Re: [gardeners] Re: You have rocks??

Allen and Judy Merten (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 09 Dec 1998 22:32:39 -0600 

Hi Pat,
    LOL followed by tears of memories of trying to plant a garden in NW Travis
County, 8 miles from Round Rock. I too had 1-2 inches of soil followed by miles
of rock. I even tried to make raised beds but the Fire Ants went into an ecstasy
of mound building. You could hear their little voices shouting with joy...dirt!!,
dirt!!, real dirt!!
    I love my Bastrop County sandy loam. It smells good. Real good. It feels
good. It looks good. It grows just about anything except spinach.
    Allen
    Bastrop Co.,Tx
    Zone 8

asidv@fbg.net wrote:

> Martha Brown asked:
> > Rocks???  Sand???????
> >       Is anyone ever pleased with what nature has provided <VBG>????
>
> Probably not.
>
> Martha, you may have -- free and with my eternal blessing -- all the
> rocks you care to dig and haul away. To one whose soil is one-quarter
> to one inch of leaf mold which is (according to the company that dug
> our well) followed by 160 feet of limestone, flint, and granite -- a
> plethora of sand sounds good.
>
> WE buy sand! YOU buy rock! I think it is Mother Nature's way of
> insuring that we all continue to strive. I've watched Catharine
> augur holes for bulbs and plants but when she suggested I try it at
> my digs I was faint with laughter.
>
> The first time I tried to plant a one gallon size of Texas Mountain
> Laurel, a neighbor heard me cursing and said, "To plant a tree, FIRST
> you gets your dynamite." And added, "But now that you've got your
> septic in, if you blast you'll crack it. Guess you'll just have to
> keep working on that hole with a pick." She meant a German pick: it
> is a spike six feet tall -- made of tempered steel -- a wedge on one
> end and a point on the other.  You lift it up (I'm just 5' tall) and
> suddenly drop it, point down, where you want the hole to be. Repeat
> ad libidum, ad nauseum. The wedge end is used to pry up the "crumbs"
> of rock you create. Example: it took my NGP nearly 4 hours to dig a
> hole to anchor the mailbox post!
>
> Still, having gardened in the West Texas desert at one time, I know
> you feel you are dumping "organic material" into the Black Hole of
> the Universe in an attempt to create the "friable" of fiction. But,
> six of one, half a dozen of the other. Perseverance, thy name is
> gardener.
>
> Pat, in the Texas Hill Country (the country of 1100 springs and 1100
> varieties of rock)
>
> >
> > Martha who purchased and loaded and unloaded and placed tons (literally at
> > $200.00 per ton) of rock by hand for paths and retaining walls in my
> > bottomless sand.
> > M Brown
> > NW Oklahoma, USA
> > USDA Zone 6b,  Sunset Zone 35
> >
> >
> > ----------
> > > From: Carol Wallace <gardenwriter@columnist.com>
> > > To: gardeners@globalgarden.com
> > > Subject: Re: [gardeners] Big Max, Little Max??
> > > Date: Friday, December 04, 1998 11:52 PM
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Michael & Bambi Cantrell wrote:
> > >
> > > > Catharine,
> > > >
> > > > Rocks?  In the soil?  You mean there are places with rocks in the soil?
> > > > Like where you would hit them with a shovel or drill?
> > > >
> > > > My, my...  Some folks really do have it tough...
> > >
> > > Bambi,
> > > You mean a pickax and pry bar aren't part of your regular garden tool
> > > assortment? We've built whole walls and paves paths with what I dig up
> > each year
> > > just trying to plant in the cultivated area. Frost has even heaved large
> > > fieldstones into the nice, originally stone-free raised bed area.
> > >
> > > I can't imagine a garden without rocks. I guess that's why my mattock is
> > one of
> > > my favorite garden tools.
> > > Carol
> > > --
> > > Virtually Gardening
> > > http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/75
> > > Suite 101 Home & Garden
> > > http://www.suite101.com/userfiles/79/gardening.html
> > >
> > >
> >