I've busted sod quite a few times as I moved from place to place. Its hard work and the first year off sod is often not so great.

But if you take advantage of that southern sun to solarize the spot and can till in a lot of organic material a month or 6 weeks ahead of planting it will help.

Whatever you do, make sure you get rid of the grass and don't till it in alive. I only made that mistake once. ;-)

Since I've got plenty of time before I can plant anything, I was thinking of putting plastic over the ground to bake the grass dead, bwah ha ha! If we get a typical Texas summer it's going to be in at least the mid-90's every day for the next three months or so.

Will that work? I was thinking of using that plastic sheeting they use for drop cloths for painting.

And I know I probably shouldn't take on the whole 40'x40' space right away, but I'm having a little trouble figuring out how big to make the garden then. Maybe it will be self-limiting once I start digging!

Maybe start out with a couple of raised beds? I find having a defined space to deal with really helps me stay focused.

That really is exciting! I think the key is to phase it in as you're able. Solarizing the area you want to plant next year is a good idea to start out with. You could also dig out the sod and put in at least one raised bed now to grow some fall crops in. I think the first thing I'd focus on is preparing about a 2' to 2.5' wide perimeter bed where the garden meets the chain link. That will provide great trellis for peas, beans and cucumbers, and you'll have enough space in front of it for peppers, broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, etc. If I'm picturing your setup correctly, you could have an L-shaped bed 2.5' deep and 80 linear feet, which would allow you to plant a LOT of stuff while you work on setting up other beds in the rest of the garden.

The most important thing now is to start stock piling as much organic matter as you can get your hands on. Enjoy!

40'x 40' is a lot to start from scratch without power tools.

I'd suggest solarizing about half of that area for your "first beds" and covering the other half with cardboard and piles of organic materials. I agree with lantanascape that creating the initial beds of the garden along the fence would give you the maximum production. By organizing the composting organic pile in the remainder of the square you are covering all of the weeds/grasses in the permanent garden section all at once. This way you're killing weeds in the entire area but only having to do manual labor in half of the area at any one time. I agree that raised beds make it easier to amend the soil, keep weeds under control, and FOCUS your attention. I mulch my walkways to conserve water and reduce weeding. I line the walkway with 10 layers of wet newspaper and then cover with woodchips, pine straw, or non-treated sawdust.

I currently have a herb and veggie bed in an "L" shape where the long line is 25'x70' and the short leg of the "L" is 30' x 40'....but it didn't get that big all at once.

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Thanks for your suggestions. Granite, your pictures look great! That's the kind of sight I've been dreaming of for years!

lantanascape's idea to start with a bed along the fence sounds good, though I don't think I'll even do all 80' right away. Maybe just one side for now. I could solarize that first and then plant some fall crops once the weather cools off a little. I don't think there's much I can plant in late June or July in Central Texas, with how blazing hot it is out there.

Texas seems to have a second season, so maybe you can do tomatoes or peppers or something in the fall. I'd be cautious about killing a big area of your front yard. .

Hi neohippie,

I think you visited one of my threads with photos of my raised beds. I'm not sure which one, but you can look at the attached link to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

I just got back into gardening last year. The wife and I had spent a few summers in Colorado escaping the Texas heat. We decided to stay home last summer and our daughter said she wanted me to start growing some of those great tomatoes I used to grow.

For years as we moved around, I was a sometimes container gardener and a sometimes raised bed gardener. I went back to raised bed gardening because it is so easy to get a crop in the ground without a lot of soil prep. and without a lot of highly technical know how.

I live about sixty miles north of Dallas. We have a hard red clay soil base. I put my first two beds in at the end of a draught last year. The ground was so hard that we couldn't even drill into the clay with a large tractor mounted drill.

I built the first two beds in less than a day, added dirt mixed with composted manure, sphagnum peat moss, sand (for looseness) and some commercial 10-10-10 fertilizer. I didn't do anything to the base soil other than turn it over with a shovel and pick to mix in the new dirt. I filled the new beds almost to the top knowing that it would settle a lot. I planted my plants the next day. My family and friends enjoyed tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash all summer.

I don't know what part of Central Texas you live in, but in North Texas; we do have a spring and fall growing season. My garden just hangs on without dieing during the hottest part of the summer and then recovers at summers end and produces until the first frost.

I think they have to replant for the fall season in the Houston area because the heat and humidity is so intense. I think you can at least get a fall crop planted if you want to. Yours will probably grow almost to the New Year.

Good Luck

Ted

Here is a link that might be useful: My raised beds

Definitely raised beds. You can build them without sides (if you want to save time & $$$) No need for digging. Just put several layers of cardboard down and build your beds over that. I think if you google "lasagne method raised beds" you will get plenty-o information

Good Luck and Happy Gardening