Dear Joel, I have southern California clay soil with embedded/encased/entombed river bed-like rocks that range from pond skipping to softball size. It has made just growing grass difficult! I have been digging down about a foot and filling with various organic soil packaging from the local improvement stores. I have also found the topsoil I have been using to replace the clayish soil I take out seems to have the wrong pH or something that makes it hard to grow the grass even if the soil is softer. What are the values and ways to measure
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Dear Joel,

If I purchase conventional seedling plants of tomato, eggplant, squash, etc. that are not organic, would they grow to be just as healthy as organic if I put them in a prepared organic soil to mature and produce fruit?

Thank you,

Rosanne

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Dear Joel,

How do you get rid of nut grass in the garden?

Thanks,

JT

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Dear Joel,

How can I get rid of the proliferation of crawdad mounds that keep reappearing in my yard? I have a pond, and many people have told me that that is the reason the mounds keep appearing. I would appreciate your advice on this frustrating problem.

Jessie

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Dear Joel, I am currently researching the in’s and out’s, do’s and don’ts, of putting in asparagus plants. What kind of soil? How deep to plant? How to harvest and when? How much sunlight? I live in central Minnesota. I have established horseradish plants in a garden plot, but am not sure how or when
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Dear Joel,

We live in the Rocky Mountains — zone 4– at an altitude of 7800 feet. We have a short, unpredictable growing season and a large population of deer and rabbits. We currently have a container garden… Keep reading…

Dear Joel,

I’ve had the pleasure of reading most, if not all of your books, and find them insightful, witty, and funny…. and unfortunately sad when I consider the current state of our country and the continous erosion of our rights. I do appreciate your efforts to bring sanity to what is at times an insane world. My questions for you today are based on my plans of retiring in the not too distant future and purchasing a piece of land I can do some farming on….

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Hello Joel-

This year I want to create a garden out of raised beds using concrete blocks (about three or four high). Besides using earthworms, do you have a good recipe for the soil to use? About how many earthworms per foot would you start with, or is there a formula? Also, which seeds would be best to plant in this type of “garden?”

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Dear Joel,

What resources do you recommend to help someone get started without getting ripped off? My wife and I live on 40 acres that we want to, at minimum, grow our own nutrient dense food at the same time we are treating our land with sustainable husbandry practices. We basically want to enrich our soil and control pests in harmony with nature so we will be rewarded with the most nutritious, nutrient dense food possible.

-Dave S.

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Dear Joel,

What should I do with a yard that contains an “arsenic content” of 12.5? (Lack of recall on exactly what the measurement reflects other than the fact that “over 5″ is a level considered to require some possible remedy which has yet to be determined.)

Thanks Joel!

-Kimie R.

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