What kind of soils are in Austin, TX?

Question

I am interested in planting tomatoes in Austin, TX and was wondering if anyone knows what kind of soils are present in the ground.

Answer 1

Depends on where in the city you're at, we're right on a fault line.  Roughly East of I-35 is prairie land which is great for farming (Blackland Prairie), West, especially west of Mopac, is part of the Edwards plateau, which is mostly thin layers of topsoil on limestone.  When I lived in South Austin my soil was practically all clay, now I'm in East Austin and it's great, our tomatoes grow right in the ground.

Try contacting a local gardening group, they can probably help you out a lot.

Answer 2

Austin, like most of Texas, is limestone.  I highly recommend dirtdoctor.com for organic gardening advice.  Howard Garrett is based in Dallas and was mentored by Malcolm Beck in San Antonio, so he has plenty of experience with Texas soils and drought.