[mrflora]

Hello, I am looking for a food crop that can grow with minimal care in sandy soil. I know this is a tall order, but I am willing to entertain any suggestions.

Regards,
M.R.F.

[SeaGypsy]

Start by getting the cheapest whole wheat you can get. Cover the ground so you can only see about half of the surface after a light raking. Keep the wheat damp until it sprouts then water 3 times a day. When you have a thick green blanket. Stop watering. The wheatgrass will die. Then put out a 20% lentil or other small legume cover and do the same process again, only this time let it seed. As soon as it seeds, let it die. Then water again to see what comes up, then let that die. Then put out green vegetables as you would normally. By this time you should have some nutrient and nitrogen bound into the fragile topsoil; build up to pumpkins etc over a year or so. Mulch everything you don'r eat. Put your crap through a methane digester and the scraps through a worm farm; use the wastes of both to top up phosphates.

[mcgowanjm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')tart by getting the cheapest whole wheat you can get. Cover the ground so you can only see about half of the surface after a light raking. Keep the wheat damp until it sprouts then water 3 times a day. When you have a thick green blanket. Stop watering. The wheatgrass will die. Then put out a 20% lentil or other small legume cover and do the same process again, only this time let it seed. As soon as it seeds, let it die. Then water again to see what comes up, then let that die. Then put out green vegetables as you would normally. By this time you should have some nutrient and nitrogen bound into the fragile topsoil; build up to pumpkins etc over a year or so. Mulch everything you don'r eat. Put your crap through a methane digester and the scraps through a worm farm; use the wastes of both to top up phosphates.

[SeaGypsy]

McG, chicken tractors are brilliand and work well in the die off phase of my soil buiding technique posted above. Basicly a long narrow strip box shaped fence which can be moved across the dieback area. Converts weeds and seeds to phosphates quick time and airates the topsoil.

[mcgowanjm]

8D

Yes. But I eliminate the work load, by just moving the feeding area around/giving chickens access to the compost heap, also moved around and guarding the chickens-EVERYTHING loves chickens-with my Labs.

Oh, and keeping the feeding area w/in about 20 ' of the house.

[gnm]

How about perennial Palestine red clover - tolerates light drought, alkalinity and salinity. Binds nitrogen and provides biomass.

-G

[JJ]

sweet potatoes.

[davep]

As others have said, you need to build up the humus in the soil. You may want to do a slow composting of whatever weeds grow there initially (this means adding compost slowly rather than doing a heap in one go). It takes longer than doing a complete heap, but you tend to get more compost.

Get whatever organic material you can find and compost it. You'll find that pretty soon your soil will be far more fertile than it is now.

And as pstarr says, it's not a question of trying to force a crop on poor soil (that way lies madness, or fossil-fuel based fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides) but a question of continually improving the soil so that you can grow a far wider range of crops, each of which is then returned to the soil. Make sure you use heirloom varieties, and if you're not mono-cropping then you shouldn't need all the pesticides etc so long as you keep on top of the weeds occassionally (I like the bio-intensive technique of creating a canopy that blocks out potential weeds and maintains moisture - I've had a good crop this year despite only being at home on weekends).

[mos6507]

Why not beans? This first year of gardening I have experimented growing beans in deliberately piss-poor soil and had generally good results. Peas tend to have stunted growth but pole beans seemed to do OK.

My grandmother related her story of a WWII victory garden she had on very thin topsoil and beans were just about all that would grow.

[davep]

You should go for crops that produce a high level of compostable materials initially (and indeed, these should provide 75% of your crop surface later if you're not using externally sourced organic materials).

Crops such as maize, sunflowers or wheat tend to do the job. Otherwise, non-food crops such as comfrey are even better for compost and soil building if you can do without the harvest.

But you should probably give us more details about your climate and any other salient points, or any suggestions may be entirely inappropriate.

[Pops]

Sandy soil isn't necessarily bad soil, the San Joaquin valley of California is very sandy and has the most productive ag counties in the US.

But like Dave says, your climate, area available and type of food desired would help narrow the suggestions.

[r101958]

If you are not worried about it being something to eat then try Jatropha. Very low maintenance and has very high yield for oil for biodiesel. If not, then sweet potato.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', '
')Crops such as maize

[davep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', '
')Crops such as maize

[JJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('r101958', 'I')f you are not worried about it being something to eat then try Jatropha. Very low maintenance and has very high yield for oil for biodiesel. If not, then sweet potato.

[alokin]

Queensland Arrowroot canna edulis

[Tanada]

If you are looking for a crop to sell Alfalfa might do very well, if you are in a good climate with ample water. There is liable to be a shortage of hay again this winter due to extended drought in a lot of the places where it is normally grown. No particular reason to think next year will be the same, but Alfalfa does a good job building humus if you let it grow a few years, and in most of North America and Europe you can get three cuttings, two at a minimum.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'I')f you are looking for a crop to sell Alfalfa might do very well, if you are in a good climate with ample water. There is liable to be a shortage of hay again this winter due to extended drought in a lot of the places where it is normally grown. No particular reason to think next year will be the same, but Alfalfa does a good job building humus if you let it grow a few years, and in most of North America and Europe you can get three cuttings, two at a minimum.

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mcgowanjm', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')tart by getting the cheapest whole wheat you can get. Cover the ground so you can only see about half of the surface after a light raking. Keep the wheat damp until it sprouts then water 3 times a day. When you have a thick green blanket. Stop watering. The wheatgrass will die. Then put out a 20% lentil or other small legume cover and do the same process again, only this time let it seed. As soon as it seeds, let it die. Then water again to see what comes up, then let that die. Then put out green vegetables as you would normally. By this time you should have some nutrient and nitrogen bound into the fragile topsoil; build up to pumpkins etc over a year or so. Mulch everything you don'r eat. Put your crap through a methane digester and the scraps through a worm farm; use the wastes of both to top up phosphates.