On Feb 26, 9:25 am, FragileWarrior
wrote:
Jangchub wrote :



On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:47:38 +0000 (UTC), FragileWarrior
wrote:

I have a large area between our front walkway and the stockade fence
that I'm tired of mowing. Since it is almost entirely in shade, I
think I'd like to turn it into a mint garden this year. I don't care
about spreading because if the mint goes under the fence and into the
yard it just makes the dogs smell nice. I also have no objection to
just mowing it like lawn if it crops up where I don't want it.

What's the best way to make sure that I get garden there and not mint
sprinkled with regrown grass? I was going to rent a tiller and turn
up the sod but then what? Do I remove the sod chunks or do I just
chop it, turn it under and hope it becomes green manure and not more
grass? Is it better to remove all the sod and then replace the
missing dirt with top soil? If some grass sprouts up down the line,
will the mature mint plants smother it out?

All opinions and experiences welcome.

Thx.

When I do this I water well and two days later get out with my sharp
edging spade and remove the sod by hand, sitting there shaking the
soil off as I go. You can also rent a sod cutter or pay someone to do
it. I like getting down in the dirt and breaking up clumps, etc.

I did do that for the garden alongside the house last year but this
Indiana clay sort of wears on your nerves after awhile. Maybe by the
time spring rolls around I will have sufficiently recovered from LAST
year to do it by hand.

Never do this if the soil is too wet as you will ruin the texture for
good.

Can you explain what you mean by "ruin the texture"? Wouldn't the
texture come back as the soil dries out?

FW
What will be damaged is the soil structure, or the way the particles
are
put together. Tilling wet soil, especially clay will eliminate all the
air spaces
(pores) and the soil will become compacted hard as a rock when it
dries out.
(That's what happened to our great loam soil here. Someone tilled it
wet and it
was like cement. HAD to be wet down the night before or the shovel
would
not penetrate it dry) Walking on it wet will do the same thing.
It's not permanent, but takes a lot of time and work to get it back to
good stuff.

Take some soil in your hand and squeeze it. If it sticks together in a
gooey
mass, don't till/dig it yet. When you can poke a ball of soil with
your finger,
and it falls apart easily, then is the time to work the soil. You
might want
to dig in some compost/organic matter in when you do, it will improve
the
structure of clay soil tremendously. Good soil structure will clump
together
somewhat like cake crumbs, with air spaces between the crumbs.
If you don't have ST Augustine or Bermuda, but just grass, tilling it
under
would provide some organic material itself.

Emilie