This ain't no Garden of Eden

DUMBDOG · Mar 25, 2009

You sure do like to work Jim.

If you get some good loamy soil, you will not have to fertilize for the first couple of years.

jinman · Mar 26, 2009

DUMBDOG said:
You sure do like to work Jim.

If you get some good loamy soil, you will not have to fertilize for the first couple of years.

Oh, how I've yearned for 10 acres of bottom land. David, I'm as lazy as the next guy, but I'm hoping that a nice garden close to my house will save me work in the long run. My prior garden was almost 1/4 mile away from the house, down the road and around a corner. I didn't like hauling tools back and forth all the time.

The soil I'm hauling in now is in a catch basin that could easily be turned into a pond. The ground there is covered in leaves every year and the soil on top is like soft compost. Here a a couple of pictures of me loading very loamy soil into my dump trailer.

Patriotic Stabilist · Mar 26, 2009

My husband loves doing stuff like that. He is sort of upset I'm having a lot of work done, but he just doesn't have time, yet wants to do all of it himself.

He was a heavy equipment operator for years in the union back home, still carries his card, and still loves to do it, but rarely gets the chance. Then he was a Highway Paving Superintendent for like 20 years and liked that too. He has been stuck behind a desk for sometime now and its about to kill him. He hopes to get on a new project where he will be back in the field again when he leaves this one. I hope he is too, he will be a happy man if he can occasionally get "in the seat" of something to run again.

DUMBDOG · Mar 26, 2009

jinman said:
Oh, how I've yearned for 10 acres of bottom land. David, I'm as lazy as the next guy, but I'm hoping that a nice garden close to my house will save me work in the long run. My prior garden was almost 1/4 mile away from the house, down the road and around a corner. I didn't like hauling tools back and forth all the time.

The soil I'm hauling in now is in a catch basin that could easily be turned into a pond. The ground there is covered in leaves every year and the soil on top is like soft compost. Here a a couple of pictures of me loading very loamy soil into my dump trailer.

Yes the bottom land is good, however I sure could use a mixture of some sand in it. When you plant and then have a good rain, the soil hardens so much that the seeds do not come up sometimes. Tillage is a constant must do to prevent the soil from getting to hard as the summer goes by.

MarkV · Mar 26, 2009

Jim, you sure are making good progress. Sorry you are going to miss the spring planting season. I always enjoy watching your garden grow and wishing mine would do as well.

At one point you thought you might bring soil or compost in. Have decided to use what you have or will you supplement with some extra material?

MarkV

jinman · Mar 26, 2009

MarkV said:
Jim, you sure are making good progress. Sorry you are going to miss the spring planting season. I always enjoy watching your garden grow and wishing mine would do as well.

At one point you thought you might bring soil or compost in. Have decided to use what you have or will you supplement with some extra material?

MarkV

Mark, I hope to have the soil in place, the fence up, the electric fence run, the retainer and hoophouse built, and electricity and water run to the garden by next year. This year it will be hoses for the small amount of stuff we plant and it will have to fend for itself against critters.

I was going to have topsoil brought in, but a tandem axle bobtail load of topsoil was going to cost $145. I figured I'd need at least 20 loads. For that much, the dump trailer made sense. I can haul my own dirt. I have lots more uses for the dump trailer too. However, depending on how the topsoil looks, I may get one or two loads of cotton burr compost. I won't have to arrange hauling. I can go get it with the trailer.

EddieWalker · Mar 26, 2009

Jim,

Great pics. I love the last one with you pulling the trailer and a full load of dirt in your bucket. Gotta admire you for hauling every bit that you can!!!!!!

Eddie

jinman · Mar 31, 2009

EddieWalker said:
Great pics. I love the last one with you pulling the trailer and a full load of dirt in your bucket. Gotta admire you for hauling every bit that you can!!!!!!

Eddie, that load of dirt in the bucket is to keep weight (and traction) on the front wheels. I have to pull the trailer up grades where I cannot do it without that load in the bucket. That said, it is an extra 1/3 yard or more and every little bit helps.

Here's some photos of my first 10 loads of topsoil. It is very loamy as seen in the photo of my handful of dirt. Of course, it also has lots to roots and limbs in the soil, but those will just be chewed up by my tiller. I'm hauling close to 5 yards each dump load when you count the loader bucket full. I'm sure I have 45 to 50 yards of loose topsoil in these first 10 loads. About 20 more loads and I'll be done.

s

We had a rainstorm move across south of us last night. I got all excited when I heard heavy rain, but it only lasted about 5 minutes. 0.03" of rain. I really need a nice 1/2" to 1" rain to make my bluebonnets grow. They are starting to bloom, but would explode with the right amount of rain. I've got my fingers crossed.

MarkV · Mar 31, 2009

Jim does the soil over your way tend to be acidic? Everything here in Georgia is and I was thinking that if I were doing your project I would be dumping some lime in as I built up the soil. Getting it deep in the soil would balance the PH faster.

Looking good!!

MarkV

jinman · Apr 1, 2009

MarkV said:
Jim does the soil over your way tend to be acidic? Everything here in Georgia is and I was thinking that if I were doing your project I would be dumping some lime in as I built up the soil. Getting it deep in the soil would balance the PH faster.

Looking good!!

MarkV

Mark, the soils in N. Texas are generally alkaline around 7.0 or more. East Texas, where Eddie Walker and the piney woods are located is acidic. The soil here is dryer and has lots of clay and limestone content. People are always challenged to grow azaleas and roses because of the lack of iron and acid in our soils. While a PH of 6.5 is best, many species do quite well around our PH of 7.0.