Small Vegetable Patch.

[johnnygimbo]

I am thinking of starting a small piece of ground for growing only carrots, pumpkin, and white raddish, I think it is called.

This will only be for myself, to make probably about two pots of veg in a week.

My questions are, roughly, how many square mtrs of ground should I prepare?

How should I prepare it for planting seeds, and where can I buy seeds? I am a complete novice at this.

Can I grow these three vegs that I mentioned on the same small patch of ground?

Your help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[rice555]

Hello All, you might give some idea to what area you

live in, as I live in Korat and that's where I know where

to find seed and supplies.

It also helps if you can give a rough description of the

soil you'll be growing in.

rice555

[cooked]

I have difficulties growing pumpkin due to insect attack, and I can't make carrots grow at all. In the end you will have to try out different crops and see what works; what works in the rainy season might not work at other times.

As Rice555 states, the state of the soil before you start sowing is important, you need to keep going at it until the soil particles are about the same size as the seeds, I always take it easy with organic fertilisers until the seedlings have emerged. If you can work your soil now in the rainy season, you are doing well. Maybe you can't.

Weed the plot, dig it over, breaking up the clods as you go, level it with a spade, level it with a rake, breaking the clods again, and there you go. Carrots won't want too much cow manure, pumpkins like it... you'll have to google all that and experiment.

[djayz]

I live in Korat and can't get a single carrot to grow here. Raddish, tomatoes, beans, etc. florish. What you can grow will depend on the time of year (too wet, too dry), soil and vegetable. Some veggies simply won't grow in one particular area, but will do well in a different province.

I find that my seeds / plants generally do better if I loosen up the soil and add some organic matter before planting them.

When I first started growing some vegetables, I found it useful to keep a journal. I wrote what I had planted, when and weather conditions, shade/full sun exposure, etc. and I recorded the progress. It helped me to figure out what to plant and when to plant it.

[drtreelove]

My recommendation, for what it's worth, is to start with 100 sq feet (9 - 10 sq meters) in a 5 x 20 foot plot (1.5 x 6.5 m)  Start your seeds in flats or small containers to get started growing while you prepare your soil. Then plant them out when ready. You should be able to find seed packets at a local plant marklet, ag shop or super market.

I like the Grow Biointensive method that is detailed in the book: How To Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons. I worked in his research garden in 1975-76 where I learned basics of this method and I really learned to believe in it.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Grow-More-Vegetables-Eighth/dp/160774189X

There is a wealth of information in this book for the novice and for the experienced gardener.  The principle soil preparation method is to "double dig" and incorporate compost as deep as possible, up to 2 feet.  This is the hard part, especially in tight clay soils, and most gardeners don't want to do this initial work and shortcut or avoid the hard digging altogether.  But it pays off, and everything is much easier after that, and your garden will be more healthy and productive if you do it "by the book". And try that for your carrots.

And thanks to Rice555's tip a few years ago,  I also use Michael Astera's Ideal Soil approach to mineral and biological amendments by soil testing and prescription based on actual deficiencies found.

I'm in California so I don't have some of the challenges of depleted, heavy clay Thai soils and finding resources.  But my wife brought back seeds of Thai vegetables she likes from her stay there this past winter and we started a good sized veggie garden here this spring. I help other people with their gardens a lot in my work, but rarely have I had a good plot for ourselves like we do this year: beautiful sandy loam in a clearing in the redwood forest of the Santa Cruz mountains that didn't need too much amending. I decided to do some trials with different soil preparation in side by side 100 sq ft beds. I went all out and put some money into it and ran soil tests and got a prescription from Michael Astera for mineral and biological amendments. I had a lot of the minerals in stock from my soils work with customers and I ordered the materials I didn't have.  I only had time and energy to double-dig one 5 x 20 foot bed and incorporate finished compost and the Rx minerals, it took me all day even with the relatively easy to dig sandy loam. Good exercise.

In the next bed I used the same mineral Rx but only incorporated compost and minerals in the top 6 inches.  In the third bed I worked compost into the top 6 inches and used a pre-mixed mineral-biological amendment that Michal Astera sells through the soilminerals.com website called Agricola's 4-8-4. I planted all the three beds with the same plants, pole beans, corn, cannabis (legal medicinal), thai eggplant, cucumbers and some comfrey tucked into the spaces to use for mulch and compost. They all are doing super well and I just harvested my first pole beans, the sweetest and most tender I have ever had. (The Thai yard long beans, tua pak yao she brought didn't take off, so I replanted with local organic bean starts).

We had another 600 sq feet where my wife wanted to use her traditional row planting for Chinese kale (ka naa), Thai eggplant (makua), chillie peppers, watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes, onions etc. I rototilled the entire 20 x 30 foot plot with compost and the mineral Rx, then she made her rows.  Everything is coming out healthy and tasty, but the double dug bed is by far - the star. And what is really amazing is that I have had almost no pest or disease issues so far in any of the beds. Only a beetle that started to feed on the pole bean leaves. I sprayed with a pyrethrins and azadiractin (neem) solution, with one neem only repeat a week later, and they never came back. The mineralization, including kelp meal, humate ore and Azomite trace minerals, compost and compost tea I use makes such a difference for resistance to pests and disease. I find this in my customers landscapes too. The best way to reduce pesticide use: mineralize by Rx, and create conditions for living soil biology.

The new catch term, and agricultural and gardening standard, above and beyond organic, is "High Nutrient Density" or High Brix. Mineralization and cultivating soil biology are the keys to high nutrient density and healthy nutritious organic food.

 

[pigeonjake]

hi guys just thought i would share a picture of our carrots they need sandy well drained soil, i incorperate well rotted pig manure in the ground too, but they grow very well and to a good size, these are in the open too, some parts of my veg plot has shade cover and its just a matter of trial and error to find the best place, but with carrotts its all about the soil preperation, they like loose well drained soil, you could make this better in a raised bed, concrete ring for example

[Doisaketdreamer]

Everyone I finally found a shop at Kamtien market that was willing to try and source azomite.  He now has a few large bags in stock.  A 25kg bag is 1,800 baht. I think he plans to sell it by the kilo but of course the price will be 2-3X higher. PM me if you would like to have the shop's contact information.

[drtreelove]

That's not a bad price for imported Azomite. I pay 68 cents per pound ($1.50 per kilo) here in California. I use it for trace minerals in all my soil improvement jobs (at about 5 kilos per 100 sq meters), along with the prescription for actual deficiencies in major and minor mineral nutrients found in the laboratory soil test.

Granite rock dust could be a lower cost substitute for Azomite if you can find it.

Azomite_demo_plot[1].pdf

Azomite.pdf

[rice555]

On November 14, 2016 at 10:29 PM, drtreelove said:

That's not a bad price for imported Azomite. I pay 68 cents per pound ($1.50 per kilo) here in California. I use it for trace minerals in all my soil improvement jobs (at about 5 kilos per 100 sq meters), along with the prescription for actual deficiencies in major and minor mineral nutrients found in the laboratory soil test.

Granite rock dust could be a lower cost substitute for Azomite if you can find it.

Azomite_demo_plot[1].pdf

Azomite.pdf

Hello All, you mean you need the minerals? The ones you don't find in compost and teas.

Long time believer in Azomite, Jorge is also a believer. I found info on ground rocks dust

in lots of crops in Mex & South America, I think of ForeverFord when I saw came across an

article and pictures of using rock dust(certain kinds) in lawn care, but this was golf coarses

in Mex.

Almost been 12 that I was back in SFO, Take Care Don.

rice555

[Doisaketdreamer]

Does anyone know where I might source kelp meal, fish meal, bone meal, blood meal? I would like a large bag of each.

[colinneil]

On 8/17/2016 at 3:17 PM, pigeonjake said:

hi guys just thought i would share a picture of our carrots they need sandy well drained soil, i incorperate well rotted pig manure in the ground too, but they grow very well and to a good size, these are in the open too, some parts of my veg plot has shade cover and its just a matter of trial and error to find the best place, but with carrotts its all about the soil preperation, they like loose well drained soil, you could make this better in a raised bed, concrete ring for example

 

  

 

On 8/17/2016 at 3:17 PM, pigeonjake said:

hi guys just thought i would share a picture of our carrots they need sandy well drained soil, i incorperate well rotted pig manure in the ground too, but they grow very well and to a good size, these are in the open too, some parts of my veg plot has shade cover and its just a matter of trial and error to find the best place, but with carrotts its all about the soil preperation, they like loose well drained soil, you could make this better in a raised bed, concrete ring for example

 

  Jake your carrots look good, mine did but when lifted all top no root.

As for growing carrots in concrete rings, i have tried 3 times failure every time.