In article ,
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
...
I've got a new plot which I'm going to work out for a vegetable garden
this spring.

Size: 34' X 50' - 1700 SF

It's currently lawn sod which I will be killing off by mowing it to ground
level and tarping it with black plastic for a month+.

Once it's ready I'm wanting to add at least 3" of material to it.

I'd figured it out to at least 15 cubic yards of material needed.

What I'd like to do is 70% amendment soil, 10% peat, 15% manure and the
rest would be the leaf matter I collected this fall.

Wanting to know what you all think of this, or if I should go about it in
a different manner. Or if you think I should add anything else to prep it
for first season growth before it gets seasoned in.

Thanks in advance!


Like Val said, use clear plastic.

And, wherever you said "I should", change to "the hired teenager should".
You should watch him/her very carefully while sipping a beer.

You gotta admire Joe's style with teenagers and beer, although hiring a
teenager sounds a lot like herding cats. Maybe teenagers are different
in New York.

Scott, you may want to look into "lasagna gardening". It is a no till
(no dig) approach to gardening. The point being that after the "shrooms"
and worms have set up house keeping (stretched out their little
myceliums and borrowed their hallways), why come in with urban renewal
and make them start all over again? Your back will probably thank you
too.

With "lasagna gardening" you would put down your fertilizer and maybe
some bone meal and other amendments as you think needed, then layer it
all over with 2 -3 layers of newsprint or a single layer of cardboard,
and top it all off with a thick (3"- 4") of mulch (I like alfalfa). When
planting time comes, just make your holes as usual. If you are going to
lay down plastic to heat the soil, you may want to look into drip
irrigation which would be under the plastic, thus insuring the plants
get their water. This is the method I'm using this year and I do plan to
lay down some black plastic around my tomatoes and peppers. Why black
instead of clear? I dunno. It just seems more reasonable to me. I guess
it's heat absorption vs. greenhouse effect.

Presently, I have a "green manure" growing in the garden, which I seeded
onto the alfalfa. I'm tired of shoveling manure too. When planting time
gets close (yikes, in a month), I'll lay down another layer of newsprint
and mulch, reset the drip lines, and plant.

Let me know what kind of plastic you use and how it works out.
--

Billy

Bush, Cheney & Pelosi, Behind Bars
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/site/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movemen...George_W._Bush