Starting a Garden from nothing

[KrazyKay]

I was given some vegetables that can be planted at this time of year for where I live. I have a spot in the backyard where I want to plant the seeds, but I have never planted a garden before and need some advice on how to start. There isn't an area in our backyard without weeds/grass, lol.

Is there an easier way to get rid of all the weeds/grass in the area I want to plant these seeds than using a hoe? I was out there this morning for about an hour with the hoe and only got about a 1 foot by 1 foot area cleared and even that didn't get all the weeds.

If anyone is interested, I live in southeast Texas, just north of Houston and the vegetables I was given are Carrots and Peas - both of which on the back say they can be planted in late summer (August/September).

As I work on this garden with these two vegetables, I will most likely be back with more questions too, lol. I'll just keep them to this thread though.

[Elgama]

you could grow them in pots - or look into square foot gardening.

Concerning removing weeds recommend for preparation doing it on hands and knees its hard but worth it

-Charley

[Jbs2763]

the "easiest" way...is rent a sod cutter and a tiller....

practical way...

a square nosed shovel, as well as a regular one, "cut" the sod with the regular shovel....meaning just cut out the area you want...then take the sqare shovel and SCRAPE the sod out of the are you want to plant, then you can use the hoe/shovel to turn the dirt..., or if you can rent a SUBSTAINTIAL tiller from your local tool shop, it still probalby behouve you to cut/remove the sod before you till, its a rough ride cutting sod with a tiller...i've done it way to many times

[Gemma]

Try using a fork - a full size one not a hand one. The idea is to smash the earth up into little bits, then when you get down on your knees the weeds should just pull straight out!

I'd use the hoe for the little weeds that grow between plants after you've done the initial hard work, they haven't had a chance to get established so you can just scrape at the top level to get rid of them.

Good luck!