Breaking Ground

[kelly_m]

Mine own pitch fork, shovel, lawnmower, snowblower, skilsaw, table saw, cordless drill.

And no one but me touches any of it! Well except for the lawnmower. I do have child labour for that!

I do lust after a rototiller........

I would have a hard time rototilliling that one garden though.....I have 6 mature trees in the front, and therefore LOTS of roots that end up having to be dug up ever couple of years as well. Well hopefully not so much anymore...having planted stuff that hopefully can compete with those roots....

And considering the actual clay I had...It may have been difficult. Seriously. I've seen clay-y soil. This was clay. real clay. could market it clay. Wouldn't have wanted to go out and invest in a +$120 rototiller only to burn out the motor cause the clay bunged up the tillers!

Besides. I like digging in the dirt!

Though....I got the bug for rototilling when I borrowed one one year....

There are many schools of thought on rototilling veggie gardens too though.....there are the organic, turn it over by pitch fork thereby not burying too deeply the nutrients and adding extra aeration, something to that effect. Don't know too many details on that one, cause I don't have a rototiller!!! demmit!

[Dumbo]

I do lust after a rototiller........

You men out there with rototillers, look out!

there are the organic, turn it over by pitch fork thereby not burying too deeply the nutrients and adding extra aeration, something to that effect.

Yep. That's about it per some of the books. But I'm not about to take a pitch fork to that. That's crazy talk.

Where I'm about to dig up I can see roots from the neighbours half dozen tree's. The rototiller will make short work of that.

[kelly_m]

Rototiller first....if the man comes with it.......

Good luck with that....I have disposed of miles and miles and miles of rootes!

Maybe it will work.....but have fun cleaning the tiller afterward!!!

[Dumbo]

hmm you think?

I think you're laughing at my garden innocence and garden virginity. Maybe I am better off just doing a raised one then to avoid all this? aaaah decisions.

[Eeyore]

PST, Dumbo and Kelly, it's called a garden fork. A pitchfork is found in a hayloft!

Anywhoo, my 2 cents. Even if you go raised you'll probably want to do some amending to the existing soil. My soil has a lot of clay in it and Kelly has pretty much spelled out the advantages and disadvantages of clay. Any type of compost you can use to break up the clay is a bonus. Throw on any grass clippings and yard waste you have as long as it isn't contaminated in some way and till it all in in the fall. If you don't have a composter run your veggie trimmings through a blender and side dress your veggie gardens.

[kelly_m]

DEMMIT!!! had a response and I don't know where it went! a good one too!

I would never laugh at your virginity. That would be cruel!

One must make sure they have the right precautions in a serious situation such as this. No matter what bed you make, the proper preparations are key to successful growth.

[Dumbo]

Yeah, I'll till it in with either mushroom compost (Dave raised the point on that one) or black earth. Then i'll check out what they have in terms of a mix to top that with.

Looks like they call for rain most of the week now, so I may push it off a week depending on how much comes down.

As for home compost, I normally just toss it all in the compost bin that the city picks up every week. I have no clue what the previous house owners used on the grass or whatever.

@Kelly. I can not reply to your comment and maintain a PG-13 rating. :p

PST, Dumbo and Kelly, it's called a garden fork. A pitchfork is found in a hayloft!

aaaah! Ty Boss. Kelly sent me this and said it's done this way:

And I believed her!

Pitchfork-Kelly.jpg (11.32 KiB) Viewed 610 times

Knew I shouldn't have trusted her! That wicked, wicked Kelly.

[Lulu]

Starting my 9th year here, and thus far, have "created", via lasagna method, 20, mostly very large, raised beds. A few smaller ones, to balance out the look.

This is a lakeside property, which but was built up, over a rocky base, with a steep hill going down to the lake. Also have tons of poplar, birch and spruce trees, with massive, and mostly surface root systems, tangled in with the large rocks, underneath. No matter where I dug, I hit rock or roots, so, everything had to be added.

The biggest reason for creating the lasagna beds, was that I could not get a "truck load" of dirt, unless I wanted it dropped in my lockstone driveway, which would then necessitate wheelbarrowing it all out to the beds spread out over an acre of property. And, then there was the question of what to do with the abundance of leaves and grass clippings produced here! Lasagna beds solved both issues.

Now, the compost material all gets dumped in a gully on one corner of the lot; figure I've got at least 20 years of dumping space there!

The three truly raised beds I made with patio stones were to camouflage my "ugly service area", around my two sheds, where my riding lawn mower and tiller and composters are parked.

[Dumbo]

I never heard of lasagna beds before yesterday, and now.

I looked into it a bit. Seems neat. But I can't picture myself generating enough organic waste to maintain this. Though I could be wrong.

I looked into what my city offers and they will reimburse 50% the cost of compost bin if I decide to buy one. I maaay try this out, but getting or making a compost bin is the least of my priorities ATM. Plus it would take 6 months of filling it before I could likely use it on a small area. Makes sense though.

Since I'll be building a new fence sometime soon, I'll likely have some left over cedar to maybe make a bin.

Will keep this in the back of my mind.

[kelly_m]

Dear Marc,

I have no idea what you are talking about. I was merely stating that one must prepare the soil properly ahead of time, no matter a raised garden bed or not, in order to see an abundant crop.

Heaven's! I am shocked. Outraged!

Ktheshedevil