City Lot Food Plot
Posted: 13 Feb 2021 19:32
We all have different living circumstances. I am in a smallish north of DFW, TX town and live in a neighborhood with a modest home on a typical 1/4 acre lot. I grew up in a more upscale (now at least) neighborhood closer to Dallas in a larger house on 1/3 acre in a nice school district but my parents were from poor beginnings and they worked hard to improve our position as a family. My parents are now back in their original county (Grayson) on 4-5 acres with the house forever done and a few gardens. I learned from them many things about "grow your own (food)", etc.
I started making a small garden a decade or so ago and I have run the gamut on prep work and proper care but now that I am free of most of my volunteer duties regarding little league baseball I am finally ready to re-up on my landscape and garden. I only had enough energy for baseball field prep for a while.
RD inspired me to post my approach and I invite all to chime in. Please realize all of the variables involved regarding location. As I type this, it is 25 degrees F and here in North Texas we are expecting NEGATIVE temps (don't think I've seen that in my 46 years on Earth here) and snow Sunday 2-14 throughout at least Tuesday 2-16.
Here is my back yard garden spot (as it was before I started today).
I have used this plot for about ten to 12 years. I will not go into what I have done with it or how I prepped it in the past until someone asks but the main issue besides the thick St. Augustine grass is it is sinking. Why? I don't know but who has dug a hole, kept all the dirt that came out, then refilled the hole only to find it's now a low spot? Yeah, that's what is happening. Dirt gets turned (as digging) then it settles more than compacted dirt? Yes, it does.
Anyway, that means I need to add to it for the first time (other than compost supplimenting, more later) in a long time...so I went to HD and bought some manure/humus mix, some straight cow manure, some garden soil, and some top soil.
Here is the more later from before...
We compost. Now we have not always and we were more before than we were during my baseball days...but we're now again doing so. Does that make sense? Anyway...if you want advice on composting your on your own, post up the comment. It's pretty fulfilling to make your own dirt. I will wait for interest before I go on about that BUT...
My philosophy this year is to put the most organic and least broken down on first (compost), then layer up to the most useless I have which is the bagged topsoil. Why? Well I'd like the best stuff to break down more and it does so better covered ... by dirt. Good dirt wants to be better as long as it's fed so bad dirt actually wants to be better if you care for it.
So I got after it all by hand with a rigged shovel I bought when I got my first house in 2001 and broke digging out a crepe myrtle stump from next to my back porch July 4th 2006, a hoe I got for $10 18 years ago, and a fairly new rake. Oh, I used the hatchet I butchered the only chicken I lost to cut a seam on the grass and scraped the top of for transplant to my previous chicken area and got this...
I started making a small garden a decade or so ago and I have run the gamut on prep work and proper care but now that I am free of most of my volunteer duties regarding little league baseball I am finally ready to re-up on my landscape and garden. I only had enough energy for baseball field prep for a while.
RD inspired me to post my approach and I invite all to chime in. Please realize all of the variables involved regarding location. As I type this, it is 25 degrees F and here in North Texas we are expecting NEGATIVE temps (don't think I've seen that in my 46 years on Earth here) and snow Sunday 2-14 throughout at least Tuesday 2-16.
Here is my back yard garden spot (as it was before I started today).
I have used this plot for about ten to 12 years. I will not go into what I have done with it or how I prepped it in the past until someone asks but the main issue besides the thick St. Augustine grass is it is sinking. Why? I don't know but who has dug a hole, kept all the dirt that came out, then refilled the hole only to find it's now a low spot? Yeah, that's what is happening. Dirt gets turned (as digging) then it settles more than compacted dirt? Yes, it does.
Anyway, that means I need to add to it for the first time (other than compost supplimenting, more later) in a long time...so I went to HD and bought some manure/humus mix, some straight cow manure, some garden soil, and some top soil.
Here is the more later from before...
We compost. Now we have not always and we were more before than we were during my baseball days...but we're now again doing so. Does that make sense? Anyway...if you want advice on composting your on your own, post up the comment. It's pretty fulfilling to make your own dirt. I will wait for interest before I go on about that BUT...
My philosophy this year is to put the most organic and least broken down on first (compost), then layer up to the most useless I have which is the bagged topsoil. Why? Well I'd like the best stuff to break down more and it does so better covered ... by dirt. Good dirt wants to be better as long as it's fed so bad dirt actually wants to be better if you care for it.
So I got after it all by hand with a rigged shovel I bought when I got my first house in 2001 and broke digging out a crepe myrtle stump from next to my back porch July 4th 2006, a hoe I got for $10 18 years ago, and a fairly new rake. Oh, I used the hatchet I butchered the only chicken I lost to cut a seam on the grass and scraped the top of for transplant to my previous chicken area and got this...