Soil

[Fishin' Soldier]

What is the best mixture for your soil. I live in SE TX. I am gonna start this evening on gettingthe spot ready. Gotta rent a tiller and get this thing started. I have never stared my own My father and I had a few when I was in High school but dont remember alot other than how many darn okra plants we had...Man I love me some slick and slimy okra.

[kyle2601]

This is what I put it mine. I started with what they call a rose mix. Then I bought some bank sand and mixed all together. I found that the rose mix by itself does not pack very well to hold plants upright. I also get a manure based mix once a year.

After you add the rose mix and sand just till it together and you are ready. Next year just add a manure based mix or more rose mix. You would not believe the amount of tomatoes you will get. I also advise getting in touch with richlynconcepts and get his proterra. I have not used it yet but all the big dogs are swearing by it.

[kyle2601]

By the way if you are wanting weed free this is what I did the first year. I added all that mix and covered it with black plastic 3mil tarp you can get in rolls at home depot. I covered it about a full year and let it kill everything. It will bake the mix and kill all grass seed and weed seeds. Then after I till the garden up I cover it back up. i am going to try mine year round this time so I am going to be doing a lot of weeding. But since you are getting a late start on this and wanting something now, You will just have to stay on top of your weeds.

[seawings]

I am not the gardener...but I am the gardeners "helper"...read that as "fetch and tote!" Now what the "head gardener" does is to mix a rather healthy dose of Organic Mulch (from Lowe's) into her soil, mixing it to 12" (yes very deep). Once the soil is throughly mixed she covers the area with garden cloth (the type that allows moisture in). Once this is comlete...she slits small hole into the cloth and plants her crop. We had great tomatoes, eggplants, beans, herbs and more until we had to give it away!!

[Meadowlark]

If you want okra and lots of it, you don't want sandy loam soils. Okra is different...it likes tight soils. Its the only thing I've seen that will actually thrive in gumbo type soils.

For other garden veggies, you want a sandy loam soil. Most of our soils in Eastern part of Texas are high acidic content...they need lime to be in good balance for garden vegetables. It takes some time for lime to assimilate so its a good idea to get it out well before planting. A soil test will tell you how much you need.