Last fall when I put my 8x6 raised bed garden to bed I added a bunch of goodies like lime, horse manure, soil conditioner, compost etc. When I went to plant in March I found mostly sand. Am I right in suspecting that the good ole Georgia soil, more commonly known as clay, sucked all the nutriments out of my garden bed. The present plants look scrawny regardless of all the commercial plant food I've put in. I am thinking of taking out all the dirt and putting a liner between the clay and the garden soil. I am open to suggestions as to the kind of liner I should use or any other solutions that may come to mind.
Victor, some of our Master Gardeners and professionals will be along to help you with your problem. I'd comment but don't have time right now or tomorrow. Safe to say, better advice is forthcoming.
~~Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~~
Victor...I live in Tennessee, and we too have that thick horrible clay. I have raised veggie beds. Mine are 4 landscape timbers tall. I layed newspaper down over the ground {remove the grass or weeds first} before I loaded the bed with topsoil, peat moss, composted manure, homemade compost and a little pearlite. Every year I add more homemade compost and composted manure (Thanks to a friend who has cows). We mulch the bed with straw and let the straw and any leaves over winter when the growing season is over. 4 years later the newspaper is long gone, and the worms are working their magic! Hope this helps!
Thanks!! In my first post I asked about a liner and all responses led to the store. The using newspaper as a liner rings a distant bell. Okham's Razor theory of the easiest solution being the best applies to this particular problem. The small peppers did well but the bell peppers and tomatoes were a complete bust. I believe the limited amount of sun had a lot to do with that. Next year I may plant in a spot that gets a lot more sun and where a retired holticultural biologist planted last year and got a good crop. After 55 years not smoking this is my fourth day of not smoking and I got to stay busy or go nuts which for me is a very short path. I'm wondering if it's not too late to plant so I can start planting in the new and sunnier spot?
Hi Cottontail: I'm gonna have to wait until next spring. I'm a mite too long in the tooth to be digging up and replanting my garden. For the time being I'll just take my loses.
Victor if your tomatoes are spindly then dig them up, dig a much deeper hole and replant the tomatoes until just the top leaves and about half of the stem are showing. Tomatoes do much better when they are planted with most of their seedling stem in the ground.
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"
"Hey farmer, farmer put away the DDT now, give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees please" Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi
Been there!! Done that but they look comatose. It may be a tad late but I've planted some seeds and as soon as they begin to look right I've got a sunnier spot to replant them. A few weeks back there was an article in the AJL about waiting for the right moon cycle to sow seeds. Know anything about that?
