Never had Mississippi Mud Pie in my entire life. Don't even know what it is. And if a Pork Chop Dinner is a floured and fried chop with pan gravy served with rice, I guess that would do. To me, real southern food would be collard and turnip greens instead of spinach. Field peas, crowder peas, corn on the cob, baked sweet potatoes, new potatoes in the spring, and of course, grits. Real grits, not the kind they serve up north that's made by soaking the corn in lye water, (that's hominy grits) but the kind where the father would take the dried, mature corn to the mill, grind it, and bring it back home. None of that fancy-smancy soaking. Takes too long. I can see that if a person lives in an area where there is a lot of ethnic cooking (think about Italians, Greek, Mexican, Scandinavian, etc. )he/she might be looking forward to something a lot different than what they are used to. Vegetables would be cooked long with a big hunk of fat back or a ham bone. Rice would be used more often than potatoes because they didn't have the cool vegetable cellars to store produce in either. Potatoes rot very quickly.

Greetings. I�m a home winemaker hobbyist in the process of preparing a small plot for planting about 10 vines in my yard in Washington, DC. I have read several books and articles on viticulture to help me. Based on what I�ve read, I had a soil sample test and plan to amend the soil to bring it to the desired levels of nutrients and other properties. However, there is one area where I�m uncertain, and my readings leave me unsure of what to do, if anything. My soil is extremely hard and compacted with very high clay content � making it difficult to penetrate even with a shovel blade. I am excavating the entire planned vineyard area to 3� deep so that the vine roots will be able to burrow into the soil. I have observed this pit holds rain for a long time. Rainwater pools for many hours � perhaps 24 hours per inch of rain. So I am concerned about inadequate drainage, especially since vines prefer not to have "wet feet". Since my vineyard is very small, I am considering simply mixing coarse sand and/or gravel into the clay, then refill the pit with this mixture to improve porosity. Given the extreme compactness of the clay, my guess is that I could add ~60 percent coarse sand to the clay. I realize this may increase the risk of drought and may require more frequent watering, but it would seem to avert the problem of potential saturation. I've been advised to use sandy loam or loam clay as a good filler soil. My understanding is these soils are a mixture of sand, silt, and clay. (1) Can anyone recommend a rough mixture of soils that would be good for cabernet franc or merlot grapes? e.g., x% sand, y% silt, z% clay. (2) I've seen sand sold in bags but I've never seen silt for sale. Where could I obtain silt if that's something I should add? Or is there an easier way to get the right mixture of soils? I�m also considering building in a drainage system to draw the excess water out of the bottom of the pit so that it does not pool there when the soil mixture is added and the vines are planted. (3) I'm considering installing underground tubing running from the bottom lowest corner of the pit down toward the street. Does this make sense, and if so, do you have any tips on doing this effectively? I'm open to other options to assist with drainage. Here is a bit of additional information, fyi. The land area is small � roughly 22� x 12�, with about a 5 percent slope and southern aspect. Soil pH is 6.7, CEC is 10.4, organic matter is 1.6%, 17 ppm phosphorous, 57 ppm potassium, 104 ppm magnesium, and 1790 ppm calcium. Of course the soil content will change when I amend the soil. Thanks.

Your grass is dormant, not dead. The simplest way to prepare a new garden plot is to lay newspaper, or cardboard, over the area and cover that with the compost and other organic matter, to hide the paper and hold it in place. Depriving the grass, and anything else growing there will kill it and the Soil Food Web will move the compost and other organic matter into the soil for you. Even with tilling you should wait a few weeks afterwards before planting to give the soil time to settle, and you should not till until the soil is workable, while you could lay the paper down just about anytime there is no snow on it.

if you cut some soft tissue paper in very thin shreds and put that on top of soil and then tape some postal tape over the top and sides - that will hold very well, better then scotch tape. and also it does not have to be taped so well, the paper shreds will hold the soil down, breathe well and when you remove tape, soil will not splash everywhere. you could also stuff some paper shreds in the end of the paper tube - it'll be still breathable but prevent shifting. you could also wrap newspaper around each paper tube sort of loosely - to provide some bulk for the box to prevent shifting. i learned this from a pro-shipping orchid site in hawaii. it worked very well on the plants i had to transport in a suitcase. This post was edited by petrushka on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 15:58