GareyD
Silver Member
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
- Messages
- 151
- Location
- Northwest Georgia
- Tractor
- Kubota GL 3430 - Massey TL30 - Ford 1700
Mark, I'm about 30 miles west of you on I-20 and the Alabama line, here is what I have done...
Put about 1 inch of COARSE builders sand, leaves (bags stacked on the curb around your neighborhood are a quick source), wheat straw, whatever, on your ground fairly evenly, sprinkle with 13-13-13 fertilizer and pelletized lime...lightly till, then sow clover or Austrian winter peas over the top and let it grow....(Green Manure, a gardeners second best friend after compost!!)
In the late spring, till everything in and wait a couple of weeks, then till it again....
That time of the year, WallyWorld always has sterilized manure on sale for $.89-$.99 a bag...take a smaller section of your garden plot 1/4 - 1/3 or so and string out your rows, dig a shallow furrow under the string about 1/3 - 1/2 the size of the manure bags and pour the manure into the furrow leaving it mounded, and then plant all the sets (tomato, pepper, squash) you want directly into the mounded rows.
Plant seeds you need in the rest of the garden....sow more clover into any extra ground, tilling it in when it reaches maturity. (allow a couple of weeks before re-tilling and planting)...I even plant row centers in clover, it will die back in the hottest, dry part of the summer, eliminating water competition to your garden plants!!
After harvest, cover the ground again omitting the sand unless needed, sow cover crop and let it grow...
In coming years, move the manure technique over from previous year(s) and do it again..
Keep adding organic material and cover crop to open ground and in 3-4 years you will have a garden spot to be proud of!!!
Keep an eye open around Alpharetta and North Atlanta...lots of smaller stables up there that usually are looking to have manure hauled...also...Hyponex down in Locust Grove/McDonough used to sell mushroom compost in bulk, this was a couple years ago, don't know if they still do or not.
Sorry if this got too long, just one of my favorite subjects /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
GareyD
Put about 1 inch of COARSE builders sand, leaves (bags stacked on the curb around your neighborhood are a quick source), wheat straw, whatever, on your ground fairly evenly, sprinkle with 13-13-13 fertilizer and pelletized lime...lightly till, then sow clover or Austrian winter peas over the top and let it grow....(Green Manure, a gardeners second best friend after compost!!)
In the late spring, till everything in and wait a couple of weeks, then till it again....
That time of the year, WallyWorld always has sterilized manure on sale for $.89-$.99 a bag...take a smaller section of your garden plot 1/4 - 1/3 or so and string out your rows, dig a shallow furrow under the string about 1/3 - 1/2 the size of the manure bags and pour the manure into the furrow leaving it mounded, and then plant all the sets (tomato, pepper, squash) you want directly into the mounded rows.
Plant seeds you need in the rest of the garden....sow more clover into any extra ground, tilling it in when it reaches maturity. (allow a couple of weeks before re-tilling and planting)...I even plant row centers in clover, it will die back in the hottest, dry part of the summer, eliminating water competition to your garden plants!!
After harvest, cover the ground again omitting the sand unless needed, sow cover crop and let it grow...
In coming years, move the manure technique over from previous year(s) and do it again..
Keep adding organic material and cover crop to open ground and in 3-4 years you will have a garden spot to be proud of!!!
Keep an eye open around Alpharetta and North Atlanta...lots of smaller stables up there that usually are looking to have manure hauled...also...Hyponex down in Locust Grove/McDonough used to sell mushroom compost in bulk, this was a couple years ago, don't know if they still do or not.
Sorry if this got too long, just one of my favorite subjects /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
GareyD