Summer 2010 was my first season gardening in the ground. It's been a very exciting experiment and a lot of hard work! We put in a 15x20 foot plot and divided it with walking paths into 6 smaller plots. Because we had just moved into the new house, our garden went in quite a bit later than I would have liked... Not until mid-June or so. Because of this, we also didn't really have the opportunity to work with the soil much before planting.

We used a sod cutter to remove the grass from the lawn, and revealed very compacted and pretty polluted (children's toys, candy wrappers, metal bars, various plastic items... you name it) soil, complete with gross looking grubs galore. After the sod was removed, we poured on some compost and tilled it in with a roto-tiller. After this, it was onto planting. I purchased tomato, broccoli and pepper plants from the farmer's market and transplanted them, and grew (or attempted to grow) collard greens, romaine, white onion, squash, zucchini, cucumber, mesclun, melon, soybeans, and snow peas. (I know it was a big undertaking for my first attempt... I'm all or nothing!)

The squash, zucchini, melon, and cucumber were attacked by an evil bout of powdery mildew. Peas and soybeans didn't stand a chance against the rabbits! Collards did pretty well, romaine seemed stunted and then toward the end of the summer grew tall, long and lanky... Not really appetizing. Broccoli grew long and lanky too, no florets, just long stems. Orange bell pepper only produced 3 peppers all season. Cayenne, banana pepper, and jalapeno did well, save for some yellowing leaves.

Since we've had some unseasonably warm weather, we've been out working in the garden periodically over the past couple of weeks. I decided to try adding some organic matter to the soil this fall, and see what effect this has come spring. We loosened up all the soil (we have a high clay content so it compacts quickly) and added compost and leaf mold. Before I mixed it in, I noticed I still had a bag of an iron supplement I'd purchased over the summer (for the yellowing leaves)... I decided to add it to the soil, too. I sprinkled it all over and used a pitchfork to turn the compost, leaf mold, and iron into the loosened dirt.

In retrospect, I'm not sure this iron was such a great idea! I guess I was caught up in the moment with my garden adrenaline pumping, and I didn't really think before I added it. Does anyone know if excess iron in the soil can be a problem for veggie gardening??? If so, anything I can do to negate the fact that I've added it? Removing it is obviously not an option =/

A couple of specific questions:

We have a lot of spotty sunlight throughout the day in our back yard, which we can't do anything about because it is caused by our neighbors' gigantic trees. Any advice on vegetable gardening in these light conditions?

Would it be beneficial to add earthworms to our garden soil? We have some, but not as many as some forums/advice articles are saying indicates "healthy" soil. I know we have a lot of clay in our soil... Would adding worms help loosen this up? Any other ideas on how to amend clay soil that doesn't drain well? I thought about adding sand, but then I read it would make cement!!

Thanks for reading... If you have any advice or tips after learning about my experience so far, please feel free to share!! I'm really looking forward to getting our garden in the ground earlier next year and taking advantage of all the work we've done to the soil. :)

Namaste!

Hope your neighbor's trees don't send roots to 'dine' in your garden soil. That's a bummer! BTW .. you gave a good back ground of conditions, but might help to give your state/region, for that makes a difference.

I think that as you continue to add organic matter to your soil, the population of worms will increase. But it is fun to do a bit of vermicomposting to hurry things along. The link below is to my favorite site for learning and fun.

Really chirked me up to read through the lines how enthusiastic you are ... in no time you will be a composting whacko .... happy gardening!

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.
to see where you are in your work at building a good healthy soil.

While many perennials and some annuals grow well under partial sun conditions, not many vegetables do. So I would recommend watching your lot closely for at least a year and using the sunniest location possible for a veggie garden. I am resigned to carving out sunny spots (6 hours sun or so) and growing a few tomatoes and cucumbers, some herbs and occasional other veggies, as well as the sun-loving annuals that the butterflies and hummingbirds adore. These do pretty well with a minimum of 5-6 hours of sun. But I would love to grow much more and have a terrible case of gardening envy of people with lots of full sun. :)

I agree that you could watch where your sunlight is during the season, and adjust your plantings accordingly. Trial and error, but fun nonetheless. When you're planning, keep in mind, for instance, if you plant carrots and peas side by side, peas grow up and carrots grow down, so by the time your peas are finished and removed, there's more room for your carrots =:)

Start a compost pile now if you don't have one. You don't need to add earthworms. Build a proper garden and they will come =:)

During the winter you could read on these forums to learn almost anything you need to know.

Your enthusiasm is half the battle. Just remember gardening is all about learning what works and what doesn't in your own individual situation.