Preparing vegetable garden

I'm in zone 5. We have a vegetable garden spot but did not utilize it this past year. The fencing broke down and I knew the deer would eat anything we planted so the soil was allowed to fallow. We had a very large pond dug on the other side of the property. The first 20 inches or so of the pond was black topsoil. This was farmland many years ago. I had the men dump about 3 truckloads of this topsoil over the existing garden spot. I have since added chopped up leaves mixed with grass clippings and rototilled it under. We plan to get a fence around it in the spring.

My question is.....should I be adding anything else to the soil before spring? I'm pretty sure the wild field grass and weeds that came with the pond topsoil will germinate. How is the best way to handle getting rid of it? Should I cover it with a tarp and let it sit for a year or what? I don't want to be fighting weeds and tough field grass growing in the vegetable garden.

The soil looks dark and rich and is pliable and soft. Should it be tilled again in the spring? Should I add anything else to it then..... like balanced fertilizer or dried powdery manuer? I'm open to letting the soil cook for a year if it will help improve things.

Thanks for any advice you can offer

Brenda

Hi Brenda,

I'm a big fan of lasagne gardening: where you pile on layers of compostable material such as leaves, straw, etc during the months when the garden is not in use. All of this material breaks down and adds nutrients and texture to the soil.

Although covering the area with a tarp will suppress weed growth it may interfere with the other wonderful processes going on underground (earthworms, etc) by depriving them of oxygen. I prefer to cover the area with old newspaper (no glossy inserts), dampened, at least 5 pages thick and overlapped 2-3" where pages meet. Cover the newspaper with compost and/or compostable material, mulch, etc. This will hold the newspaper in place and disguise it. The newspaper (as long as it is 5 or more pages thick and overlapped at edges) will suffocate any weeds and will decompose to become compost. This setup is an earthworm magnet, and earthworms are considered an indicator of the health of the soil. They will till the soil and add their own brand of compost. This method keeps my vegetable garden in such condition that additional rototilling is usually not needed. If you do decide to till again before planting in Spring, note that in doing so you risk turning under and hence planting any weed and grass seeds that have found there way to the area.

Oh, and compost, compost, compost. This all works great for me, but then my garden is fairly small.

Thanks Scutler for responding with your advice. I appreciate it. I guess for the first year or two I'll be pulling wild grass and weeds daily till they're mostly gone. In my flower gardens I use Preen and that works great. I'm ot sure if it's safe to use in vegetable gardens or not or even if the wild field grass would respond to it. I do have a lot of newspaper saved up. I just hope I have time to get some work in on it with everything else we've got to do to get the city house ready to sell and get moved.

Hi Loon, I would check label info to be sure before using Preen in vegetable garden, better safe than sorry. I realize that the paper may not be doable if you have a large area to cover. If all else fails, go with the tarp. I think that's better than either having weeds or using harmful chemicals.

I have had amazing success with the paper, compost, mulch method. When I 1st moved here I wanted a garden and did not have time to make one the normal way. I put a thick layer of wet paper right down on top of the existing lawn, covered the paper with about 5-6" of compost/soil mix, planted seed and seedlings in it, and covered with pinestraw mulch. My hope was that the paper would kill/eliminate the lawn and that the roots of the developing plants would eventually work through the paper and into the soil below. Also, since the underlying soil was predominately clay, I was also betting on those worms to do the tilling. Amazingly, this not only worked, it was my best garden ever, and NO weeds! The crop was of exceptional quality and the yield was such that I ate my fill and gave bunches to neighbors, friends, collegues and eventually anyone at all.

BTW, if you are planning to have rows/aisles, you might want to use plastic or mulch or even old carpeting in the aisles; that will cut the weeding a lot. The carpeting breaks down of time. I put old coire door mats, carpet squares, etc in the aisles of my garden.And remember, even if you can't do the whole area, doing part will still help.

Whatever you decide to try, best wishes for a great garden!

I save big boxes for the cardboard. Pull off all the plastic tape & labels
and then use it between rows in my garden. Works for one year and sometimes
even two. Only problem with it is saving it up all year is a bit bulky!

Tam

What great ideas. Thanks Tammy and Scutler! I've seen the carpet idea before many many years ago. We had an Italian neighbor who had the best garden you've ever seen and he always used old carpet in between his rows of vegetables. He always grew enough for his family and everyone else on the block. I sure do miss Tony.

I'm still sucking up leaves and dumping them on the ground out there. If nothing else it will help improve the soil. I forgot my mountains of newspaper at the other house so will have to wait till next week to bring it up. I'll cover as much as I can and hope it rains to make it too heavy to blow away. At this point all I have is chopped grass clippings and chopped up leaves to go on top of it.

Has anyone tried planting a cover crop before winter? With what results and what did you sow? I'll be sure to check with the Preen on veggies. It sure was a time saver for weeding in the ornamental garden as long as you put it down again after 90 days.

Loon,

If you want to be organic (and not worry about preen's affect on veggies) try
Corn Gluten Meal (WOW from Gardens Alive). Its inhibits germination of seeds
and is promoted for use on lawns but it should work as well on vegatable gardens.

I've used several cover crops - winter wheat for winter. You need to dig it in
a few weeks before you plant. I've also used buckwheat in summer after planting
& harvesting. Its supposed to block out weeds. I guess it worked while it was
growing - sure did add nice organic material when I dug it in too. (weeds came
back after it was dug in.)

Have fun!
Tam

Tammy, I like that cardboard idea. I'm going to try that. I always have lots of boxes waiting to go to recycling.

Loon, I forgot to mention that you should turn the carpet upside down. looks more natural. mine gets obscured by dirt pretty fast. I've also used old rubber door and car mats.

I've never had any problems with the paper blowing away (except while I'm putting it down) as long as I put some mulch on top. leaves should work. It is recommended to wet it 1st. otherwise when it rains, the rain rolls off. hard for rain to penetrate dry paper. BTW, the (damp) paper layer also cuts watering needs by reducing evaporation.

I tried the cover crop thing one year. I planted winter cover blend of rye and hairy vetch and a cover blend containing rape/canola among other things. Bought them from Gardens Alive. Important to note that you must either cut cover crop back to prevent seed development or turn under before seeds develop. Otherwise you will be tilling all those seeds into your new garden and you haven't seen weeds until the cover crop starts to sprout during the growing season!

I failed to follow through and till mine under. Now, 4 years later, I still get a crop of vetch all over my vegetable garden and surrounding flower beds. It has become a beautiful menace; the hummers, bees, and butterflies love it and the purple flowers are lovely but it also crowds out the other plants.

This message was edited Oct 22, 2005 9:33 PM

I tried the newspaper thing one year and had newspaper all over the property
all summer. I must not have put enough mulch/dirt on top.

Scutler - I've read vetch grown in amongst tomatoes will improve the yield.

Tam

For about 4 years now I've been using newspaper year round under the mulch in my vegetable garden and around shrubs, trees, etc - anywhere there is sufficient space between plants. I put 4" or so of pine straw or that red shredded/chipped wood mulch on top. None has ever blown away. I've also "converted" friends and neighbors who complained of weeds popping up through their mulch; placed under the mulch, it does a super job of suppressing the weeds and reducing evaporation. The extra time to put it down is a pain, but more than pays for itself later in time spent "not" weeding.

Tammy, I've also used cardboard under pinestraw in larger beds around small trees. It also works to suppress weeds, but I find it harder to work with (around plants, not talking about aisles) and harder to overlap at seems without producing too much bulk. I'm in favor of any biodegradable, non-toxic weed "barrier" used under mulch, and esp one that reuses and recycles waste products such as paper and cardboard.

About the vetch, that must explain my tomatoe crop because I have vetch growing in everything on that side of the yard. lol!