Above ground garden? Help?
 

I have an above ground garden in my rented yard, not getting too far with it, it has an abundance of seaside daisies in it, that turn black in winter, (now), I just cut them back, the soil is very sandy, recently bought a couple of bags of sheep manure, is this going to help. The garden is about 10 ft x 10 ft round, with a pretty ordinary stone wall, starting to fall apart, thanks for your help

manure will help but a few bags may not do it. Sandy soil has an amazing ability to eat up organic material which you'll do better the more you have. I'd start mixing in as much seed free grass clipping and shredded leaves that you can get a hold of. It will take awhile but eventually you'll get the soil less sandy.

Check out Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" book. You can get it online or at Home Depot. This uses raised beds marked off in square feet, with a blend of vermiculite (hard to find so check around), mushroom mulch, peat moss, and at least 1 other kind of mulch. This way you don't have to worry about the quality of your local soil or what might be in it.

We are growing our own garden for the first time this year and decided to follow his plan. With just a 5'x12' plot, our family of 5 is already eating salads almost every night, plus strawberries, etc. Our garden is going gangbusters compared to friends and neighbors with gardens!

We added a hoop cover made from 3/4" plastic electrical conduit slipped over 2' long rebar driven into the soil and window screen. This keeps rabbits, rodents, slugs & hail/hard rain from doing damage. We also added a 1/4" sprinkle irrigation system above it:

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1337463206

Same Mel's mix in pots:

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1337463206

I hope manure has worked well for you and your issues have been solved. I would like to see some pics of your garden after the changes.