As the name implies, I have sandy "soil" (mostly sand). My home was built in 1961 in hurst. Many of my elderly neighbors have successful gardens in this area. The question is about vegetable garden LOCATION. My entire lot is 1/4 acre, including the house and both yards. On this I have 14 mature trees (plus more on my fenceline that belong to the neighbor), mostly post oak, with pecans, cedar elm, hackberry, etc. I want to plant a vegetable garden, but everywhere I look there are tree roots at or just under the soil. Last year (the first year we lived here) I learned a hard lesson . . . I pulled up 3 unhealthy dwarf nandinas along the ront of the house and planted 5 newer shrubs. I encountered two separate roots (near the top of the soil) about 1/2" - 3/4" thick, and sliced right through them, figuring they must not be too important since they are so small
and yes, within a few weeks, massive branches of my pecan literally snapped off. OK - so now I'm in the backyard wanting a small veggie garden. But wherever I prod, there are dozens of criss-crossed roots just under the soil, from 1/16" to 3/8" thick. Is it hopeless? How in the world do I locate a garden without risking killing more trees?
