I'm thinking this is going to be a several-year endeavor to get my yard in order. I used a three bin system in the past, and am thinking of doing the same here. Lots of oak leaves, to which I will add shredded paper and kitchen veggie scraps. I did do composting in Wisconsin, and plan to do the same here. We live in an oak wooded area, so have quite a bit of shade, but areas of sun throughout the day. It's hard for me to believe something can be done, but, I can't stand the idea of not having a nice yard/garden. If our yard didn't have weeds, we would have no lawn at all! My dream is to make the back yard into a Japanese garden, and the front yard to have grass and some groundcover closer to the road and along the driveway. I'm freaking out about trying to grow things in this soil! Our yard has no real landscaping or flowers, or anything. I'm from Wisconsin originally (where I could grow ANYTHING!), and just relocated to the Knoxville area. I'm guessing you have good mulch to go with that? I envy you the multiple sources of organic amendments. Beside which it is such a green thing to do. It makes for better water flow, root growth and can help balance pH values. That said, we do have areas in our yard that has great loamy soil.Īmen! As someone who teaches all about gardening you'd be surprised at the number of people who don't get that one simple rule and go out to nurseries and box stores getting recommendations to buy all sorts of bags of topsoil and humus and tons of fertilizer and then renting tillers to turn over the soil so more weeds can sprout rather than getting/making what they need most compost and more compost. I add the sawdust from my workshop, and compost kitchen scraps as well. We just work at it.Īmend, amend, amend![ I chip all of the shrub clippings and either mulch with it, or compost (or both). We have a lot of rocks in our soil too, so heavy clay and rocks. I have spent years chipping, mulching, tilling, composting and it has paid off even in the areas where we don't have raised beds. Several farms in the region have excellent fruit tree crops- blueberries, raspberries and so on are becoming more and more planted, too. I do mine for both garden and turf areas but you can also have it tested for other uses. It's a very small cost and comes back with a lot of information on what your soil will need to grow whatever it is you want to grow. I suggest you get the soil tested through them. UT has a lot of publications for growing things in this region and several counties have active Master Gardener programs through the extension offices that can give you a lot of help in getting started. The following has "recommended" and "not recommended" amendments that applies pretty much to our local dirt as much as it does to NC red clay: Adding sand to the mix has been a popular myth for a long time but soil science research shows it is a good way to make bricks out of your soil. All the soil needs is the standard garden amendments. Most of my garden plants and shrubs seem to be bigger than promised if that is any indication. The clay soil here is quite fertile and does well for growing things. Second there is a whole Garden subforum right here on City data with people who can help.
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