Well , I managed to get part of my new garden space tilled before the worm
gear stripped ... so next trip up from Memphis the big tiller is near the
top of the list .I went ahead and started a few plants today , a couple of
heirloom tomatoes , ten strawberry plants , and some green onion sets . The
'maters went into larger-than-the-pot holes filled with a 50/50
dirt/manure-topsoil mix , the berries are on a pile of the pure stuff but
covered with regular soil , and the onions went into a plain ol' hole in the
dirt .
--
Snag

In article ,
"Terry Coombs" wrote:

Well , I managed to get part of my new garden space tilled before the worm
gear stripped ... so next trip up from Memphis the big tiller is near the
top of the list .I went ahead and started a few plants today , a couple of
heirloom tomatoes , ten strawberry plants , and some green onion sets . The
'maters went into larger-than-the-pot holes filled with a 50/50
dirt/manure-topsoil mix , the berries are on a pile of the pure stuff but
covered with regular soil , and the onions went into a plain ol' hole in the
dirt .

I hope your worm is feeling better. How many sq. ft. are you planting?
Y'know, you can make a garden without digging. Believe it or not it's
called "No Dig" gardening, aka sheet mulch, or lasagna gardening. The
older you get, the better it feels.

--
Remember Rachel Corrie
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg

Billy wrote:
In article ,
"Terry Coombs" wrote:

Well , I managed to get part of my new garden space tilled before
the worm gear stripped ... so next trip up from Memphis the big
tiller is near the top of the list .I went ahead and started a few
plants today , a couple of heirloom tomatoes , ten strawberry plants
, and some green onion sets . The 'maters went into
larger-than-the-pot holes filled with a 50/50 dirt/manure-topsoil
mix , the berries are on a pile of the pure stuff but covered with
regular soil , and the onions went into a plain ol' hole in the dirt
.

I hope your worm is feeling better. How many sq. ft. are you planting?
Y'know, you can make a garden without digging. Believe it or not it's
called "No Dig" gardening, aka sheet mulch, or lasagna gardening. The
older you get, the better it feels.

Shades of Ruth Stout ... I'll be using some of those techniques as we
progress , as the topsoil is only 4" thick . I'm going to be adding a lot of
organic material , the top soil is like a sandy loam and rocks, next layer
is kinda clay-ey with rocks, then to sandy with lots of gravel and rocks
.. This place was hardwood forest until about 10-15 years ago , nothing has
been done to anything but weedeat the grasses to help keep chiggers down .
Now there's a small machine shop , the trailer we live in , and a good start
on a garden . So far my two best crops appear to be rocks and seed ticks ...

--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !

In article , "Snag"
wrote:

Billy wrote:
In article ,
"Terry Coombs" wrote:

Well , I managed to get part of my new garden space tilled before
the worm gear stripped ... so next trip up from Memphis the big
tiller is near the top of the list .I went ahead and started a few
plants today , a couple of heirloom tomatoes , ten strawberry plants
, and some green onion sets . The 'maters went into
larger-than-the-pot holes filled with a 50/50 dirt/manure-topsoil
mix , the berries are on a pile of the pure stuff but covered with
regular soil , and the onions went into a plain ol' hole in the dirt
.

I hope your worm is feeling better. How many sq. ft. are you planting?
Y'know, you can make a garden without digging. Believe it or not it's
called "No Dig" gardening, aka sheet mulch, or lasagna gardening. The
older you get, the better it feels.

Shades of Ruth Stout ... I'll be using some of those techniques as we
progress , as the topsoil is only 4" thick . I'm going to be adding a lot of
organic material , the top soil is like a sandy loam and rocks, next layer
is kinda clay-ey with rocks, then to sandy with lots of gravel and rocks
. This place was hardwood forest until about 10-15 years ago , nothing has
been done to anything but weedeat the grasses to help keep chiggers down .
Now there's a small machine shop , the trailer we live in , and a good start
on a garden . So far my two best crops appear to be rocks and seed ticks ...


Sounds like you know what you are doing. Reclaimed forest is a prime
candidate for turing once in order to rejuvenate it's bacteria.
You may want to look at
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/soil_food_web.html
as well.

Good luck.

--
Remember Rachel Corrie
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg