I will be trying my hand at my first garden this year in a 10' X 10' area (see picture below). Unfortunately, I didn't read about the importance of compost/humus till recently and as a result, I haven't started a pile yet. Can I start preparing my garden bed (digging out the grass) before I have any? Or is there something I can buy to use in it's stead until I can make my own?
This message was edited Apr 2, 2007 11:11 AM
Others can give you more advice--I'm pretty much a beginner at this.
You might want to put heavy black plastic over it so heat from sun will kill grass and seed at top.
You might want to check with your local governments. I know some pick up bags of leaves that fall and let them form good mulch (along with ground up Christmas trees in some cases) and let anyone who will haul it away have it free or at very small price so you could get enough for that area. You can find some people who do garden work with it for sale really cheap as well.
There are some drawbacks I'll let others tell you about those.
ZoranB~ You need to read this book I have been reading about a lasagna garden bed. I just got done putting in a raspberry bed and corn beds using this method and it is a snap!! You don't even have to kill the grass. Just start to layer your organic material on top of the area you have. I would do a raised bed so that all of the organic materials don't fall all over the place. I used Cinderblock and it worked great! Here is a pic of the raspberry bed I just got done with. Oh and before I forget, here is a link for the Lasagna garden book that is a must have!! Hope this helps.http://www.amazon.com/Lasagna-Gardening-Layering-Bountiful-Gardens/dp/0875967957/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4002617-7853755?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175581717&sr=8-1
OK, that link did not work for some reason. It has before in the past. I have no idea what I did wrong. Anyway, you can look this book up by going to Amazon and typing in Lasagna Gardening. It is a really interesting.
I'm new to gardening also and would like to start composting. I only have grass clippings from the lawn. I understand that the heat in compost will take care of a lot of problems. How often do you turn the compost and is there any type of plant material you would not put in your compost?
I've learned to let the grass clippings dry before adding them to the compost pile. If I tossed wet or freshly cut grass onto a heap, it became a moldy slimy mess that was gross and hard to move around.
I gather the clippings up, then spread them out in shallow layers in a convenient out of the way part of the yard. A couple of days in the sun and a couple of turns with the fork or rake should have them dried out.
My compost heap was located in full sun.
Add the dried grass to the compost pile. Add a bucket of water. The water on the dry grass will start the cooking process. I had the best compost pile last summer, I chopped everything before adding it to the pile. ugly lettuce leaves, trimmings from veggie peelings, weeds chopped up.
It took only a couple of weeks to get things cooking. (We did have lots of rain, I think that helped)
I had three parts to the pile, starting out on one 'side' building the pile, then let that one cook, Start the next pile, until it gets tall enough, then let that one cook, then build on the third part. Once the third part has started to cook, go back and fork over the first pile, it should be ready to use when you can't tell what it used to be.
Happy composting!
Thanks drivenbonkers. Sorry for the slow reply. I've been out of state for a couple of days and just got back. That sounds as if it is just what I need. I have piles of grass clippings and just the right spot to put them. Thanks again.
I wish I had the room to compost, think I will try to do some in a trash can full of holes. any way, freetwofarm, Try not to put meat scraps or any animal waste in your pile (like dog or cat)waste, as it can be toxic to any veggies you may try to grow, and atract unwanted pests. I don't suggest putting weeds in there, they have a tendency to go right back into your garden via compost. You will love gardening. Good luck!
Sorry it took me so long to get back. I got lost, and forgot about asking this question. I'm trying to learn my way around and there are so many things I am trying to find out. Thanks Crash. How about cow or horse waste? My neighbor grazes his cows on my pasture. Lots of waste.
I'm not sure what it does right now but I am going to click on watch thread. Maybe I won't get lost again.
free
free, I use a lot of composted cow manure in my flower and vegetable beds, so you've got a gold mine out there, only does'nt look or smell like it. I'm pretty sure that fresh manure has to be composted as well. It has the ability to burn plants. Although, I'm not sure how, DG has a forum on compost, with some pretty hardcore composting folks on there that can better answer your question. Wish I had a neighbor with a cow.I have to go to the Jersey Dairy just to see a cow!
I wish we HAD a Jersey Dairy!! ; ^ } We had one in our town when I was a kid and I sure miss it.
Cow manure needs to be composted before you can use it. Spread it out in your composting pile and let it go. It's garden gold, although it is going to make you wonder about that statement. You can use rabbit and horse manure straight out of the animals, but you cannot do that with cow or chicken manure.
I agree with the grass killing method above. Putting down black plastic and/or cardboard and letting the sun kill it is a good plan. You don't want to spray anything where you will be planting your new items.
I am not physically able to run a compost pile, so I bury my compostables (is that a word?) right in the soil as I am working around the garden beds. I've never had any smell or flies and it doesn't take long to break down. I started with pure sand and weeds and had to add all the "stuff" I could and that was the easiest and cheapest way, although I did purchase bags of cow manure and other compost the first year to get things going.
Good luck with your new garden. Keep sending pictures.
Thanks crashbandiscoot and 1gardengram. Another neighbor has a horse which grazes in the pasture with the cows. The horse grazes, not the neighbor. Sometimes I wonder though. I can't tell between the horse or cow manure, so I'll put both in the compost pile. The sun is bright and shinny after a day of rain yesterday. We need both. I'm going to get my one wheel truck and my five point frontend loader and head to the pasture. Maybe I can tell a difference. I'll have to see about that. Thanks again guys.
free
1garden: My grandmother and then aunt lived in a place called Spring Lake until my
aunt passed away about five years ago. Know where that is? Hint. Lots of sand and
pinetrees. lol!
Hey free, send some sunshine to the Ohio Valley will ya?
Yes I know where Spring Lake is. I live on one side of Ft. Bragg and the city and that is on the other side. A fast-growing area to be sure. Now you know what I have been fighting in the way of soil amendments. Love all the free pinestraw, though.
Well I just got in from doing a compost pile. I hope I did it ok. I went out to the pasture and collected a wheelbarrow of manure. I made a layer of grass clippings, a layer of manure, another layer of clippings, another layer of manure and a finial layer of clippings. Then I watered it all down real well. I guess when I turn everything it will all mix together. Does this sound ok?
free
I understand 1garden. It's hard to have anything grow in pure sand no matter how hard you try. What do you do?
I would like to do that crash, I really would. I'll go to the weather map and use that little hand and move the clouds away. Keep watching. lol!
I have spent six years (almost seven) putting everything under the sun into my soil. I started with just sand and started burying my compost "stuff" because I can't do the pile any more, adding bags of manure and potting soil every year, etc. Every time I bought a plant, that soil went into the garden beds. Now I am rich in worms, toads, good bugs, and lizards and the perennials have finally taken over. I had a lot of time in the hospital during last year and the gardens had to do on their own with just watering by my granddaughter. Of course now the ten beds in my yard need some serious clean-up, but they didn't die. I'm so glad that I had done all that prep work.
That sounds like a good recipe to me, I watch Paul James on TV, and he says your pile has to stay moist to "cook", but if it starts smelling "foul" it could be to wet. Then you can just add more dry materials to balance that out. I wish I knew which episode it was so I could give you a link. Sounds like tou are doing a great job. About the little weather hand, do ya think you could super size that? My back yard is a marsh............Hi gardengram1! Your description of your soil just makes me wanna go outside and play! I've got some heavy clay, and I'm doing just what you said you did, and it's getting better, slowly but surely. I think North Carolina is the most beautiful state I've ever seen. I always say if I move from Ohio, I'm moving to NC.
It is truly a beautiful state with many things to offer. However, I live in Fayetteville, which is not the prettiest part of the state. Ft. Bragg is here with untold thousands of soldiers. I do love the soldiers and thank them every chance I get, but not the businesses that always seem to be part of an Army town. I am here to be with my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I love getting out of town and visiting other areas of NC. I especially love the ocean and try to go once or twice a year (I can't drive as much any more). I love this season with the dogwoods, azaleas and wisteria all in bloom at the same time.......except for the fact that the heat and humidity are not far behind. I hibernate in the summer rather than the winter. But ya'll come see our lovely state.
Hey Crash, how are you improving your heavy clay??? I've been putting in a first time garden bed behind my duplex in south Austin. Been making compost, shoveling in horse manure from the people behind me, digging down a foot with my shovel and turning, even amending with bags of soil amendment from home depot. After MONTHS of this it seems like I've still got pure clay 6 inches down. Planted radishes early and they grew huge leafy tops but it seems the radishes are trying to grow above ground - like the soil's too dense for them to form globes below ground. It's terrible. How many years am I supposed to do this before the clay subsides? I started making compost June 2006 and have been working the ground since Feb of this year. I'm already sick of the garden and have yet to plant my seedlings in the ground. I'm so bummed! ;(
The picture is all my beautiful veggie seedlings sitting next to my "clay pit."
Hello bunsengirl, Sounds like you're doing everything I have done, I also continue to throw my coffee grounds and eggs shells out there. I have 1 bed in particular that no matter what, continues to be my pit, it is also shaded. I wish now that I had removed the clay and replaced it with good soil. I've been googling the matter, and what I going to try next, will be amending my planting holes. I will remove the existing clay and fill my planting holes with good bagged garden soil. If that doesn't work . then I'm giong to gypsum. ( I have to do my homework on the subject before I can give info) In the meantime I have little plants just " sitting " there. not growing. I have made some pretty good bricks though. Maybe we can put our heads together and come up with something. Good luck.
I ordered in 2 cubic yards of mushroom compost first. I put as much in the garden as I could one row at a time. I planted that and then was hit with that late freeze here in KC. I ended up turning under all that I planted and using it like green manure. Then I ordered in 3 more cubic yards of a different type of compost. I have been putting that out there for awhile. But then I decided it wasn't draining well enough and had 3 yards of turf builder brought in. I raise my hills up at least 8-12 inches and plant everything in hills so that the old soil that has been worked but is still largely clay is what I walk on and the plants go into the hills. So far it's working great. All that compost has been out there for a couple of months and literally hundreds or maybe thousands of worms have moved in. Any time I use my garden claw to turn the weeds over I see sometimes as many as 8 worms at once in just a very small 6inch by 6 inch area. I've been pulling up my spinach plants this week and I'll get 1-3 worms coming up with all of them.
I've spent 450 dollars on all this soil ammendment so far. I know that's a lot for a backyard garden. But I'm looking at my long term plans and feel it's worth it.
Suzi
One drawback on using horse manure is that their digestive systems aren't thorough with processing so get weed seeds coming through. This was per the instructor in Master Gardener's class. That said I have heard many people who were very happy with using it as a compost.
compost along w/medina plus soil tretament softened my soil in less than a year. I also added lava sand ( any other sand+clay=cement) to my veg bed and had tons of veggies last year w/the looks of lots to come so it seems to be working
1gardengram said that they just put their kitchen scraps in the garden directly. We lived a primative lifestyle in tents and caves for 8 years with no running water, and we found when we dug holes each time we had to go to the bathroom, they decomposed much faster than if we had one hole for everyone, usually within a week or two! So I was thinking the idea of burying food scraps directly in the garden would be an excellent idea. But I wondered if things like banana peels and musk melon peels would not decompose that way very easily. Does anyone have any experience with this that can give more specific advice on what kind of scraps can be put directly in the garden, and how close the food scraps can be put to the plants, or does it have to be done before any seeds are planted? etc.?
Sometimes I do, but I wont do the meat scraps cause it just draws too many unwanted critters into my flower beds, and causes a stink, I will throw things like banana peels, egg shells, coffee or tea grounds, bags and all. Some say cats don't like citrus, so I'll probably throw orange or lemon peel in the beds. As for the rest, I let compost first, they say the 'green stuff' will pull nitrogen from the soil as it decomposes. I let grass clippings get brown first. That sort of thing.
