If the area supported a wide variety of weeds, you'll do fine with
vegetables. If the area had only one type of weed, you may need to do
further research as certain weeds grow well in "sick" soils that other plant
life can't tolerate.
You might find the article posted at this site helpful. It discusses organic
fertilizers, but also may answer some of your other questions: http://www.naturalland.com/ov/og/fert.htm
If you've just finished rototilling green matter under, you should wait two
weeks. Even with the manure you've worked in, you're in danger of having too
much nitrogen active in the soil which makes it hard for both seedlings and
seeds to grow.
Top soil is questionable. It's often bulldozed off sites where new
construction is taking place, bagged and sold at tremendous prices. The
manure and brown matter you bought and applied should be just fine. Each
year you'll be adding more material and your beds will increase in height.
Raised beds win every time. They warm faster, drain better and look so nice.
In addition, you're not fertilizing the path area where you'll be walking
between rows. Instead, you can reach in from either side of the raised bed
to the middle to weed, feed and harvest.
The first year, you might want to consider not boarding in the raised beds.
You might find that one bed needs more light, or one area isn't as well
draining as another. This way, you're free to be more flexible.
What you're looking for is balance. A balance of soil temperature, soil
drainage, multiple crops so pests don't proliferate and enough variety to
keep you, the bugs, birds and, (dare we say?) squirrels not too happy and
not too sad.
The first few years you may not have that balance, but be patient, watch
carefully and take note of what does well where. As your soil continues to
improve and your selection of plant varieties and skills (such as when to
plant spinach to leaf minors don't ruin the crop) sharpen, you'll find more
pleasure and better crops.
I envy you the beginning experience. It's so great to open a new plot and
let the joy of discovery spill over.
c.
P.S.: Excuse the wierd email address, please. I get overun by spam. If you
want to reply personally, the correct address will pop up.
Firstly, is there something else we should do to make > sure the soil is at it's best for planting any vegetables? Like I said we > rototiled the soil with the soil mixture that we bought. Secondly, what is > the best top soil to use the is organic? Thirdly, how long should we wait
to > plant the vegetables (mostly tomatoes plants and a few eggplants, peppers, > rhubarb) Fourthly, is it better to plant using the raised row beds or just > flat surfacing method? Any tips that I receive would be greatly
appreciated. > Thanks for your time. Jeff > > -- > > > -- > > \~ ~/ > (\@@/) > --o000----(_)---000o----- > > > >