Is this good soil to grow outdoors?

johnotesm said:

My entire back yard is made of this light brown silty stuff. Can I do no-till system?

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You can do no till on any kind of soil - although obviously the better the soil to start with, you'll see results quicker. It may take a few years of no till before your soil reaches optimal condition.
It's up to you if it's worth the wait and the initial workload up front, for better soil and easier work in the future. You'll have to weight the benefits and cons for yourself. For me, I wasn't getting any younger, so it was worth the initial workload at the start, so that as I age the garden gets easier and easier as well as better and better.

if that was my soil - and mine wasn't much better when I started, I would top dress with as much well rotted manure and compost as I could get my hands on - up to 18 inches in depth Id say.
Again, its not for everybody, but if you start now, you will be getting far better results than any other outdoor system within a few years - although the first two years might be below average.

xtsho said:

Actually most of my food scraps go into a ghetto worm bin. It's just a 30 gallon plastic trash can. As the worms eat the scraps they move to the top leaving behind EWC. When it gets filled to the top I scoop the worms out, dump what's left, put some shredded newspaper or brown garbage sacs down, about an inch of soil, then I put the worms back in, another layer of shredded paper, and start adding food scraps. The plants love what I get out of that cheap ghetto worm bin.

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Nice!

Willy B. Goode said:

Nice!

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I wasn't joking when I said ghetto.

xtsho said:

I wasn't joking when I said ghetto.

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Whatever gets the job done.

Apparently you have crap soil. So do I. This is not something you can fix right away. This has nothing to do with growing weed. But basic horticulture. If you have crap soil nothing is gonna as grow as good as it could.
If you have certain area that you wanna grow something on a regular basis. Till it up and add amendments like good compost. Talk to your local extension service. Not sure where you are are or your soil type.
Just put the plants in 5-7 gallon grow bags. They work well are are not expensive. Or bigger ones if long grow.
Too much Voodo Is not good. No magic answer for all.