The same old Newbie question

I know I saw a thread on here sometime back about fall preparation of a bed to be planted in spring. Of course, I didn't watch it and now I can't find it.

So these are the typical old questions: Clay soil, new contruction, no shade
1) What order do I put things in? I have newspaper, mulch, and lots of compost from the farm.

2) At what point do I till? Before the newspaper, obviously, but do I till first? After the compost? No clue here.

3) Can I put anything in the bed before spring? I was thinking to put the bushes and bulbs in now, but if they need to wait, I'll wait.

Thank you for your help. As I type this, it occurred to me I never looked in Classic Threads.

If I were you, I'd lay down a thick layer of compost, then till it only once deeply to mix the compost in well. Then layer it with paper, then the mulch. (If the "compost" is well-rotted, you can plant within that week. A month othwise is safe.) Plant shrubs and bulbs after it is amended and settled a bit. Shrubs- in either spring or fall, whichever season is longer; Bulbs- when they are in season.
I hope this helps you, good luck!
K. James

McGlory - Yes to Kenton and keep the area moist from the time you lay down till spring. Usually the weather does that but I don't Know where NE is. ( Nebraska, New England, North Dakota (poor spelling LOL),Netherlands, or Ninederbar Eich.)

LOL, Soferdig. Nebraska. Fall can be dry, so I'll be sure to keep it moist.

Now that Kenton has written it out, it all makes sense. I probably would have done it right, but kept second-guessing myself. Thanks, Kenton.

I probably would not till at all. But that depends upon how hard the soil is... if its really really hard - like concrete - then tilling in compost might be needed.

I tilled mine -- and THEN read about how you "wake up" old weed seeds when you do that. If it ain't one thing, it's another. It's fine -- I'm not planting that area until spring, so I plan to till again, then layer it all over the winter.

gggrrrrr

I'm going to have to till. The ground is all compacted because of the new construction. As it is now I'd need a chisel to plant something.

I agree McGlory that tilling is good, as long as you add enough compost and organic matter. If your soil is concrete you need to mix at least 3 to 5 parts compost to 1 part of compacted soil or you are only making the soil finer and more prone to compacting. I always work with at least 18 to 24" of soil from the origional soil. I usually start by layering sawdust and manure over several months on the new area. Oct thru March and in early april I start adding compost and more native soil from the next area that I will be ammending. I am always making soil on top of my garden every winter and after a couple of years of accumulation I scoop the top of the garden off and put it in the new bed area. I often leave the area untouched while the soil is cooking. Here is my new area of about 6000 sq ft.

McGlory, if you are dealing with that bare dirt from new construction, you might want to consider planting a winter hardy cover crop (green manure) to help build your soil even further after you work in some compost. Cover crops can help to suppress weeds, break up, aerate and stabilize the soil with their roots. You can them turn them under in the spring, or just mow them down and plant your lanscaping through them.


I'm including few links to further info. Some of the info is repetitive but expressed differently:

http://www.auri.org/proproj/allelopa.html
http://www.btinternet.com/~bury_rd/green.htm
http://www.main.org/aog/articles/grn.htm

Thank you everyone. We've got grass cover, but that's it. The house was built in the spring of 2005.

This weekend we got it tilled really deep and added a pickupload of compost. Tilled it again. The newspaper and mulch come next, which leads to the following question:

Does cottonwood make satisfactory mulch? I read a thread by TwinLakesChef where she asked about cottonwood leaves for compost, but couldn't find anything about mulch. And we're talking the whole tree here. We have a sawmill close that sells cottonwood mulch for $55 a pickupload. Mulch from the landfill is cheaper, but tends to be weedy. This stuff will be clean, but I don't know how well it works. Does anyone else know?

I have never tried Cottonwood chips, but my guess is that you will want to wet it down, layer it with manure and let it sit for a while or it will rob your soil of nitrogen. Or you can use it for paths, where you want to kill everything. Soferdig mixes wood chips with some manure and uses it as a mulch. That might work because the manure provides green material. Hopefully he will offer his opinion on this when he returns from his vacation.

Most wood (Cottonwood included) (black walnut excluded) chipped and shredded makes a nice mulch.

Yes I would think the same thing. Sorry I have been in the distant praries of eastern Montana. I have used cottonwood, aspen, doug fir, ponderosa pine, and rocky mt maple wood chips in my compost. But I do not use it for mulch cause I like the looks of bark better. I often start beds with deep layers of wood chips, bark, sawdust and then add manure to it to break down the wood into soil. This works especially well here in my dry long drought of summer. The large amount of wood chips holds the water very well to provide for conservation of all water that accumulates in the spring, winter, and fall. I enjoy also the large amounts and varieties of mushrooms that thrive in this type of soil. I would never use it without manure added or it might diminish the amount of Nitrogen available to the newly planted perenial or annual. Also it would take long times to turn into soil.

Here are some interesting pics I found on the Internet about a making a new lasagna bed for roses. It got me interested in it and I'm trying one, too.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0716235023150.html?62


Good luck and let us know how it goes. t.