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Gardening

My Daylilies

Gardening in the South is so different from anywhere else - we fight heat, humidity, drought, even flash floods, and rarely have a long dormant period.

Information in many gardening books and web sites apply to gardeners in climates with very cold winters and mild summers, but are a sure death sentence for our hot & humid summer gardens. Visit our Book Catalog for some wonderful gardening book recommendations especially for these conditions.

The worst challenge for our northwest Mississippi garden is the clay soil. The common advice for clay soil, a "cocktail" of peat moss, gypsum, and a thick layer of mulch, is not practical for most of us because of the huge garden areas common to country lots. It becomes too expensive way too quickly, especially since all 3 have to be replenished annually. Instead we use home-made mulchy compost. It can be mixed in the soil to provide the needed organic matter, and placed on top to serve as an excellent mulch. We make compost all during the year by piling fallen leaves, garden debris, and grass clippings into piles. The experts say to add layers of soil and manure, but we have always just used leaves and grass clippings. We stir them around or flip them over every once in a while, and by spring we have lots and lots of mulchy compost for our garden beds.


My Garden

Starting a new garden here is a whole 'nother can of worms. We don't even try to dig up the hard-as-rock dirt any more.

We first mow the weeds down very low. Then we cover the area with flattened cardboard boxes salvaged from behind the grocery stores. We have also used brown paper grocery sacks. (Make sure there is good overlap at the edges to block all the light from the soil and kill the weeds.) Finally, we spread out all the leaves and grass clippings we can find. In the fall We've even been known to drive around the suburbs and fill up the truck with bagged leaves found on the curbs. After a couple of months the weeds underneath are dead, and the cardboard is decomposing. Water the area well a few days then use a pitchfork to break up the soil and stir the decomposing leaves and cardboard all into it. In a few more weeks it is ready for planting. If we're making a smaller garden and don't want to wait, we just cover the weeds with cardboard or brown paper bags, or even a thick layer of newspaper. Then we spread bagged garden soil and bagged mulch over the top. We can then plant right away. By the time the roots get deep enough to reach the cardboard it will have decomposed nicely.


Visit our Book Store for some wonderful book recommendations.


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For Heirloom/Non-Hybrid Seed Sources click here.

Gardening Sites, Growing Tips and Tricks


For Heirloom / Non-Hybrid Seed Sources click here.



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Memphis Area Garden Centers with Web Sites:


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