A tennis court! How to get rid of it?
CR Junkins
I'm looking at buying an old house and renovating it, and I have found
a beautiful one that has a large back yard -- level and shady -- but
heaven help me, there's an asphalt tennis court back there! I know I
want to get rid of it, and I know that's going to be several weekend's
of back-breaking work with a pick.
But here's the crux. The soil is all hard Georgia clay, and I know
that being underneath asphalt for heaven only knows how many years --
it has to be just hard as a rock and completely lifeless.
So, any advice is greatly appreciated.
I would like to use a small part of the area for a vegetable garden,
but the rest of the area, I was hoping to turn into a Turkish style
garden -- several alcove like areas with benches and seats, surrounded
by show-piece flowering shrubs, annuals/perinnials, herbs, etc. I'm
not a big fan of lawns (they just take up space for flower beds!).
Should I buy top soil? Will I be able to amend the clay before the
rain just erodes the property? Should I just sod it to keep it in
place, and then bite off the lawn in small chunks?
Help! I'm completely stumped!
tg on mdi
I would say turning under LOTS of organic matter would be the first
order of business if you want to turn that "dead dirt" back into living
soil populated with earthworms, et.al. You'll have to find out what's
available and make some decisions based on cost factors and the nutrient
and pH needs of that soil. Checking with your agricultural extension
office, garden clubs, and neighboring gardeners should turn up some
leads. If you put a lot of unrotted material into the soil in the
spring, you might want let the area lie fallow in an appropriate green
manure crop for the summer. Once that is turned under and allowed to
decompose a bit you should be on your way.
Terry
Kurt Brown
I had a small area of fallow ground between my dirt road and my leach
field. It must have where the previous owner pushed sand and gravel when
he plowed the snow off the road. Nothing was growing and it was cover
with decomposed granite sand. The process I'm recommending to you, worked
for me.
I think I would start with a jack hammer with an asphalt (wide) blade on
it and a big dumpster bin. Don't fill the bin too full or the trucking
company will refuse to pick it up (I learned this the hard way). Whew!
That's alot of work.
OK! So now all your asphalt is gone and you have a giant, dried out mud
pie. Now the fun begins. I would turn it all over with a roto-tiller,
dump a truck load of mulch on top, and till it all under again. Then I
would begin a one season regimen of nitrogen fixing, green manure cover
crops.
Plant Buckwheat as a green manure cover crop. Don't let this stuff grow
longer than 10 to 12 weeks before you turn it all under again. If you let
the it grow too long it becomes a bit fiberous and won't decompose as
quickly as you would like it to. Plant successive crops until the first
frost. Buckwheat doesn't tolerate any frost; it just turns black and
dies.
Right after the first frost, turn the whole plot under again and plant
Winter Rye. If your soil is very heavy with clay you may want to dump one
more load of mulch before you plant the Rye. The Rye will sprout nicely
before winter really sets in. Throughout the winter, the it will grow
slowly. Towards the end of winter and into spring it will grow faster.
Finally, when the ground is warm enough to work, turn it all under again.
One word of warning: don't let the Rye go to seed. If the stalks start to
look anything close to mature, cut it to about 6 inches tall.
Your plot will be healthy and alive! You should plant these cover crops
anywhere that you aren't going to plant with anything else. I use Winter
Rye to over-winter all my annual plant areas. If you need a source for
bulk seed just send me an Email and I will tell you a couple of mail-order
sources.
Jeannettea Staats
You might consider sodding where you want pathways. Then build raised
planter spaces. There are many ways to hide the material used to build the
boxes, i.e. bordering the spaces with plants that tend to sprawl, if it
fits in with Turkish design. That way you could attack the backbreaking
job of amending clay soil one area at a time.
WV Flowers
>The soil is all hard Georgia clay, and I know
>that being underneath asphalt for heaven only knows how many years --
>it has to be just hard as a rock and completely lifeless.
Why even take the asphalt up? If you plant in a heavy clay area it is like
planting in an old bathtub, no drainage. IMHO I think I would attempt raised
beds on top of the asphalt first.
Dennis Bishop
Hay! Maybe you can get a nearby army base to use it for target shooting!
--
"You are not ready for Immortality" Kosh on Babylon 5
Marianne Ahrne
CR Junkins wrote:
>
> I'm looking at buying an old house and renovating it, and I have found
> a beautiful one that has a large back yard -- level and shady -- but
> I would like to use a small part of the area for a vegetable garden,
> but the rest of the area, I was hoping to turn into a Turkish style
> garden -- several alcove like areas with benches and seats, surrounded
> by show-piece flowering shrubs, annuals/perinnials, herbs, etc. I'm
> not a big fan of lawns (they just take up space for flower beds!).
>
I think the idea of a Turkish garden is great. Why not leave the
asphalted area mostly as it is and just dig narrow canals across it
in the Moorish style with a fountain in the middle where the rills
meet. The planting will have to be in raised beds or pots which is
what the traditional Moorish garden had. Orange trees in pots are
a must, or standard roses. Find a book on Islamic gardens for
inspiration.
Marianne Ahrne
Knivsta, Sweden
BAnders778
I agree with the Turkish garden idea. I would just love to have a level tennis
court in my back yard. My back yard is literally a clift. It, too, is made of
clay. Just trying to stand up on it, much less plant anything in it, is an
ordeal. You just about have to be a mountain goat. I suppose if you want to
chip out pieces of it, you could plant irish moss here and there which would
eventually take over by spreading across the tennis court or some other type of
groundcover.
Elizabeth Platt
Whoa, I've never had to cope with something that is (literally) the size
of a tennis court, but have helped friends get a few things growing in
their paved/gravelled urban backyards. Your plans sound much more
ambitious--but then, most of my friends were renting, so they weren't
going to be too fancy! ;)
One thing to consider, at least for any part where you'd want to grow
veggies, flowers, or other smaller plants: Grow in hay bales. Seriously!
I've been planning on trying it myself next time. You can use the bales
either on top of the asphalt, or, if you manage to get some or all of it
ripped up, on top of the hard clay. Look for a book called "Designing and
Maintaining Your Edible Landscaping Naturally" by Robert Kourick (sp?);
the description of hay-bale gardening only takes two pages, but you might
find it useful (or inspirational). He advocates using the bales on any
hard soils that need loosening up and/or lots of organic matter
incorporated, since worms and bugs (etc.) will crawl under the bales and
do their thing, which will slowly improve the soil--all while you grow on
top of the bales. No digging!
If you want more info, feel free to email me.
--Elizabeth Platt
eap...@hooked.net
On Sun, 1 Feb 1998, CR Junkins wrote:
> I'm looking at buying an old house and renovating it, and I have found
> a beautiful one that has a large back yard -- level and shady -- but
> heaven help me, there's an asphalt tennis court back there! I know I
> want to get rid of it, and I know that's going to be several weekend's
> of back-breaking work with a pick.
>
> But here's the crux. The soil is all hard Georgia clay, and I know
> that being underneath asphalt for heaven only knows how many years --
> it has to be just hard as a rock and completely lifeless.
>
> So, any advice is greatly appreciated.
>
> I would like to use a small part of the area for a vegetable garden,
> but the rest of the area, I was hoping to turn into a Turkish style
> garden -- several alcove like areas with benches and seats, surrounded
> by show-piece flowering shrubs, annuals/perinnials, herbs, etc. I'm
> not a big fan of lawns (they just take up space for flower beds!).
>
BeeCrofter
If it were me I would be looking for free manure ,sawdust leaves and etc maybe
even spoiled hay to add organic material.
Not sure what goes into the soil from asphalt so I think I wouldn't grow food
until I knew.
DaveL256
In article <19980212020...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, beecr...@aol.com
(BeeCrofter) writes:
>Not sure what goes into the soil from asphalt so I think I wouldn't grow
>food until I knew.
Doe anyone have any idea what leeches from asphalt? My asphalt is over 20
years old and is either well leeched or well past the stage of concern, i
hope.....
dave
info...@mauigateway.com
Build a 5 foot wall around it and fill it up with good soil and
compost and VOILA you have a huge garden bed
Happy Gardening
Chris
InfoMaui, Inc.