Hello to all from a new member.
I live in the North Dallas suburbs and just recently killed off a 17x21 foot patch of backyard lawn to install a veggie garden. Once the grass died off, we tilled it to a depth of about 12 inches (yes, we have the typical clay-heavy Dallas soil) and amended the patch with lava sand, expanded shale, and compost. Now I'm awaiting cooler temps so I can start sowing my Fall crops.
Going to be planting pole beans, beets, kale, spinach, chard, peppers, tomatoes, and a mix of greens. We love making green smoothies, so I go through alot of leaf veggies.
One question I have is, knowing I'm dealing with bad soil once you get to that 12 inch depth, if I keep adding amendments such as shale and compost, will it begin to work its way into the clay and actually improve the lower layers? Would I need to till each season to accomplish this (I've heard tilling each year is bad because you break up some of the benefits created by worms, etc)?
Thanks for any advice.
JD
This message was edited Aug 2, 2010 9:39 AM
New Veggie Gardener Introduction
Clay is so compact that the sand and shale will not work down into the soil but that really only needs to be mixed in once. The nutrients from the compost will work down into the soil but I wouldnt worry about it getting any deeper as most of the feeder roots are near the surface. The tap roots for water are the ones that go deep.
The only problem I would expect would be the claypot effect. During heavy rains, all the water will drain into your garden and fill it up since it has the best draining soil. If it is on a high point or incline, it may not be a problem. If it is on a low point, it will flood out your plants since the water will gather and not drain. That is why many people do raised beds on top of the clay so they can avoid this problem.
I will suggest you might look at lasagna type gardening. Easy for you without all the back breaking work. These are some links I had saved that you might be interested in reading? http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/115323/
Another forum to answer your vegie questions ~ http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/yumyum/all/
And Welcome to DG. Hope to see you around the forums.
Welcome JD. Glad to see you here. There are MANY very knowledgeable people here who are always willing to help you out with anything you need. So please don't be afraid to ask any questions you might have. Hope to see ya 'round often. Good luck with you veggies :)
I also vote for lasagna gardening. You can modify it if you wish--you don't have to do the 18 inches-2 feet thing that a lot of people do. I have done lasagna where I didn't want to raise the grade, and used only one layer each of newspaper, leaves, and compost. Planted directly in it and had great results.
not as hard on knees or backs, our beds were never bordered by wood or concrete, but we plowed the dirt into raised areas. Dont think you will need but abt 8" depth, for most roots, anyway, and it is easy to get carried away and plant too much, but then, there is always the hungry compost bin...
Welcome jdbell! Another lasagna garden convert here! Hope your new garden works out just the way you wanted--unless it works out better! =D
Welcome JD! Sounds like you're going to have a wonderful fall garden! If you don't have a planting calendar, you might poke around on the web to find one for Tarrant Co or even North Texas so that you can get the timing right on the cole crops.
watching on ABCnews a section on Manhattan, a guy is opening a restaurant where he grows his own veggies on the roof with hydroponics, they have improved the hydroponics a lot I can tell