"Joe wrote in message
About 10 cubic metres of fresh fir sawdust was just delivered to my
garden site. The soil is basically clay and very hard to work with. I
would like to use this sawdust to improve the soil structure.

Should I compost the sawdust in a pile (or several piles), or can I
spread the sawdust over my soil so it can compost "in place" (due to
the large amount of sawdust)? As a nitrogen source, I am thinking of
using urea. How long before this soil is ready for planting
vegetables?

My vegetable garden will take up half the site, so I would like to
prepare that soil ASAP. I would like to use the other half of the site
for trying other ways of improving soil, eg. cover crops, etc. Can I
start some cover crops now in the area I will not be using for my
vegetable patch? Any suggestions on what a good combination of cover
crops would be?


We garden on Thames clay/silt and have a ready supply of well rotted sawdust
from our neighbours the Egham Swan Sanctuary. Wonderful stuff for clay, the
fine particles help separate the clay. Also makes a good mulch for around
cucurbits etc.
Don't use it fresh though, it will rob nitrogen out of the soil, our's has
it's own in built accelerator (swan shit). :-)

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.