I've got one word for you.

Are you listening?

Plastics.

allie, are you wanting to do vegetables - you mentioned tomatoes - or ornamentals? or maybe some combination? i guess regardless of which, if you've got heavy clay like that you need to do either raised beds, which is a lot of work, or talk your neighbor into tilling in some peat and manure etc to lighten up the soil. once you've tilled it, the amount of sunlight there will determine what's best to plant. is it full sun?

I haven't figured out how to eat plastic, Harry!

Nana, mainly veggies but if it looks attractive all the better - I've heard marigolds keep away bugs. Full sunlight. Any thoughts appreciated!

that's right, marigolds look great and are pretty effective at keeping the bugs off. you may also want to surround the plot with chicken wire if there's as many critters as you say. but the main thing is to till the soil well, adding in a lot of amendments - peat, manure, etc. LOTS of that stuff is good, especially for vegetables, and it's relatively inexpensive. then it's a matter of making little rows or furrows with a hoe and planting the seeds. of course, seeds are OK for most of the vegetables, but i'd go with young plants for your tomatoes, they do a lot better and you'll have some to eat much sooner. once everything's planted it's a question of keeping it watered; you'll want to have a hose that'll reach every part of the garden, and you'll want to water fairly often, especially when the plants are young and later on when full sumer heat sets in.

Allie - go look at the post "Square Foot Gardening" by Sandy Powers. That system sounds like a pretty good idea for something easily managed, but it does require buying some lumber and soil

Of, if you get your neighbor to till for you, and that ground has not been used for anything (I mean - no one has tried to get seven successive years of corn crops out of it, or something similar), you could go ahead and just plant whatever you want this year. You would still have to do the amendments eventually, but you could put it off for a couple of seasons by rotating crops, and in the meantime, you could start a compost pile of your own. The problem with this is that it's going to get out of hand pretty quickly with weeds, unless you buy plastic to put down, or mulch. A few minutes of maintenance a day won't help a direct-planted garden much. The weeds will take over quickly. And the fire ants sound scary.

So another idea is to try to find a source of those 5-gallon plastic buckets that hold some sort of construction material (paint? plaster? ) for free. These are what people often grow tomatoes in. Container gardening sounds like what you need to do, if you can get the containers. Very little maintenance once planted. You'll still have to buy soil, but it might be worth it. You could eke it out with digging up some from the ground.

Your season is so advanced, you probably should buy tomato plants rather than grow them from seeds. Beans, cucumbers, lettuce and squash grow fast from seed. So does kale!

Having a garden close by is heaven. Even with the shade, you could probably grow lettuces and greens and herbs in pots on the concrete.
Horse poop is not the best fertilizer but use what you have in abundance. Organic material. Lots of it.
Good luck!

I could write a book of helpful tips. My husband went to a store and collected long pallets, dismantled them and used the beams to construct 3 4 x 8 garden beds. We had been collecting grass clippings "horse" manure and our town has a place you can go get "composted" wood shavings. We combined all of what we had to fill up the beds. It was the best batch of tomatoes that year we had ever had. We grew squash, green beans and green peppers as well. We also grew stuff in white 5 gallon plastic buckets. You can put a couple of plants such as green pepper or tomatoes in each one. As one post here said all you have to do is water.

I have found horse manure to be pretty good fertilizer, but it may need to be composted with clippings first so it won't be to "hot' on the plants.

If you are wanting to save money always plant from seed. You can start them yourself inside the house. Plant seed for tomaotoe plants, pepper plants, NOW. But don't plant them in the ground until after the first week in May. It will frost several times between now and then and the soil won't be warm enough for tomaotes to grow anyway until then.

If you decide to till up the soil. Spread a THIN layer of manure before you till so it will be broken up into the soil. You would be amazed how well stuff will grow in clay, but you will need to work on it over time. When you cut grass, save the grass clippings. Lay down newspapers which will discentegrate around the plants and then pile grass clippings on top. it will keep weeds down, and moisture in so you won't have to water as much. Start with a small plot to start with. I have tried "Square foot gardenting" There is a book out on the subject that is pretty good. It tells you details about how to plant what and how close together. It also tells you how many square feet it will take to feed the number of people you want to feed how if you want to can how much to plant. In essence I did the square foot gardening in the raised beds...it worked real well. We made our beds about a foot high and I could sit on the edge and weed or pick the vegetables.

And Marigolds do help keep bugs away...fire ants I don't know about. We don't have them here in Missouri.

You can plant these plants directly into the soil now. Potatoes, peas, Kale, spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, spinache the rest should wait until after the first week in May. Other plants to plant directly into the soil from seed: corn, Okra, Green beans, squash of any kind, pumpkins, cucumbers, melons probably a lot more. Most of these can be grown in 5 gallon buckets too. We grew melons in 5 gallon buckets but they have to be watered frequently. I hope all of this helps. Good luck.

Hey Allie - I'm in Nashville and I'm doing some container gardening this year - pretty small, but it's a start. I dont' have clay problems but I do have a I-don't-know-where-i'll-be-living-3-months-from-now problem, as well as, apparently moles.

I signed up for Home Depot's gardening newsletter that sends you info based on your region, and i've found that kind of helpful so far.

I'm doing a raised bed Square Foot kitchen garden this year. I love the idea because you don't have to do the rows thing, which I hate, and you can do a lot more in a much smaller space. Raised beds also really keep out the weeds and grass that will creep into a regular garden plot.
We're doing a 2x10 plot this year, materials to build it were only $30. Supplies to make the "soil" (peat moss, good compost, and vermiculite) cost around $60. Those will both be one-time expenses, and would be lower if you made a smaller bed.

I can't do marigolds here. Although the bugs hate 'em, the slugs LOVE 'em, and it's like a siren call to them: "Come eat this yummy garden!" Frickin' slugs. :P

Oh, and here's the "official" square foot garden website:

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Allie, if you get the right answers from here, I think we should ALL post a domestic issue we're dealing with on OS for feedback, just to shake things up.

I have a ceiling falling apart in my living room and need advice. There's all this old insulation behind it and it looks hazardous...anyway, I'm digressing. I'm a horrible gardener and I can't grow a thing - though I try every year. Please keep us posted and let's get this ball on rolling on "The Practical Side of OS."

Keep it cheap and simple. The 5-gallon bucket idea sounds like the way to go -- prop them up on three bricks (keep the bottom off the ground), drill holes for drainage -- use soil from the nursery mixed with some horticultural or play (clean) sand and some Perlite, which keeps the soil in the containers from compacting too much.

Tomatoes like to be watered regularly, not too much, not too little. They like to climb/be tied to things. Keep them trimmed to two or three branches, manage the sprawl...

Hand-harvest bugs and worms. If you have a spare blender you can mix the bugs and spray them on the tomatoes (or blend garlic or onions and do the same) -- you're not growing tomatoes for bugs or birds or rodents to eat.

I've only heard of fire ants.

Start out slow and cheap and see what happens. Buy some seedlings at the nursery since it's a little late to start seeds under lights inside by now. Even the least spectacular homegrown tomato will put any supermarket tomato to shame.

Raised beds cost money (unless you have a lot of materials on hand for free and a strong back) and in-the-ground gardening may be more than you want to tackle (the fire ants come to mind again). The clay soil could stand some amending, like cheap composted steer manure ($0.50 @ Home Depot), maybe lime or calcium.

I'd love to have enough land to have a full-blown in-the-ground garden and a compost pile or two. If the heat bothers you, what about a dish towel dipped in ice water, wrung out and placed around the back of your neck? Remarkably effective.

Good luck!

Allie,

If you can talk the neighbor into tilling the soil, go for it. That will be the best long term solution for you. As far as the ants are concerned, they will build mounds anywhere not just freshly disturbed ground....I'm a witness....I had to attack several ant beds yesterday and I haven't dug a new bed in awhile.

Once it's tilled, amend the soil with peat, compost anything organic, then plant your veggies. I agree with Jeff, surround the beds with chicken wire to keep animals at bay. If you don't want to go the tiller route then by all means do container gardening. I have lots of pots throughout my acre lot and I couldn't imagine not having them. All in all, I think everyone else gave excellent advice. Good luck....you are doing the right thing asking questions now before it gets too late in the season.

Also, I like Beth's suggestion....that are plenty of saavy people on OS that can help one another with every topic imaginable.

I agree with Nana. Either raised beds or containers, with a water supply (watering cans are only good for seedlings). If you use containers, they'll have to be watered every day. It's probably too hot in Georgia already for lettuces (you could try putting them in a shady spot) but tomatoes grow well in containers. I don't plant zuchinni or summer squash-- they take up a lot of room in the garden, and frankly, don't taste different than what you buy in the grocery. Peppers of all kinds LOVE hot weather. And okra. Cucumbers like cooler weather-- you should plant them now. If you like to cook, plant herbs. Beans are easy, but need to be staked.

If you have critters and plant in the ground, you'll need chicken wire around the plot. There's a great organic product called "Sluggo" that kills slugs (which will eat marigolds down to the nubs). I garden in an organic community garden and don't find bugs a big problem, but you can hope for lady bugs and preying manti to eat the buggies.

If you plant in the ground, you will have to weed. You do need to plant seeds in rows (so you know what is planted and what are weeds). I tend to plant every square inch to mitigate the weed problem. Other gardeners spread straw (make sure it's not new straw, which will seed) over the garden to keep moisture in and stop the weeds.

Good luck! There is nothing like fresh tomatoes, or canned tomatoes in the middle of winter.

Daylilies- hardy, you can have fun breeding them (lots of time playing with them online researching and such), and they are beautiful to boot

for the heat, have you ever tried wearing a water bladder (like a platypus) next to your chest (rigged with a padded band around the back of your neck) I swear that is the only thing that lets me survive visits to southern Illinois and camping.

Dear, have you seen the upside down tomato planters advertised on TV? well they are pricey but consider this get some canvas of the waterproof type, some coat hangers (metal type) make some rings with the coat hangers and cover them with the canvas. cut a slit in a closed end making a pot looking thing tie two of the coat hanger rounds at about 8" apart with nylon cord at 4 places then continue to a hook or ring so you can hang it off your porch if you have a sunny side.get a tomato plant put it in the end with a slit close the slit up with fishing line and a sewing needle invert the canvas bag and fill with potting soil water generously and watch it grow. The plant will grow upside down and will bear lots of tomato's.