Milk Crate Farms

It's been too many years since I've grown a garden. My penchant for urban self sufficiency has slipped in the past few years as I try to get a teaching job. But I've been bitten this season. Out of necessity for food security or out of the desire to get my hands dirty and have green things growing that I like, I have decided that I'll have a garden this year. After the demise of the chickens, I got into a funk and really let the yard go. Those birds were amazing at keeping the plot clean and loose. And their poop made it super fertile. Just the thing for the invading masses of Bermuda grass, the demon plant form Hell. It overran everything in just a few weeks,leaving me with a garden that looked more like some derelect kudzu covered southern plantation than anything else. After going back and forth on the problem, I've decided that the Dreaded ROund-Up is the only way to tackle this malevolent presence. The roots go down about 12"and are held fast by the hard clay soil here in Dallas. I can't pull it out. I tried cutting the sod with a square shovel but that was pointless. Bermuda does not solarize well and besides that will take an entire year to attempt, with most folks saying my folly will end in failure. So as much as I don't want to use chemicals, Round-Up it is. I have to wait until the grass is more actively growing to use RU, so in the mean time I'm re=opening Milk Crate Farms. It's a good thing I don't throw anything away. These crates are from my college days and the landscape cloth is recycled from a previous gardening project. 1/4 bag of pea gravel and 1 50# bag of potting mix later and I have 3 lovely planters just waiting for some vegetive goodness.