Dig a Hole for Topsoil   As mentioned on other pages, the land on which I am planting was formerly a small mountain. Thousands of cubic meters of limestone were removed, leaving limestone as the only product on which to build houses and try to grow plants. I have had to shovel into the limestone, making a trough about six to eight inches deep into which to put a growing medium that my plants can endure. That is what I am doing in this photo. Is it hard work? Not too bad since limestone is rather soft and crumbly. Sometimes I come across a large stone that is difficult, but not too often.

	Mix Topsoil & Cow Manure   Other small mountains surround the cheap subdivision where I am planning to build a house and where I am trying my tropical gardening. On one of those mountain there are "mountain people" living. I hired a couple of mountain boys to bring in topsoil in burlap bags at around $1 equivalent per bag. I also ask them to bring in a couple bags of dried "cow pies", cow manure, same price. That is what this pile is, black topsoil with a large amount of clay material plus some broken up cow pies. I mixed them and remixed them, taking about three days to do it, letting the mixture dry overnight each time. At times, I mix my favorite commercial fertilizer with the above mix. My favorite, from ACE Hardware,is 14N-14P-14K. It has served me well for both flowers and vegetables.

	Start Some Tender Plants in Peat Pots These peat pots contain bell pepper plants (two of which are now visible) and beefsteak tomatoes. The pots are made of shredded coconut husks so the roots of the plants are well able to grow through the pots when planted into the garden. The soil in the pots is the same mixture as mentioned above so they are accustomed to the soil type. There will be minimal stress when planting the plants, pot and all, into my garden area. I water my plants every day unless there is rain already coming down on them. I keep the weeds under control and allow them plenty of sunshine.

Roger has another site. Click here to see it.