Let's get Down and Dirty

[Austin8]

Lets get Down and Dirty

I’ve been thinking lately, where do other Litzers live? I live in a unique area of Texas known as the Black land Prairie region. The Black land Prairie region runs notheast from San Antonio (Rio Grande Plains region) to just south of the Texas Oklahoma border.

The Black land Prairie region is bordered on the west by the Edwards Plateau and to the east by the Post Oak Plan. The Black land prairie sits at the foot of the Balconies Escarpment. The soil is mostly black clay, as you would expect from the name. Some fields around here resemble black velvet when they are freshly plowed and moistened with life giving rain. We average 30 to 44 inches of rain a year,but dry spells, and droughts are common. Causing the black clay soil to seize tighter than old Gertys goat.
I have had to add huge amounts of expanded shale and compost just to grow anything in my garden.

So whats your dirt like where you live? I know not what you expected, huh?

[driphoney]

Originally Posted by Austin8

Lets get Down and Dirty

I’ve been thinking lately, where do other Litzers live? I live in a unique area of Texas known as the Black land Prairie region. The Black land Prairie region runs notheast from San Antonio (Rio Grande Plains region) to just south of the Texas Oklahoma border.

The Black land Prairie region is bordered on the west by the Edwards Plateau and to the east by the Post Oak Plan. The Black land prairie sits at the foot of the Balconies Escarpment. The soil is mostly black clay, as you would expect from the name. Some fields around here resemble black velvet when they are freshly plowed and moistened with life giving rain. We average 30 to 44 inches of rain a year,but dry spells, and droughts are common. Causing the black clay soil to seize tighter than old Gertys goat.
I have had to add huge amounts of expanded shale and compost just to grow anything in my garden.

So whats your dirt like where you live? I know not what you expected, huh?

Sooo . . . does that mean your house is cracked in two, like mine?

[Austin8]

Originally Posted by driphoney

Sooo . . . does that mean your house is cracked in two, like mine?

Well... not this one but I have friends that deal with the shifts in the Limestone beneath there home

[MistressLynn]

It's dark, sometimes wet, others dry, gets under fingernails, makes clothes a mess, and little kids love playing in it.

[driphoney]

Originally Posted by Austin8

Well... not this one but I have friends that deal with the shifts in the Limestone beneath there home

I was thinking the squeezing and expanding sponge-like effect Blackland soil has that is a constant problem with foundations if you aren't pier beam. Under my neighborhood is bedrock, and that's what all these foundation guys anchor to when they come to salvage your pre-1990's house before the cracks resemble the San Andreas.

Once I decided to remove some shrubbery. Well, when the soil was dry and shrunken, it was kind of like ... rock, so I got this brilliant idea that it would work better if the 'rock' were softened with ... water. This had the effect of turning the 'rock' into the world's heaviest, blackest sticky bread dough. Pretty soon, my shovel is so heavy I can't lift it, my shoes have 5 inches of clay/mud dough stuck to them and I can barely lift my feet, so then I have to get my hands involved to try to clear this gunk. Then I can't lift my arms as I now have giant black clay dough balls for hands!



Maybe I'm just not a yard person.

[cloudy]

Red clay here, mostly....just like most of the deep south.

[lance gt]

Ah, Canada. A few hundred thousand years ago, my land was under water, which is now Lake Ontario. The land left by the receding waters left a rich and fertile ground to do just about anything. Just under that, we have the Great Canadian Shield, that keeps us safe and sound from any kind of serious movement. My house sits where forests once grew and then was turned to farmland and now supports my gardens and trees. The earth is diverse in make up from rich loam and top soils to red clay earth that looks like the surface of Mars in some spots.

[Austin8]

Originally Posted by cloudy

Red clay here, mostly....just like most of the deep south.

Oh man cloudy, I remember trying to get that red clay out of my clothes!

I lived along the Red River for many years, I thought I was permanently gonna be red for much of my childhood.

Originally Posted by lance gt

Ah, Canada. A few hundred thousand years ago, my land was under water, which is now Lake Ontario. The land left by the receding waters left a rich and fertile ground to do just about anything. Just under that, we have the Great Canadian Shield, that keeps us safe and sound from any kind of serious movement. My house sits where forests once grew and then was turned to farmland and now supports my gardens and trees. The earth is diverse in make up from rich loam and top soils to red clay earth that looks like the surface of Mars in some spots.

I've always been interested in Canada Lance, so your soil requires little amendment?

[SixtyMinuteMan]

It's, um... this stuff. I moved along the coast a short distance from my house to get a clear shot of the cliffs, but that's right by me. It's not sand, not until the waves get it, but it's not farm material either.

[lance gt]

Originally Posted by Austin8

Oh man cloudy, I remember trying to get that red clay out of my clothes!

I lived along the Red River for many years, I thought I was permanently gonna be red for much of my childhood.



I've always been interested in Canada Lance, so your soil requires little amendment?

Very little Austin. We have some of the best growing medium soil going. Drop a plant in and watch it grow. Of course, it better grow damn fast or it'll die when winter hits, lol.

[Handley_Page]

In my small part of England, there's a load of shale under a relatively think layer of soil. It's a valley which was left when the ice retreated, or so I'm told, but the soil's good for some farming, mostly cattle.

I'm on the edge of what was once a Royal Hunting Forest, full of huge pine trees which are harvested and the area re-planted (come back in 20 years, lad !). A lot of it is now a Park, where Deer and so on can romp all day; when they ain't hiding from idiots with noisy boots and cameras.

And the rain comes soft.

[TheeGoatPig]

About a foot of dry topsoil over clay (maybe red?), with rocks mixed in. They multiply you know, the rocks. Take out a thousand of them and you will find a thousand more the next day.

[driphoney]

Originally Posted by TheeGoatPig

About a foot of dry topsoil over clay (maybe red?), with rocks mixed in. They multiply you know, the rocks. Take out a thousand of them and you will find a thousand more the next day.

I hear goats like rocky soil.

[Recidiva]

I live in Florida. It's mostly sand. And then the sand has lots of fire ants in it. So although I love to garden, I can't really do what I did in my youth in New Jersey, really dig into deep, fragrant dirt with both hands. (New Jersey might get a bad rap but isn't called "The Garden State" for nothing, particularly where I grew up and had a family garden plot and my own flower garden.)

Here I have to go outdoors girded as if for war, ready to fight back biting insects in order to make sure my herbs aren't choking in weeds.

You know what's really weird though? No rocks. There are no rocks in Florida. It's a huge loss for someone who likes to find interestingly shaped rocks and keep them.

[lance gt]

Originally Posted by Recidiva

I live in Florida. It's mostly sand. And then the sand has lots of fire ants in it. So although I love to garden, I can't really do what I did in my youth in New Jersey, really dig into deep, fragrant dirt with both hands. (New Jersey might get a bad rap but isn't called "The Garden State" for nothing, particularly where I grew up and had a family garden plot and my own flower garden.)

Here I have to go outdoors girded as if for war, ready to fight back biting insects in order to make sure my herbs aren't choking in weeds.

You know what's really weird though? No rocks. There are no rocks in Florida. It's a huge loss for someone who likes to find interestingly shaped rocks and keep them.

At least it's good for growing cilantro in! Our place in Florida is like that too. Little mounds of fire ants and weeds with spiked balls that really stick into your skin. I do like that I can grow plants and flowers down there I can't grow here. I sneak some back to grow indoors up here.

[Recidiva]

Originally Posted by lance gt

At least it's good for growing cilantro in! Our place in Florida is like that too. Little mounds of fire ants and weeds with spiked balls that really stick into your skin. I do like that I can grow plants and flowers down there I can't grow here. I sneak some back to grow indoors up here.

I have a great collection of stuff that thrives. Lemon grass, cilantro, mint, rosemary, basil, orange and lemon and grapefruit trees are all thriving right now.

Makes it easy on the ceviche

[Liar]

I have an area called the Roslagen Grand Woods just a loogie away from my doorstep. It's fen and old-growth forest. Like straight out of a John Bauer painting. The dirt is mushy and alive. Roots and bugs and worms and moss and squishy with water.

[Austin8]

Originally Posted by Liar

I have an area called the Roslagen Grand Woods just a loogie away from my doorstep. It's fen and old-growth forest. Like straight out of a John Bauer painting. The dirt is mushy and alive. Roots and bugs and worms and moss and squishy with water.

Sweden beautiful, but what do you grow there Liar?

The visual look of the motion picture The Dark Crystal, by Jim Henson and Frank Oz was inspired by the art of John Bauer.

[Liar]

Originally Posted by Austin8

Sweden beautiful, but what do you grow there Liar?

In the woods? Mushrooms and trolls.

In the flatlands, wheat and taters. I.e, stuff you can make vodka from.

[CrimsonMaiden]

Umm, I have no idea. To me, it just looks like brown dirt, lol.

[Austin8]

Originally Posted by CrimsonMaiden

Umm, I have no idea. To me, it just looks like brown dirt, lol.

awww Crim... mama used to say when we were eating mud pies, "God made dirt, and dirt don't hurt."

[Recidiva]

Originally Posted by Austin8

awww Crim... mama used to say when we were eating mud pies, "God made dirt, and dirt don't hurt."

That wouldn't fly in Florida. There's so much oogy stuff in the dirt down here that I can't let my animals outside.

Ringworm. oO

[Tx Tall Tales]

North Dallas suburbs is nothing but the same sticky black clay that Austin is so lucky to have. Snap your foundation like a twig during a drought. Nasty stuff.

[DeeZire]

Tucson is in the middle of the desert. The geniuses who developed this place sucked up so much ground water, the water table has dropped over 200 feet in some places, causing subsidence (sinking.) Most old masonry houses, like mine, have fissures in the exterior walls. I can peek outside by peering though several cracks that start at the corner of a window and travel up or down a few feet, following the mortar joints or actually splitting a concrete block in two. I'm just hoping I'm not home when the big earthquake hits. The newer houses have better construction (thanks to updated building codes) with rebar required in the corners, around windows, and along the top course of block.

Our dirt contains spores that cause Valley Fever, an ailment much like Epstein Barr, in that the afflicted can be sick for months on end, suffering from respiratory distress and fever. With only 12 inches of rain a year (7 inches this year) there's a lot of blowing dust, which helps to spread the Valley Fever spores around, especially at construction sites on the edge of town where they blade the desert bare before putting up their ticky-tacky McMansions.

Out on the freeway going to Phoenix, they have dust storms that actually stop traffic. They recommend pulling off the freeway and cutting the lights. If people pull off but leave their lights on, other cars think they're following a moving car, and end up crashing. I've been in a couple of those (not the crashes.) It's really quite unnerving, cruising blindly down the freeway at 40 or 50 mph. I don't know the death statistics, but they do happen.

Although I hate the song "Dust in the Wind", it does have special meaning to us desert dwellers.

[jacks4u]

The Desert southwest is such a mixed bag of top soils.

I lived on 5 acres of virgin desert, with only enough cleared for a drive and a small coral. A thick layer of concrete like caliche laid just under the surface, with only about 1/2 to 3 inches of top soil. Posts could only be driven into the ground with a jack hammer, but once there would never come out, ever. Preparations for a garden in this area were helped along by a neighbor with a license to buy fuse, a can of black powder, and a twelve pack of beer (normally a bad combination )

5 miles away, I lived for a time on some 'bottom land' a silty soil that seemed to have no bottom. This soil required heavy applications of mulches and manures, but I could grow anything from dill to artichokes, carrots, spinach, corn. Squashes and melons also grew well, until my work schedule changed, and I no longer had time to tend this 30' x 40' garden. Lack of water eventually offed every non-native plant, except the dill and cilantro, that competed to see which could attract the most and most noxious insects. Speaking of dill and cilantro, this gardener recommends cilantro be grown anywhere that's at least 20 feet from other edible plants. Dried dill should not have a cilantro fragrance, and neither should cauliflower, spinach or celery.

I now live about 80 miles south, in an area known for the 3 'C's' - Corn, Cattle, Cotton. It appears to me that my property was once a farm, as it had been scrapped clean of all vegetation (except weeds). Repeated attempts at gardening have all failed, except 3 small strawberry plants, in a raised bed of imported soil. The soil is so salty that, where the water ran over the borders of the garden, it dried with a white crust. The soil is hard to dig, and slick as snot when wet. but it turns to a really fine dust easily, and I have to replace the filters on my AC weekly (thanks to whoever invented washable AC filters...)

On the positive side, the winters are so mild, that we have another growing season. I've planted in the fall, for harvest in January.

So, If you can stand the stench (Dairies, feedlots), and your soil isn't too sodic, you can have a wonderful garden here, unless the high price of water hits your rev-limiter...


Can I link to my 'Blog' here? It's just a chronicle of my attempts to garden on this 2.5 acres of hell, ill conceived, and not very current. It's even rated 'G'...

Jacks