I marked off where I wanted my garden..... about 15' x 15'. Then I sprayed the grass with week killer. This was done in Late July.
2 weeks later I mowed this area on the lowest setting before tilling just deep enough to pull up the grass runners and roots. When finished, I piled up the dead grass and burned it.
I tilled up the "plot" down about 6 or 8 inches. My soil is very poor, an inch or so top soil and then it is clay. I removing several 5 gallon buckets of "rock" like clay,
Then to build up the soil, I had 6 yards of "flower bed" starter soil delivered. This stuff helped get the soil started.... but was not nearly as good as I hoped because it was mostly sand with wood chips mixed in it. spent about $ 200 on this stuff.
I tilled all this stuff up really good and added about 3/4 sack of 13x13x13.
I grew a fall garden which did much better than I thought it would. In Jan. I had the soil tested by LSU. Results said the "organic" level was good (??).... I would rate it as poor by the looks of the soil. Soil pH was 8.3. I went by the LSU Ag office and was told the pH was good and I did not need to try to lower it. From what I have read, most plants are said to do better when the pH is in the 6.5 to 7.5 range.
For the next several years I enlarged the size to 17' x 22'. This has allowed more spacing between the rows to make it easier to pick stuff.
I have added a bunch of leaves [leaves and pine needles] every years and now feel that the soil is fairly good. Bunch = 4 to 6 inches deep covering the area after cutting up with the lawn mower.
Here are a few pic. Temperature was in the mid 90's so I tried covering some of the small plants to keep the sun from "cooking" the young plants.
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