On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 12:39:30 -0500, welsh dragon wrote:
I am wanting to create a new flower bed in our garden. I need to do some big
improvements to the soil in this area as it is - like the rest of our yard-
heavy clay and very alkaline. I do not have room for a compost heap and was
wondering if digging grass clipping into the soil would work as a sort of
compost heap in situ and improve the soil for planting next year? I am in
the Texas Panhandle in zone 6

I'd start now: lay out the shape of your bed, and do a heavy mulching with
newspapers or cardboard to kill the grass. Start piling whatever organic
debris you can find on the mulch (manure, grass clippings, weeds that haven't
flowered yet, spoiled hay (can often be gotten cheaply), etc., etc. Leave
out woody debris like rose prunings... takes quite a long time to decay).
If all you've got is wood and paper, add some high N fertilizer to the
pile.

Keep your pile watered so it rots (it should be about as wet as a wrung-out
kitchen sponge), and give it a turn or at least some forking through to
let in air once a week or so). In the fall, till in the mulch and pile,
and probably some gypsum (not lime), and keep adding as much organic material
to it as you can. Next spring, it should be reasonably ready to plant.

Google for "lasagna gardening" or "sheet mulching" for a low-dig method
of improving heavy soils once you've got the initial bed created.

Kay