Question
Hello-

I am a beginning gardener.  I live in Arizona about 60 miles south of Phoenix.  My soil here is dirt.  It has a few pebbles hardly no sand just dirt.  I have a 40X10 space in my yard that I would like to plant a vegetable garden.  What do I do about my soil?  At the beginning of this spring I bought about 4 bags of soil from Home Depot and tried to see if I could get some wildflowers to grow from seed.  They are.  I am so excited.  Now I want to try a simple beginning vegetable garden.  I know I need to start with my dirt or soil.  Can you help?

Thank you

Answer
Hi Starla, Loosening the soil is the most important thing you can do for a good garden.  I'd like to add about 1 cubic yard (10 - 3 cubic foot bags, or about 30 - 40 lb. bags) of some type soil conditioner to the area to help keep it loose.  Finely ground pine bark, cotton burr compost, composted leaves or if your local garden center has something else they recommend.  Spread this about 1" deep over the entire area and then till it as deep as you can.  At the end of the season, till in the left over garden plants to add additional organic matter.  Over winter, sow annual ryegrass to be tilled in early in the spring.
Check your pH.  Often your local garden center will do this for free.  We want the pH for vegetables to be around 6.5.  Based on the reading, your garden center will recommend what (and how much) to add to adjust it to 6.5.
You are ready to plant.  Use caution not to over fertilize.  Big, beautiful, lush vegetables don't produce a lot of fruit, so in most cases you should use a lower nitrogen fertilizer.  
I would also suggest you visit your locally owned independent garden center.  These people are the real experts on your soils, your climate and best plants for your area.  Jim