Basics: knock plants flat, sprinkle fertilizer, cover w/newspaper wetted down, blanket w/mulch (1-3" compost) and plant!
In winter mulch dead leaves over beds, wood chips on paths.
Use cover crops, when ready to plant rake off dead oats, mow and shift aside others.
Use soybean meal as general fertilizer.
Indicators of acid soil: wild strawberry, plantain, wood sorrel (my lawn, C bed)
of Alkaline soil- queen anne's lace- the W bed?
Drip irrigation is good because: uses less water (less evaporation), more regular, keeps foliage dry (less mildew). Need to still hand-water to start seed until plants big enough reach damp zone.
Good layout plan- 36" wide beds (can reach into) and 12-18" wide paths (fit a wheelbarrow- not neccessary in my garden- narrower might be ok)
1" compost over all beds in spring, grass clippings is good for mulch because you can just reapply compost next time. Other mulches must be removed before composting.
Ignore row spacing suggested on packets (suitable for farm production) and stagger spacing.
Don't use compost for flower beds, they don't need as much food and it encourages weeds. If you want to plant a tree or shrub, do it in fall when roots/growth are dormant.
Good interplantings: broccoli w/lettuce, radish w/carrot, tomato w/lettuce, peppers w/carrot
Plants to train up: peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes. Put in stakes before planting. Use twigs to form teepee trellis for peas. Make a leaning melon trellis (mesh to catch fruits) and plant lettuce, spinach in the shade!
Succession plantings: Spinach then tomato, Bush beans then cabbage or beets, Early beets then bush beans, Lettuce then beans then late radish, Peas then late carrots.
Start lettuce indoors then transplant to bare areas. Cabbage and broccoli do the same.
Cool weather comes remove cover crop two weeks before planting.
Wildflower/meadow plantings- prepare w/paper, layer thin mixture of half compost, half sand.
for my garden