Good morning! I have a conundrum -- how can I improve the soil in my cottage garden bed without destroying all of my "volunteer" seedlings from last summer? I'm sure the soil needs to be aerated and improved with some compost dug in, but I'm worried about killing my annual poppy and snapdragon volunteers, for instance. What do you folks do to improve an existing cottage garden bed? Thanks!
Question re: Improving Soil
hey windycity.... yanno, i started a thread just like this over in the Soil forum. It may help.... I'm the same as you - soil needs improving but beds full of plants.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/696308/
hope this helps a lil bit...
Terese
Thank you very much for the reply. I'll head over to the soil forum and hopefully learn a few things!
One option might be to wait until after your seeds sprout and get a little size to them, then topdress the area. You could eventually take more drastic measures like core aeration and digging in compost, once you safely move your volunteers from harms way.
I have the same problem!
I didn't see where they gave Terese an adequate answer in the soil forum; probably you'll have to do as Wrightie has suggested and add compost after the plants acheive size, but before they go to seed...a more narrow window than you might prefer, but it sounds like the only way it will work.
Suzy
Assuming that after this year's volunteers provide you with sufficient fill-ins, I'd compost the heck the out of the bed this fall. I know it's tough to wait, but I have started to work with the concept of the "5 year plan" - knowing that my gardens are totally evolutionary and will never be done.... by next spring, you might well be on another plan, lol!
I just top dress with leaf mold and use that as my mulch.. it is organic and builds up my soil..
Susan
SGL, I do the same thing. Our city has a great leaf mould program, so I order a big delivery of it once or twice a year. I spread it fairly deeply (2 in.) on the flower beds. I also core-aerate the turf areas, then topdress it with leaf mould, composted horse manure, and cock-a-doodle-doo products http://www.purebarnyard.com/cockadoodledoo/ . We've been doing this regularly since moving in less than 4 years ago, but there's been a huge improvement to my clay soil, as well as to the health of my Old Oak Trees.
Two years ago, a tree expert came out and trimmed the oaks. At that time, he expressed concern about the health of one of them in particular. Last year, I invited him back to fertilize the oaks (they drill down a couple feet, then force tree fertilizer into the ground near the roots). He told me that he could not take my money because he was impressed by how they had bounced back and looked very healthy. I thought he was crazy, but he explained that my system is just what the trees needed and that they were benefitting greatly from it.
You can rent a core-aerator from your local equipment rental. They aren't the easiest machines to haul or maneuver, but this chick has managed to do it...
Oh gee.. I wish I lived within the city that makes the leaf mould.. They would deliver it. I would take all they had!! I have to drive one city over and pick it up, but it's still worth it :) Thank goodness they load. Yes, I also go and pick up aged horse manure and that's how I started building up my beds when I first started. The one thing I am grateful to have learned is that most gardeners biggest regret is not having started out with great soil and having worked it to the point where they just kept adding like we do now.. So I started out in a big way to put down all the good stuff I could and still do when creating beds. I do not till anymore. I clear out all weeds on top on my intended bed.. and then just lay the organic matter over the clay and keep building. When it comes time to plant, the hole gets dug and the clay and organic stuff get mixed in, so it works out fine. I let the worms pull down the rest over time and they can mix it in for me. In beds where I did this years ago when first starting out, the soil is a rich black soil.. pretty far down...a dream really. :)
Susan
we OWN a core aerator and pull it behind the John Deere. We have lovely turf. Zenith Zoysia
:)
Susan
I use my lawn mower with the bagger in the fall to grind up leaves with grass and put it on
my beds every fall. And then whenever I put in a new plant, I dig really deep and load up
the compost in the hole. I think this helps keep the soil ammended.
Tam