The picture didn't come out as well, but that dirt is red. I was surprised to find red dirt that far south.
Here's what my backyard looks like.
Notice the cracks?? This here is clay soil. Doesn't drain. Doesn't hold water. It's CLAY. We've been 3 or 4 days without rain. These pics were taken of the high ground, the low ground still has some standing water. A friend of mine was preparing to move recently, they were wanting to buy acreage in order to farm. She kept saying "I want off of black dirt!"
Truly this stuff stinks! There are no basements around these parts and you have to water your foundation. Subvet thought I was crazy when we first bought our house and I kept telling him to water the house. "What? Is it gonna grow another room?!!" Now we wish it would haha.
See, if you don't water the house the dirt pulls away from the slab and your foundation shifts causing cracks in your walls and door/cabinets/windows that won't open and shut right. Where the dirt is all nicely tilled up around the house in the first picture is evidence of our foundation repair work that was done last Spring. Without worms, nothing would grow because the dirt forms hard clumps and the roots get no aeration. When you go to plant a flower bed the first thing you do is go to the store and BUY dirt.
So, now I ask you. What kind of dirt do you have?
9 comments:
We have dirt just about like you have described here, too. Lots of piering of foundations!!! Our's isn't the real red color, like we saw in Alabama but it's clay none the less.
Susan
Er.....clay, rocks, clay, pebbles and a whole lot of dust!
Cheers
Welcome back!
I don't know how we would describe our dirt here in Connecticut other than to say that it's very rocky. Whenever you dig for a garden or anything you invariably unearth a lot of small rocks and broken bits of shale, etc. along the way.
It does hold water pretty well, too.
This is the first time I've ever heard of needing to water around the foundation of a house - very interesting!
Dry, hot and dusty, barren, roasting, etc.etc.etc!!
Sand, a lot of sand. Our well is a wash well. 38 feet deep and nothing but sand all the way.
Our house is constantly shifting. Doors that open today may not tomorrow. I can water the sand all I want and it is still sand.
I brought in a lot of loam, so we could have flower gardens and something that resembles a lawn.
I post pictures some day..
Good to hear from you and thanks for the prayers.
DaD
Jennifer, I know you live in the dessert.
Linda, Subvet lived in New London Conn before I dragged him kicking and screaming Down South.
DaD, sounds like you're on a beach somewhere....can I come over??? ;-)
We truly have a mixture here in Arkansas, depending on where you live, even from one lot to another. We have everything from the richest dirt on this Earth to red clay and gravel, sand and bedrock.
An interesting kind of clay here is gumbo and it comes in either white or black gumbo. I have honestly seen huge dually tractors stuck in gumbo mud over the back wheels. Wet it's the stickiest substance known to man and builds up on shoes or wheels until you can't move. Dry it's like concrete and there ain't no plowing or disking it. And it gets those huge deep cracks in it like you have in your yard, a bonus.
No basements here in our flat part of Arkansas, either. (Northeast Arkansas, to be exact.)
And it's dry to the point of severe drought here. Things are dying that aren't irrigated, and the leaves are falling off the trees prematurely. Looks like fall in my front yard. The actual high today here was 101* and the heat index was over 110*. Supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. Yippee skip!
Love and hugs,
Diane
PS: Squirrel has it's own flavor, but it vaguely tastes like dark meat chicken, like the legs maybe.
Sounds like us last summer! Sorry about that! My advice, get necked and find a pool! Or just stay in front of the fan. ;-)
I never knew gumbo referred to anything other than cajun seafood stew. Interesting.
Surely someone somewhere has "good" dirt????
We have clay here, too. I was fortunate that at least one previous owner liked to work in the yard, because there are areas that are well drained, and obviously flower beds. And my neighbor, who mows my lawn every other week with his riding mower, has piled up chopped leaves for me to use as mulch, and chipped wood from downed trees for me.
However, the lawn part of the yard is pitiful this year. We've had so little rain, everything is dry and brown. If we could just milk the humidity out of the air and water the yard with it.....
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