rock garden in Canada

I live in north east Canada about 1.5 hours from Kingston Ontario. The candisn shield an rocks make gardening s real challenge. We are having some success, we know leaves, cut grass will help build up soil. I also heard bio char is good, but needs to have nitrogen, like goat pee to prevent the bio char sucking the life out of you soil. Would raised beds be better? Can't do that with such s large area. Any info on this is appreciated.

deborah sanchez wrote:I live in north east Canada about 1.5 hours from Kingston Ontario. The candisn shield an rocks make gardening s real challenge. We are having some success, we know leaves, cut grass will help build up soil. I also heard bio char is good, but needs to have nitrogen, like goat pee to prevent the bio char sucking the life out of you soil. Would raised beds be better? Can't do that with such s large area. Any info on this is appreciated.

Do you have a pic of a bit of the area that you are working with? The Shield has pockets of soil, some deepish and some little more than a skin, and areas that are bare rock so it's difficult to make suggestions without a sample visual to work with. When you say large area, how much are you talking about?

Thanks for your reply. I will be getting pics. Some of the property has water, so some areas are too wet, but not where garden it. It can get very wet muddy here, type of climate n a lot of lakes n streams.
We have 35 acres, but only use about 30ft by 60ft garden, still trying to get use to metric as I am from USA originally.we plan to get soil tested to get a idea of what may need to be added. We plan to start indoor seeds in march.

deborah sanchez wrote:Thanks for your reply. I will be getting pics. Some of the property has water, so some areas are too wet, but not where garden it. It can get very wet muddy here, type of climate n a lot of lakes n streams.
We have 35 acres, but only use about 30ft by 60ft garden, still trying to get use to metric as I am from USA originally.we plan to get soil tested to get a idea of what may need to be added. We plan to start indoor seeds in march.

Do you know how deep the soil is in the 30x60 plot? Does it have drainage problems?


Are you north of Highway 7?

Raised beds can make a big difference when on cold, impenetrable rock.

Be sure to check your house for radon gas. In some parts of the Canadian shield it's the leading cause of lung cancer.