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.

Upon further investigation, I think I'll go with clear plastic mulch
too. I found the two references below, where they actually did the
experiments. Everything else that I found was anecdotal and was in favor
of red.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~taber...pt%2000/redmul
ch.pdf

http://lubbock.tamu.edu/horticulture...sticMulchTypeo
nTomatoGrowthandYield_2004_.pdf
--

Billy

Bush, Cheney & Pelosi, Behind Bars
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/site/
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