Question
Hi, I'm a fairly new, uninformed gardener and I was stunned to see something
today that said miracle gro was something that shouldn't be eaten or used on
plants. What's the story? I live in Albuquerque where the soil is poor, and it's
really hot in the summer and reallly cold in the winter. This is the third year
I've tried to grow tomatoes with very modest success (Very modest). I don't
want to be eating harmful chemicals or putting them in the ground. What
should I do? Is Miracle Gro something with harmful synthetic stuff?

Answer
Ah, yes, trying to grow in NM...If you want to grow organically, without chemicals (yes miracle grow is all chemical) it is more than possible, and easy.  It will cost a little more, but you won't be ingesting chemicals that are in chemical plant food.  

NM soil is very poor, very alkaline, and for all you ever wanted to know about how to condition soil to grow your own incredible organic food, please visit our website pages on "soil building and composting"...http://www.avant-gardening.com

You should test your soil first, and then go to Greenhouse Garden Supply in ABQ for the organic plant ammemdments that you need and that are suggested on our website...once you get the soil able to grow food organically, you can then make it sustainable by composting correctly and returning the compost to your soil, and returning some of your soil to the compost.  There are directions on how to make a simple composing bin on our website.  

Since it is so hot and there is no humidity to speak of, water evaporates so quickly that mulch is very important.  Get some alfalfa bales, and mulch with it.  If you can rent a shreader, shread it up with some sheep, goat, or rabbit manure - the perfect mulch.  If you don't have access to any of those then buy some composted steer manure and mix it half and half with the alfalfa by shreading them together.  If you don't want to shread it, just break the bale of alfalfa apart and crumble it best you can and put about 3 inches inbetween the rows. (Use the stems at the bottom your composting bin for drainage.)

Mulch will keep moisture in the soil, keep plant roots cool - very important - and will feed the garden when you till it back into the soil after the growing season,  adding organic matter, and it will attract worms.  Worms are the gardeners best friend, adding good natural fertilizer.

Plants need consistency - root coolness, moist soil, good drainage, and organic nutrients. A well balanced soil is a healthy soil, and a healthy soil means healthy food, strong insect resistent plants, and highly nutritous fress picked food.

Tomatoes love fish fertilizer (or blood meal) for nitrogen.  They also do not like to have temperatures below 55 degrees (day or night), so if your night temperatures are lower than 55 degrees, get some "walls of water" or make a little plastic a frame greenhouse over them to keep them warm at night.  

Get a min-max thermometer from a nursery (or Greenhouse and Garden Supply) and keep a record of your high/low temperatures. If you have any other questions, email us via our website contact form...

Happy gardening!