Question
Please help me. I m new to this gardening. I want to grow healthy organic garden. Will not afford lawn care from professionals.  I no nothing about it. will you please tell me step by step what i have to do to grow good organic garden. I have 8 months daughter n i do not want her to play on chemical lawn. we recently bought a house, next month we will move there.  I read your posting but really do not understand it. you said you put sugar, it means the sugar we use for tea or it is different sugar for the gardening. how do i use it? just need to throw everywhere? you might me laughing right now :) but i really do not know anything.  kindly help!

Thanks !

Answer
Hello Saroj;
Welcome new home owner!!!
You are wise to choose to not use chemicals. We have damaged our earth and atmosphere enough with deadly chemicals.
The sugar I use is the same suger I use in cooking.
It does absolutely nothing but nourish the beneficial micro-organisms in the soil. THEY do the work, the sugar is just food for them. The micro-organisms feed on other micro-organisms that are harmful to the soil, they die and that adds nutrients tothe soil. They reproduce rapidly, unless deadly chemicals are put on the soil. Fertilizers and other chemicals kill off these beneficial things.
There are many minute beneficial insects that feed off other harmful ones, these also improve the soil as they live and die in it.
All these beneficials things are nothing more then the way God designed nature to work. We just interfere too much with the wae he set things up.
There are beneficial animals like, toads, lizards and grass snakes, that feed on harmful insects like grub worms, ants, and other cretures that damage our vegetation.
If nothing has been put on the soil to fertilize or to kill insects etc, then there are already micro-organisms in the soil there.
If there have been these things put down, and it has been several weeks, then they are probably worn out, and will not still be in the soil.
First, you need to make certain you have loose enough soil for the roots to grow, and for water to soak into the soil.
Hard clay soil is very hard to deal with.
If the soil is hard, you can till in bark mulch and that will loosen it up.
Cedar bark mulch is best because it naturally repels a lot of insects, including termites.
If the soil is too sandy, that can be not so good either, if it is so sandy it won;t HOLD water long enough for it to do the plantings any good.
In that case you would need to till in some sturdier soil. Loam is good, even loam with some clay content.
It takes more to loosen it than to tighten it up though.
You don't say whether this is new construction or if there is grass on the property now.
If there is already grass growing there, then apparently water gets through the soil, at least enough to keep the grass alive.
With new construction, often, the builders lay an inch or two of top soil put down, and sometimes this is on top of hard clay, sand and or, some of the wood scraps are left laying on the ground, and this gets buried under the top soil.
These wood scaps can cause fungus later on when they start to rot. There is a simple solution to that too.
You don't say what part of the country you live in and what the climate is there.
Even if you are in the colder states, it is early enough to get a lawn going well and be established by the fall dormant season.
The first thing you need to do is find out what kind of soil you have.
One way is to just dig in it a bit.
If it is very hard to get a shovel into then it is more clay than loose soil.
Then, if it is, dig a hole about 2ft wide and about that deep, fillit wirh water and see how long it takes it to drain. If the water is drained into the soil within 2 hours, you have good loose soil enough to plant. That is how I check an area to see if the soil is loose enough for me to plant roses. If it is drained in 15  to 30 minutes or less, then you have a lot of sand, maybe too much.
If it takes 30 minutes to 1 hour to drain, you are in good shape and ready to start.
It would save you confusion if you check this first, and then write me and tell my what the soil is like.
Then I can advise you whether to till in something or not, and if the soil is good, then I will start you out on the organics. aking certain you start with good loose soil will save you years of frustration.
This is my personal email. I will get your emails before I get your questions here, sometimes, so you can either write me at   [email protected]   or you can just post another question here.
Charlotte