Posted: 4/26/2009 2:49:25 PM EDT
Just yesterday morning this patch was a grassed solid red clay/rock block- now, 6 times tilled, every muscle in my body aches and I'm praying for a decent crop. Its approx. 24x18 and includes corn, peas, pole beans, okra, eggplant, zuchini, yellow squash, cantelope, lettuce, cucumbers, spinich, turnip greens, onions, radishes, Roma and Homestead Tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, bell peppers and chili peppers, and I think that covers it. We have red clay for soil but I remember my parents having productive gardens when I was a kid and my dad told me to add lime and which fertilizer to use and said it would grow. I sure hope so, cause I don't recall the last time my body ached this much. |
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But the worst part is over––the breaking up the ground. If you get the opportunity to snag some compost or mulch, that might help with your clay. It'll keep the rain from turning that red clay into concrete. I grew up with clay soil too. It's great soil, you just have to find ways to loosen it up a bit. I've seen clay glaze over so hard that seeds can't sprout through it. That's unusual though. Still, if you can score some free or cheap compost from the city or something, your garden will appreciate it. Plus it keeps the weeds down. (Don't put it on the seeds you've planted until they sprout though, or they'll end up buried too deeply.) Congrats on your first garden! |
| looks like a nice garden and they are a lot of work. You appear to have a lot of trees and some yard start a compost bin immediately. About 4 inches of compost and some sand on that red clay this Fall and worked in will make a big difference next Spring. First year gardens are WEEDY be prepared to mulch and weed all Spring and Summer. It gets better after a couple of years. |
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It gets better after a couple of years. It really does. So don't get discouraged. You'll get in shape this summer and use lots of sunscreen, and learn GOBS. But you do have to fight the weeds––but he's right––eventually you gain ground and it gets easier. You'll hear a lot of us preach, "mulch, mulch mulch" cuz it's a good weapon in the fight against weeds and to loosen up your soil. Kitties |
Thanks for the encouragement and tips! Keep 'em coming! I'll definiltely look at putting something else in the clay this fall- anything has got to be better than the work it took just to break it up this time. I think this tiller could break up concrete based on how it broke up that clay- of course, I think it broke me too, lol 
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I spent saturday putting up my poles for my pole type beans. I got ahold of some 1 1/2 fence rail pipe, cut them to 9 ft and drove them into the ground 30 inches
then (drilled holes earlier) I ran wire from pole to pole at the tops. I used twine to run 6 inch from top of row from pole to pole. Then, I tied a string from the top wire to the bottom twine. the vines will climb up these. did 3 50 rows and it took all day. I still have 3 left for next weekend. Looking good. Now take a nice hot bath. |
Looks great to me! Plenty of 10-10-10 and everything is set . You will have to fight the grass this year especially since you planted so quickly after tilling. I grew up on dirt much worse than that and i'm pretty healthy .
I've never composted but it looks like you have plenty of room for more garden and compost pile. |
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Looks great to me! Plenty of 10-10-10 and everything is set . You will have to fight the grass this year especially since you planted so quickly after tilling. I grew up on dirt much worse than that and i'm pretty healthy.
I've never composted but it looks like you have plenty of room for more garden and compost pile. I tilled in a bag of 10-10-10 and a bag of lime. My dad said if I didn't put in the lime that there was no way I'd get the tomatoes to grow, and that would simply be a sin! :-) |
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Looks great to me! Plenty of 10-10-10 and everything is set . You will have to fight the grass this year especially since you planted so quickly after tilling. I grew up on dirt much worse than that and i'm pretty healthy.
I've never composted but it looks like you have plenty of room for more garden and compost pile. I tilled in a bag of 10-10-10 and a bag of lime. My dad said if I didn't put in the lime that there was no way I'd get the tomatoes to grow, and that would simply be a sin! :-) Lime is great for an existing garden (next year) but until your grass/weed problem is eliminated that could make things pretty fuzzy. I take a palm full, not handfull, of triple 10 and throw right next to the roots of ANY plants i plant, everyyear. Done that for 30yrs. and have never witnessed a "burned plant". I guess different soil but i live in an area with rich soil now and i still do it without any negative effects. Every year will only get better,if you have the property, ITS THE ONLY WAY TO GARDEN! |
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Lots of work, isn't it? I spent the better part of the weekend working on mine too. Got a damn sunburn to show for it.  I hear ya, both. I've been going at it since Friday night. My wife got the grand idea to double the size of the garden this year to 50'x50'. Sure, honey, it's only my back.
I'm about to till this last load of manure in, and I'll be done for now. It will sit for two weeks, and I'll till it again on Memorial Day wknd, and plant it. |
| best results I have had with adding more garden is to turn the soil the year before I plan on planting the area. Compost on that area all season long and put it to bed after plowing with about a foot of ground leaves in the fall. By the next Spring it should till nicely, after composting hot on it for a Summer all the weeds and seeds should be gone leaving a bunch of nicely composted organic material in the soil. |
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best results I have had with adding more garden is to turn the soil the year before I plan on planting the area. Compost on that area all season long and put it to bed after plowing with about a foot of ground leaves in the fall. By the next Spring it should till nicely, after composting hot on it for a Summer all the weeds and seeds should be gone leaving a bunch of nicely composted organic material in the soil. I've been patiently watering and hoping for anything to come of it this year and take all of the awesome recommendations and prep it for next year... The husband this morning said it looked like Martian soil out there- only not so fine... |