Lee Loader

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...

At this point I asked my wife and my youngest daughter (5th grade) to help an "olding" guy finish his first half of garden dirt prep before the snow tonight. They did. I got about half my layering done with some help from the ladies and hit a wall. Some of the bagged stuff I got at the store had taken water and frozen in the bag and we were having too much trouble breaking it up enough to spread it and mix it in. So I got my oldest at home son (junior in high school) to unload my barrow into the garage with each bagged load for it to defrost.

Here is where the spreading stopped.



I am off Sundays, planned an PTO day Monday a long time ago, and could possibly not have much to do Tuesday if it does snow 10" aggregate and stays near zero. I realize that's nothing for some but this is Texas. It will be 106 in a few weeks.

Here is where it stands as of now. Needs a lot more work, turning and hand-plowing and mixing in. It's too bad I forgot to take pictures of the 25 gallons or so of RICH BLACK GOLD COMPOSTED EARTH I "made" t put on the bottom. Some time in the next 10-15 days the lettuce, carrots, onions, turnips, and radishes need to go into the ground. Shortly after it will be time for the peppers and tomatoes.



Here are my cowhorn peppers and the beginning of my first try at recycling over a winter, pepper plants.

Your garden looks good. With loving care you can get a lot of food out of a small garden.
I am dreading this cold front. I have 3 4 X 10 raised bed cold frames in the back yard full of lettuce, Bok choi, cabbage, carrots, beats and broccoli. We have been eating well. I also have about 4,000 onions planted in the field next to my house . It is predicted to go down to 14 Monday night. It will probably kill everything except the carrots and beets.
I see your Lee bench plate in your last picture.

farmerjim wrote:I see your Lee bench plate in your last picture.

What about my rack of turrets and my armorer's wrench?

you are adding a LOT to the soil... great that you are doing it well before the season.. but what do I know about gardening in Texas.

i garden every year, but being in a rain forest, it leaches out the soil and it gets very acidic.... some plants like acidic, some dont. All plants need to be in raised beds here, due to banana slugs... and the best gardens are grown here in greenhouses that let the light in, but protect the plants from swampy rain..







we have no good veggies available here, and have to grow, can, and put up or settle for frozen or canned veggies at great cost due to shipping!!! better to grow... fertilize with salmon waste, and such. and old wasted gun powder... it also works great...

go get em...

That's really cool. I'd like to consider something like that but it would likely need AC if it were wrapped in plastic. I got my cucumbers too close to my melon patch once. They like to hybridize fairly easily.

GasGuzzler wrote:

farmerjim wrote:I see your Lee bench plate in your last picture.

What about my rack of turrets and my armorer's wrench?

I was not observant enough. I will try to do better. I have several turrets set up but not as many as yours.

AlaskanGuy wrote:you are adding a LOT to the soil... great that you are doing it well before the season.. but what do I know about gardening in Texas.

i garden every year, but being in a rain forest, it leaches out the soil and it gets very acidic.... some plants like acidic, some dont. All plants need to be in raised beds here, due to banana slugs... and the best gardens are grown here in greenhouses that let the light in, but protect the plants from swampy rain..







we have no good veggies available here, and have to grow, can, and put up or settle for frozen or canned veggies at great cost due to shipping!!! better to grow... fertilize with salmon waste, and such. and old wasted gun powder... it also works great...

go get em...

Do you hand pollinate the cucumbers, or grow parthenocarpic varieties? It looks like those have been pollinated.

i leave the door open and let the bugs go for it... and they do... sometimes you gotta duck to avoid em...

When the snow is all melted and the ground dry (likely middle next week) I have a tiller lined up to borrow to mix in the rest of my dirt prep.