Kai, welcome. You'll find friends here. But then if you've been lurking for a long time, you already know us.

I think you have a good plan. I would plow now and rototill later on.

Dawn will probably see your post soon, and she'll have the definitive answer and probably more tips to boot.

Congrats on your new home! --Ilene

thanks Ilene,

just crossed my mind, I should probably so a soil test today. betchya I need lime.

I just wonder if I should go ahead with artificial fertilizers and plow them in - time is wasting this year.

K

I wouldn't use artificial fertilizers. If you've got manure already on your place, chances are it's ready for your garden. I'm told that cow manure and chicken litter can be put in the garden without 'the burn'. Even if what you have is horse manure, if you plow it in now, it'll have time to settle in before spring planting. I live in town, so sometimes it's hard for me to get manure. I had been getting horse manure but the last batch had a lot of weed seeds and gravel in it so I'm looking for a new source. I round up all the leaves and grass clippings I can get my hands on, though. You've got time to plow now, before the ground freezes.

Before you add lime, consider what you plan to grow. Some things won't grow as well if you've limed.

Hi Kai,

Welcome to the forum. I'm so glad to have you join us and hope you'll have a wonderful time gardening at your new place.

I don't know what county you're in, but I'd definitely do the soil test first. I'd also try to figure out how fast the land drains (you could use a post hole digger to dig a couple of holes in your garden bed area, fill them with water and see how many hours or days it takes them to drain) and I'd do the jar test (linked below) to figure out the composition of the soil. Once you know if your soil is more clay, or sand, or silt, you'll know what you need to do to improve it.

If it were me, the top priority would be to remove the bermuda grass as much as possible AND break up the compacted soil and do what I could to improve its' texture/friability. When we built our garden after moving here in 1999, we rototilled up the grass, and I spent WEEKS on my hands and knees filling a 5-gallon bucket with every bit of bermuda grass plant, stolon, root, runner, etc. that I could find. I also removed all the other roots I could find, especially the nutgrass roots/nutlets and the bulbs of wild onions. Then, after I thought I had "all" of it, we'd rototill again and I'd start all over from scratch. After 3 or 4 rounds of that, I really did have most of the roots out of the ground. Of course, turning over the soil exposes billions of weed seeds to the sun and they all are going to sprout, but that is true of any new land you break for a garden plot. Even after doing that, of course, I still had to fight the grass and weeds continually, but had much less to remove every year than I had the year before.

I'd urge you to be as organic as possible because it works and it helps the earth instead of harming it. I am not 100% organic, and I don't hesitate to use Round-up or other glyphosates to try to keep the bermuda grass under control, but I do try to be as organic as possible.

Study the climatology of your county and be sure you understand the average freeze dates and averages as well as your monthly rainfall. It can be very hard to get the cool season crops in at the right time if the weather is not cooperating, and with the speed at which our weather goes from "too cold" to "too hot", proper timing is even more important here than it is in areas that have longer, milder springs before summer's heat arrives.

It IS almost planting time, and I am so glad. I hope you have time to get your soil ready before potato and onion planting time gets here. You will see that we discuss spring planting, bermuda grass removal and soil improvement/bed building (among many other topics) non-stop here in the spring.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Gardening Article Featuring Jar Soil Test

thanks all,

We just gave up an established (15 year old) garden here in Garfield Co. Starting a big new one will be a chore made even more difficult by the fact that this new "plot" had been trod down to highly compacted, bareish, concrete like dirt. Just took some grab samples and as soon as I can unbox my sample kit we'll know just how nutrient poor it currently is (may be supprised, you never know).

I tried to dig a few inches down; ain't happening. I think I will have to borrow a big tractor and sub-soiler to rip it up before I even plow.

If we don't start right now, none of it will be useable later. We'll get photos up as we move along; I already hurt thinking about our old, soft, wonderful soils...but they were a mess when we started that garden up also.

Kai

Kai, you may be surprised how that soil softens up with some moisture, time and organic matter. We started a garden from scratch in 2006, in a pasture, on top of the hardest ground on our place. That was during a drought and it was all I could to do work up a little of it for "spot planting" that first year. But I kept mulching with whatever I could get, putting cardboard down under the mulch when possible. When we received sufficient moisture it was amazing how that hard packed soil started to soften up. Now, the garden is starting to tame down a bit. We never did have the benefit of a big tractor, etc.

"Add organic material" (now repeat that about 100 times!) It'll make a huge difference.

Do watch the chicken manure, however. I'm sheet composting with it in part of my garden now. But it is really "hot." Where I put it down now, I'd be afraid to plant tomatoes, peppers or most root crops in the spring. I'm going to plant squash and melons there.

Welcome to the forum!

George (still digging and digging in Tahlequah, OK)

Chicken manure can be really hot. We clean out our chicken pen in the fall and spread the litter, (manure mixed with pine shavings) thinly onto the beds where we will plant corn (a heavy feeder as you probably know) and put the rest of it in the compost pile and over the top of the leaf bin--lots of oak leaves piled and compacted.

But you may be surprised by the fertility of the soil where that horse compacted it. Unless every trace of manure was removed, there's probably quite a bit of it in there. I would worry about bermuda and johnsongrass tho as so much hay that is fed to horses is full of the seeds. But good luck. You know that all your work will pay off.

You know...I think George has the strategery.

Ain't no way this will be a "garden" for the next few years. As Geo. mentioned, spot planting is the trick this year and I think a lot of the area could be then covered with paper and cardboard and then compost and mulch. (I should know better, but for some stupid reason I had visions of a lush plot this June)

I hope today to get a friends big Deere in with a sub-soiler to rip down two feet or so, and then plow. It will be fun to watch years of seeds come back to life....interesting to see what is in there. I hate to say it, but I think roundup and a paintbrush will be friends this year.

On a side note; knowing that we were to move, back in October we dug up about 20 of our tree peonies and potted them (large clay pots). Its been warm enough that they are shooting sprouts (yahoo!!!)...but I'll have to mulch the heck out of them for the next two months.

All of the herbs we moved seem to be doing OK, as well as the dwarf apples and the house plants (about 30...half of which are huge!).

Hope not to do this again for quite some time.
K

Just a quick follow-up.

Pleased to find that after three days of watering things have loosened up. The soils are a silty-claey loam and not as tight as I first expected; I have 2" of compost scratched in right now, and my friend will be bringing his (heavy) disk today to cut through the pan 3" below the surface.

8 to 14" down is loose enough and it perks OK.

The plan is to disk (I have to cut a tree this AM to get the machine in), lay down more compost, test, fertilize for deficiencies and lime and then to get after it in the first week in March with a big rear tine tiller.

Weeds will be huge for a while, but that's just the way it goes for a while. Shore is fun starting a new one (actually it is...)
K