plant, where, and on what date. You can keep a garden plot producing multiple crops throughout the season this way.
-Read Eliot Coleman.
-Chickens are a great composting aid. My chicken yard and compost pile are one and the same. Every organic waste from my property goes in there, with the exception of wood. Just dump it all in. The chickens eat a lot of it. They scratch around and keep it stirred up. I just clean it out once a year, and have incredible compost.
-Learn how to preserve- canning, drying, root cellars. No point in growing all this stuff only to have it go to waste. On this date, I'm still eating last year's parsnips and squash as I wait a few more days to start the spinach harvest.

I'm four years in, so I think I know the ropes, but I'm hoping for some advice on cover crops that I've been worrying about.

I'm in Alberta, so still lots of time to get to it, but this year I was going to try a green mulch/cover crop of alfalfa or clover. Has anyone ever done this? Any other suggestions? My worry is that I'll start this, and then be unable to eradicate it later if I want to. Thanks!

* use http://www.archive.org to find tons! of pdf'd old gardening books and read.

* read http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/blog/ for thoughts and techniques for quality food and look at their products to get an idea of state of the art - NON roundup ready - plant fertilzers and other interesting things.

* look at and read the http://www.HB-101.com testimonials (even if you won't use it) to get inspired (TRUST me ;)

* Start small, double digg (maybe in steps over 2 years, like in already mentioned Jeavons, Grow more...)

* read about companion planting & plant teas (only know one great German one from a nunery).

* Fertilize via fine spray on (also from below) the leaves in the morning it is much more (15 times) efficient and feeds soil microbes via roots, too. (esp if your soil is poor and you don't have compost.)

* larger scale use twin-N as nitrogen source

* compost, if you have lots of grass 2 spoons of honey in 10 litres of water will boost the microorganisms (is also true for the soil)

* if not covered, cover the soil even with stones (esp. around fruit trees and bushes)

* place some cat safe bird nests in your garden

* try again, but if you have done some of the above you will be miles ahead.

I would tell them to be aware of the fossil fuel energy that went into the organic fertilizer they purchased. Cow manure (the vast majority of organic nitrogen fertilizer) comes from cows fed conventionally grown corn, which means more synthetic fertilizer was used to produce the organic fertilizer that they are now using. If they use fish emulsion, I would remind them that the oceans are being depleted. If they use horse manure, I would remind them that it is not as high quality as cow manure and often contains de-worming medication.

I would tell them that zero-input gardening is a myth. I would tell them to till (dig and turn) deeply once and then never again after that, even in clay soils. I would tell them that kale has the most protein of any vegetable.

I would tell them never to underestimate the amount of calories they consume from store-bought grains, cereals, milk, bread, etc., that even if they grew 100% of their vegetables for the entire summer and ate a lot of vegetables, that vegetables are never more than a small fraction of the calories an individual needs to live on... so don't overestimate the percentage of food you are growing yourself.

I would remind them that it takes roughly 2.5 acres (slightly less than 2.5 football fields) to keep about 10 people alive all year round if they had good soil and a year-round growing season and they grow high-energy/high protein crops like rice, wheat, beans, etc. . . . that in no way should they think that a small backyard garden was doing anything more than suplementing their store-bought diet with good vegetable fiber, vitamins and minerals. Food energy still comes overwhelmingly from large farms and will probably always be the case.

I love organic gardening. I've been doing it for seven years straight now. At first I thought I was becoming self-sufficient. I was humbled at just how dependent I was on industrial farming.

Emanuel

This plant has been driving me nuts for a while. Its a good plant, but I can't seem to identify it. I live in Central Arkansas, but I have seen it in both Mississippi and Alabama.

It is a spring flower, six flowers on top of a stem, each with six white petals top and bottom, with grass like leaves from a bulb less than a centimeter around. It grows in lawns where people have not been killing the weeds.

I've eaten all parts of the plant, the bulbs have a sweet flavor but no hint of wild onion or gralic.

While putting in a few more planting beds, I have had to move the bulbs because I wanted to save the plants. All my wildflower field guides are in boxes. Searching online does not help much as it has only frustrated me seeing how people embed so many keywords to get their site higher ratings.

I figured someone might know, as there are a lot of gardeners on the site.

To many plants in my yard I want to keep, most of them have been here for most of the 30 years. One thing I can say, is that gardeners can never know to much. As a Landscape Architech I was never any good at remembering the latin names of plants, and most of them weren't prized for being edible.

Thanks,
Charles,
BioWebScape designs for a better fed future.

The first time I can really say I grew something was one winter when I threw some corn kernals out of our second floor window in the base apartment in Iceland in 1976. I had gotten them off a cob from the Thanksgiving display at school. Come spring of the next year about the time we were moving out to go back to the states, I saw a large 2 foot tall corn plant. I had been exposed to growing plants my one of my aunts that has green going up her forearm starting at her thumb.

I've never used herbicides, though I have sprayed for bugs, but I don't anymore. I use a mixed bag approach. I mix and match plants as much as I can, I grow a lot of non-common edible plants, most people would call them weeds.

If you use raised beds you will have weed seeds in them within the second year, unless you mulch them, and even then the seeds will be there, just dormant until they get the right conditions to grow.

In most of the above posts you have been given a ton of advice, and as anyone starting out new, you'll have to pick and choose which bit you will take with you.

Just remember to have fun doing it, when it starts becoming a bother, sit back and find out what is going wrong, and hunt around a bit in all the methods that people use, and you should be able to find out what the solution to your trouble is. The more you know about the plants you want to grow, the better off you will be.

Mostly if you are reading this, you have already got the biggest database at your fingertips, use it. Ask around locally, find gardening groups, ask anything you want to know about, there are no wrong questions.

And always expect the unexpected, from a nasty storm killing your plants, to finding something really neat growing where you thought it couldn't. And most of the work is not going to be you, but the plant doing it.

Charles,
BioWebScape designs for a better fed future.

I think I've been a member of TOD for about 15 mins now ... I have read all the comments on gardening. I live on Vancouver Island, fondly referred to as "The Rock" by Canadians. Our 5 acre property is situated on a virtual gravel pit. We have been composting for 2 years and gardening for about 3 years.

Do any of you have suggestions for making more and better soil for me ... the only thing we have great success in growing is rocks. We tried growing potatoes in a tire last year and were not too successful and are trying again. We're also trying rhubarb in a this year. The advice on herbs is noted and I think I can do that. I had a horse in a corral for 2 years and so we have created "fertilizer" from horse manure that is not "hot" anymore, added ash and year old compost --- do any of you experienced gardeners feel we should add anything else. Oh-h-h-h, also we hand turn the garden area and hand-pick weeds (these are added to a compost pile) and hand pick up as many rocks as we can before we rototiller the soil.

Any and all suggestions are very much appreciated and will be studied/tried with much enthusiasm. Thanks! ;-}

There's plenty of advice I could give, but I see that Old Farmer Mac already gave one of the best pieces of advice there is for beginners:

But a novice can still get good results-by talking to and imitating his nieghbors who have been gardening for at least a year or two, preferably longer.

One of the best things about advice is that you don't have to follow it, so feel free to experiment. But starting out by following advice is best. Seek out the experienced gardeners in your area. Depending on location, there are great differences in what grows well, what doesn't, and when things should be planted. In my area, there are even significant differences depending on which side the river one gardens on. Asking experienced people can help you start producing faster because you'll be able to avoid making a lot of mistakes such as planting things that aren't suited to your location, or planting at the wrong time of the year. Unlike the typical image of the "stupid hayseed" farmer, gardening requires that you use your head. It involves a great deal of planning and also timing your activities closely to nature's rhythms.

So definitely start by asking experienced gardeners and imitating them.

One other thing is seeds. Some long-time gardeners have seeds for heirloom varieties that are well suited to their locales. Get a few seeds and go from there.

Several comments and a few recommendations. This from 25 years of gardening and, yes permaculture. the last 16 in the wet dry tropics. BTW I do have about an acre of raised chinampas in a seasonally flooded lowland.

1. I recommend Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening, by Shep Ogden.Very thorough, explanatory and oriented towards "how to." (Full disclosure, I know the guy.)

2. Permaculture has both a wealth of useful insights and techniques AND some "cultishness". I say this based on having had scads of interns with a course or two under their belts and somehow feel capable of taking on and fixing the world. It takes a lot of time to understand individual climates, ecosystems and the complicated interaction of different disciplines: hydrology, soil science, pest control, crops, animals, etc.

3. The fact that Fukuoka was able to develop his techniques over the course of decades in a temperate climate with a scientific background and an outside source of funding does not necessarily mean that a less trained and astute gardener can accomplish it in a different climate, shorter time frame, etc. Hey, try a no till bed or two and see how it works instead of getting caught in arguments that try to advance a one-size-fits-all approach.

4. Ditto for raised beds. Yes, you have less distance to stoop over. Yes, they work in certain conditions--wet/cool--to create a rhizoshpere or rooting zone more favorable to crop development. BUT, if you are in a hot, dry climate you will be using more irrigation water and your breakdown of organic matter will be much more rapid due to the higher amount of exposed surface area and increased temperatures of the soil. I have even observed this with plenty of mulch and where the edges of the beds were contained by planks.

5, If you are into experimenting, or want a long lived soil amendment that appears to be the 'coming thing' in sustainable agriculture, try incorporating charcoal into your vegetable beds. I don't mean briquettes with starter fluid. Look up "bio-char" on the web and go from there. I have done several trials and some early results are very promising, but like someone mentioned above, do your own experimenting and see what works for you.

6. Remember the old Chinese proverb, " If you want to live a long life, grow a garden."

Kind of surprising to me that in this thread -- as well as in the recent "what books and classes would you recommend?" -- that nobody thinks to mention Sharon Astyk. A lot of the Oil Drum people would profit from following her blog. She has several books out and offers classes too -- on things like gardening and food storage/preservation. If you're interested in these "Campfire" type topics, check her out. Very interesting and informative -- entertaining, too! There's a link to one of her blogs ( http://sharonastyk.com ) right on the TOD main page. Apparently whoever is in charge of the blog roll hasn't noticed that her blog split in two, and she is also at Science Blogs now: http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook

Remember the old Chinese proverb, " If you want to live a long life, grow a garden."

Remember the old Gypsy damnation, "may god give you a vegetable garden".

A few words on my methods;
Be very aware of your nutriment cycles.
If you consistently give/sell produce out of your garden you will need to import organic material from elsewhere to compensate.
When nutriments created by fossil fuels become scarce , biomass will become very valuable, coveted and hard to obtain for free.
HUMANURE! If you are eating from your garden and using a leach pit, or a pump out septic you are gradually losing nutriments.
Or biogas generator for cooking and the effluent goes to the garden. Every drop of it.

Be very aware of energy inputs.
If you spend all day just tending to a few rows of plants you will die of hunger.
So;
Only plant tough plants that require minimal maintenance and are suitted to local conditions.
The goal here is to get results whilst being as LAZY as possible.
ZERO TILL.
Bio intensive (weed smothering) and mulch, mulch, mulch.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of enormous quantities of mulch.

Rotate plants
Be flexible, let your garden evolve naturally. It is literally a mini ecosystem which you manage.
Have a very large variety of everything.
Have at least 35% of your plants be leguminous.

Have an aquaponics system working in tandem with your soil garden.

Remember that anything you are able to grow and eat (or find wild for that matter) is something you did not have to buy from the conventional "grocery" stream. So start small and congratulate yourself for every arugula, bean, tomato and lambs quarters you harvest from your back/side/front yard.

A few tips off the top of my head:

1) Get advice from seasoned gardeners in your area. I've lived in lots of different places, and there are different challenges re pests, climate, soil, etc. Learn from experienced locals.

2) Diversify! Plant multiple cultivars and use different methods so you can be sure of harvesting SOMETHING. For example, I planted three types of tomatoes last year; one I was able to harvest many of early, the other two were struck with the "late blight" that plagued many areas last season. If I'd planted only one cultivar, I'd have harvested next to no tomatoes.

Also, we had a very cool summer (here in Wisconsin); however, I still managed to harvest many Anaheims, jalapenos, and poblanos - b/c I planted them in clay pots and placed them on pavers. I put my bell peppers in the ground and got a sorry crop. See? Multiple methods. Something will yield a crop.

3) Read Ruth Stout. Her methods for simplifying the work and building the soil will make it possible for you to keep at it and result in better harvests over the long-term.

4) Expand your garden capacity by using containers. A great source is the book The Bountiful Container. The authors (whose names excape me now) are serious about producing food crops from containers and include lots of detailed info on how to achieve this. Using containers will help to expand your total food production capacity.

5) Plant perennial (e.g. berry bushes, asparagus, walking onions, fruit trees) as well as annual food crops.

lilith

Think in terms of doing it once only. You won't want your garden to beconme overgrown or for structures to collapse after 10 or 20 years, so:

1. Don't plant Leylandii or anything else which is basically a big tree
2. Use trees and bushes which are native to your area. Imports may not survive a very hot summer or a very cold winter that comes along every 10 years or so
3. Don't put wood into the ground. Use concrete for posts or foundations. Wood posts always rot in the end or snap off at the base from wind rock
£. No decking!!!

I also recommend reading 'Permaculture' by Bill Mollison. I believe it's really for the serious home growers with lots of land. I tend to Google interesting pointers (Try - Garden Amateur) or use 'Green' magazines.

From my limited experience -
* Yes to high garden beds (Timber, sandstone, iron) 'with lots of drainage - about half a meter high (about 2 foot) better for your back.
* Mix plants to reduce bug damage (Permaculture) I use parsley as borders - helps a bit.
* Remember winter/summer versions - tomato / lettuce ect. Living in Sydney Aust inner city very hot summers here - burns everything! Tail end of winter and beginning is better for plants here.
* Make your own manure with worm compost bin. Saves petrol - re: garbage trucks!
* Make own soil if possible (size of yard) with leaf mulch from garden or local parks (variety of leaf mulch better too)

I must say there is a lot more to it, you need to be pretty keen, but it's worth it when you start producing a good crop seconds from your kitchen then dinner table.

Good luck - Happy Back Yard Growers.

The Crow

(First post by longtime lurker.)

I have been gardening for a few years and while I'm getting the hang of it now, my learning curve and mistakes are still fresh in memory. Here are some of my pointers. They are most specifically to people like myself, urban gardeners with small backyards:

*) Do not get religious about "organic" or "sustainable". Both of these are rather vague, and sustainability is unattainable in a garden anyway (particularly for a newbie). This means that you are not a loser if you have to import materials by the (many) bagful. Also, don't be above using artificial fertilizer. The difference between utter disappointment and the feeling of "hey, maybe I can do this after all" on occasion is a tablespoonful of Miracle Gro in the irrigation system.

*) Do not get religious about composting. Yes, it's important, but take it easy at first. It will take you some time to get the hang of it. Don't make it your goal to make and use your own compost right from the get go. Again, you are not a loser for going out and buying high quality compost (which is essential). With practice, you will get the hang of composting as well -- and STILL you probably will have to import compost too.

*) Do make raised beds. Do use hardware cloth on the bottom of them.

*) Grow plants grown for their leaves (as opposed to their "fruits"), they are the easiest.

*) As soon as possible, learn how to grow your own seedlings.

*) Shortcuts are OK, but avoid poisons. I use Sluggo as an easy way to control slugs, but I would not use the more toxic slug controls.

*) Research, research, research. Go to as many gardens as you can. Carefully analyze garden pictures you see online. Subscribe to channels like http://www.youtube.com/user/growingyourgreens

*) Observe, observe, observe. Spend time in your garden.

*) I think that Permaculture and Fukuoka books are not helpful to beginners. They are overwhelming. Square Foot Gardening, while a bit too OCD and infantile in its tone, is a much better choice for a beginner.

lots of sensible suggestions.
some from me (age63,Gardened Canada (both coasts) temperate and tropical australia
tips.
If the garden is to be created from scratch and is virgin ground get a roto tiller.Rear tynes if possible ( hire or get someone to do it who is reasonable).It your back we are trying to look after here.
zillions of experts theories biases and plain BS.Compost,start seeds in small containers if you have weather ,pest,finance limitations and plant out.Get your water supply oragnised before you plant.
Sustainablity should be your underlying ethic.
Do not be concerned by failure.This is how you learn.Success is getting out amongst it.
If you want to be reassured your tracking right and the book or opinion you are trying to verify is correct I recomend everybody who contributed to this discussion try and get hold of:
"Farmers of Forty centuries" cannot remember the author ( I was lent it by a wizard gardener who insisted i return it but i understand it is back in print), he was the soil expert the USA government sent to investigate Korea,Japan and China in the early 1900's.It was realised then that the USA had destroyed its soils and his fact finding mission basically came back with that these 3 countries were enormous compost heaps,nothing wasted.
"So Shall We Reap" by Collin Tudge (Penguin Books) written in 2003.Tudge is the goods on the food chain and if you think you know about food and its issues and can dispute what he has to say I will buy you a frog hair coat.