i need some help with growing organic vegetables

[gnomelover]

Hi everyone,

I really want to start growing my own vegetables as the supermarket produce is getting worse by the day - the labels are totally incomprehendable nowadays...!

Can anyone give me a push in the right direction? I want to get rid of all of the nasty clay soil that is in my vegetable plots and greenhouse at the moment and swap it for some really nice stuff but I don't really know what is the best thing to go for if I'm starting from scratch.

What sort of compost should I be mixing into topsoil for vegetable growing and should I be getting a sandy soil or something heavier?

Looking forward to hearing from anyone who might be able to help.

GL.

[CrazyDanny]

Hey GL,

Good on you for electing to grow your own!

You should be looking for a nice mix of good quality, sandy topsoil and a really nice, well rotted compost - I used green waste compost in my greenhouse because it is generally free from any nasties and full of good stuff for your plants.

Definitely get rid of that heavy clay soil if you can - I imagine you are finding it extremely hard to work with?!?

[DandySta]

Hi GnomeLover,

just to let you know that you can buy quality topsoil suitable for organic growing from us at

Just go to the topsoil page and click on Organic Topsoil. Once you've popped your delivery postcode in all of the prices and product information will come up for you to have a look at.

Our Organic Topsoil is a mix of screened to 5mm topsoil and a well rotted green waste compost.
Because the Green Waste Compost is well aerated and heats up from within all of the bad stuff is burned out and the good stuff is left in making it perfect for growing vegetables and plants - especially if you are worried about the effects of growing GM crops and foods.

Bests,

DandyStaff.

[PH Lands]

I have a customer who will only have organic soils in her garden, we bought 3 tonnes of soil locally from Jay's Topsoil Supplies in Sussex. But because we couldn't prove it was organic, she made us remove it, saying it had been reclaimed from skips! How can i be positive that top soil which we supply to our customers is organic?? Is there a certificate i should be asking for when i buy top soil to prove it's organic??? isn't all top soil organic anyway??

[Katie]

Hi,
As far as we are aware there is not currently an official certificate available for the Organic certification of soils.
The definition of Organic soil as we understand it is any soil that has not been subjected to pesticides or other potentially harmful chemicals and is sourced only from Greenfield sites.
Soil which has been obtained from skip waste sites may contain cement dust and crushed glass etc and thus will not be great for growing organic produce.
Our Organic Topsoil is, like all of our soils, sourced from Greenfield sites only and the green waste compost which we mix into the Organic Topsoil is spot checked periodically by the soil association.
I would advise that you request a sample of any product you consider for your customer so that she can have a look at it first – any reputable company should supply you with this.
I hope this has been helpful.
Do get in touch if you would like a sample of the Organic Soil or anything else from ourselves.
You can call us on 01244 881885 or pop an email off to me on katie@dandys.org.
Bests,
Katie.

[mikegreen12]

Greenwaste Compost is very good for growing plants - mushroom compost is also very good.
Both could be described as organic as they shouldn't contain any chemicals.
M.G.