Mark Kosmowski
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- Central (upstate) NY
I didn't want to totally hijack the other thread.
We are using some bagged topsoil mix that has peat moss, fertilizers and composted cow manure in it.
This is our first attempt at gardening, and we're kinda just seeing how things work. We started back in mid-April by laying down half plastic and half garden fabric to kill the grass. The plastic killed the grass, the garden fabric just puffed up with big tall grass. So we just moved the plastic to the other half of the plot after putting our soil down.
To put the soil down, we first mowed the dying grass and placed newspaper on top of it, then put down our soil. On top of the soil we put the garden fabric. While we were letting the grass die, we had gotten a few of those peat moss pellet germinators and started some things. We "transplanted" the lettuce and beans a couple weeks ago. The lettuce seems to be doing ok, but we're gonna need to buy more beans.
This weekend we're thinking to put down the soil on the other half the garden plot and I was thinking to throw in some wood chips and charcoal ash under the soil. Is this a bad idea? Would it be better to start a compost pile with this stuff for use in the fall soil prep instead?
If you're serious about your garden, you shouldn't put uncomposted shavings on unless you're also adding a nitrogen supplement, such as manure of some sort. Uncomposted wood shavings will absolutely starve your plants if nitrogen. Trust me on this. Also, it would be a good idea to test the pH of the soil regularly afterwards, as they can really acidify the soil as well. I have a pretty substantial compost pile, and a VERY substantial pile of shavings from turning. I'm actually starting to look into giving it to a place locally that does commercial compost sales; they use bruch chippings, leaves, and composted chicken & horse manure and call it "paydirt". All I can say is that the stuff does work. Anyway, I have about a pickuptruck load of shavings right now that I'm trying to get rid of! Anybody want some?
We are using some bagged topsoil mix that has peat moss, fertilizers and composted cow manure in it.
This is our first attempt at gardening, and we're kinda just seeing how things work. We started back in mid-April by laying down half plastic and half garden fabric to kill the grass. The plastic killed the grass, the garden fabric just puffed up with big tall grass. So we just moved the plastic to the other half of the plot after putting our soil down.
To put the soil down, we first mowed the dying grass and placed newspaper on top of it, then put down our soil. On top of the soil we put the garden fabric. While we were letting the grass die, we had gotten a few of those peat moss pellet germinators and started some things. We "transplanted" the lettuce and beans a couple weeks ago. The lettuce seems to be doing ok, but we're gonna need to buy more beans.
This weekend we're thinking to put down the soil on the other half the garden plot and I was thinking to throw in some wood chips and charcoal ash under the soil. Is this a bad idea? Would it be better to start a compost pile with this stuff for use in the fall soil prep instead?