RVA Disaster Prep

  HI gang.   I have been hard at work with my garden, and I have learned a BUNCH of stuff. My garden this year has been filled with new topsoil and mixed with perlite, a lightener and compost. I planted lettuce in my garden, for several reasons. I have not planted anything else. My yard is heavily shaded. Lettuce does well in partial sun. Lettuce has a short growing period—it matures in about 60 days. Lettuce has a very shallow root group, typically 6-8 inches. My garden is only about 10 inches deep.   So with that, last week, I added “plant food”, a fertilizer that is designed for vegetables. It says only once a month, so I figure by the time it is ready to pick the lettuce, I will be done. I also discovered that I have a problem with what appears to be aphids. Aphids are small bugs that eat leaves. Lettuce is ALL leaves, so that doesn’t work for me. There are several chemicals that kill aphids an other pests, but most are not some...

  Hi Gang.   OK, so I found an interesting article on raised bed gardening. One of the key things discussed is the depth of the soil. I suspect that is one of the major contributing factors to the massive failure of gardening we suffered last year. https://www.almanac.com/content/how-build-raised-garden-bed   From the article--- The depth of the soil itself is very important and depends on which crops you wish to grow, as well as how much soil is above the ground versus below the ground. Shallow-rooted crops (such as lettuce, greens, and onions) need a minimum soil depth of 6 inches . Deep-rooted crops such as carrots, parsnips, potatoes, tomatoes, and squash need a minimum soil depth of 12 to 18 inches . If plants don’t have loose soil to this depth, the roots will not be able to go down deep enough to access nutrients. Well, I planted things that have deep roots, and the depth of the box...