I have about 1/4 acre to put into organic gardening for my family this year. Land has laid empty for at least 6 years (since we lived here), and prior to this, was part of a horse pasture. Only weeds grow on the land now. Where do I go from here? May eventually want to certify it organically. Am especially interested in block (?) beds and grass between the beds for easier upkeep. Any/all suggestions welcomed!!!! Oh, live in Zone 7. Also, should I bring in pickup loads of compost from the BioMass facility to enrich soi?

Lucky! 1/4 acre of 6 years fallow land...what a great start! Just my 2 cents worth here:

a: That's quite a large area for gardens. Setting up beds, pathways and areas for composting will take some planning. You will want to "project" a garden (look at this land as if it's 5 years from now) and take it from there. Solar exposure? Prevailing wind? Access to water? It's amazing how complex something as simple as designing a permanent layout can become! Type of soil? Drainage characteristics?
There is a printable if very very basic worksheet for planning layouts on my website, aptly named "layout" and if that gives you a start, cool!

b: Any compost, any compostable materials such as leaves, grass clippings are GOLD. The longer it sits in a pile, the better it gets.

c: Grass in between blocks of gardens is something you may well live to regret, I did. We set up a 24 raised bed garden array 2 years ago and have replaced the turf with creeping thyme, easier to maintain, attracts pollinators, reduced having to mow the paths.

d: Certification is or can be tricky, do you have adjacent farms or neighbors using synthetics? Do you plan a farmgate sales project? Your best source of info is your State's extention services, again (and sorry about the plugs) check the links page on our web site, should be there.

Hey, YOU asked...
)
John from ecologicals dotcom

John -- Hey, don't apologize -- this is JUST what I'm looking for!! Question - do I kill off the existing weeds with what? Or just till them under come spring and then mix in well composted matter? We have an irrigation canal right next to our plot - and we have irrigation rights. Plus, land sits below berm of land where irrigation canal is located, so we have prevailing wind protection. Surrounding land is small pasture for cattle and an herb farm (I have never seen any application of chemicals in either). May want to sell surplus at local farmer's market. This is an open area so sun is no problem. And great idea for the paths -- thought grass may be too invasive anyway without some underground barrier (ugh, too much work!). Thanks! Kizzi

Sounds like a little corner of paradise, Kizz. Enjoy!
As to weeds, let's face it, depends on what species. Links with weed id. and control tips are you-know-where.

If weeds had the benefit of many years of undisturbed life cycles...with horsemanure as a nutrient...well, Thistle can be a real problem. Composting after pulling incl. roots and chopping will work on most but some seeds will survive the composting process and come back to haunt you later.

If you can till and then green manure, your long term results will be better. Buckwheat chokes off emerging weeds, Clover enriches the soil.
Most weeds will give up if you mow them down often enough that they cannot grow to the point where photosynth. can take place, no leaves, no growth. Sounds like a weekly job for Mr. Weedwhacker?

Hope that this is useful info.
John

I am interested in your use of creeping thyme--what exactly is this? Is it the same flowering thyme I have seeds for or something else? Can I buy seeds for it? If so where can I purchase same? How would you grow it--in a flat and plug like baby tears or what? Thanks.

Thyme (thymus sp.) can be bush- or creeping, used for culinary (kitchen) or medicinal purposes. Many types are available, I used the common Wild Thyme (Thymus pulegeoides) (I'm NOT making this up!) as ground cover among multiple raised beds.
Growing from seed works, simple tray with soil, germination is quite good. If you prefer to use locally grown plants (4" pots)you will have "faster results". You could use any "creeping" variety, Lime Thyme, Creeping Lemon grow fast, stay low and smell nice when trodden. I actually interplanted Sweet Woodruffe plants, another fast growing creeper....so fast in fact that the SW needs to be chopped down periodically.
The end result is good root structure in between the beds, some pollinators (that you would have to walk around...hmmmm!) and hey, these plants do not mind being walked on.

Hope that this is useful!
John from wubbelyou ecologicalsgardens dotcom

My bit of advice is to read Lasagna Gardening. I have the one on small spaces and the advice is extremly useful. Just remember to compost a lot you can't go wrong with that.

I've also used woolly thyme( another creeping variety) which has unusual texture and a wonderful fragrance. Sweet Woodruff can be very invasive here in Zone 8, it grows anywhere, even in fairly deep shade. Another advantage of these herbs is that their flowers attract bees for pollination; just don't go traipsing down the thyme path in your bare feet!
Keli

I used the "till everything under approach, and I'm drowning in weeds. It seems many weeds are such that one root tilled equals one million roots. My advice is to pull or dig. I've also tried "solarizing" with reasonable success --put heavy black plastic over the soil, weight it down so it stays put, and leave it for a sesason -- kills nearly everything under there. A friend with a civilized yard builds beds with something like the Lasagne Gardening approach. She lays down SEVERAL layers of newspaper and covers it with several inches of compost. Voila! New earth!

I used the "till everything under approach, and I'm drowning in weeds. It seems many weeds are such that one root tilled equals one million roots. My advice is to pull or dig. I've also tried "solarizing" with reasonable success --put heavy black plastic over the soil, weight it down so it stays put, and leave it for a sesason -- kills nearly everything under there. A friend with a civilized yard builds beds with something like the Lasagne Gardening approach. She lays down SEVERAL layers of newspaper and covers it with several inches of compost. Voila! New earth!