Gardening column: Here's how to start a vegetable garden
Latest News
- Multiple blessings on Mother's Day 12:12 pm
- Komets-Walleye series is turning into historic classic 9:55 am
- Paul Shaffer ready to disband the CBS Orchestra 9:03 am
- Etiquette column: Respect the wishes of those who don't want their picture taken 12:01 am
- More than 350 collector vehicles head for the block at Auctions America 10:10 am
- Gardening column: Here's how to start a vegetable garden10:07 am
- Komets-Toledo highlights from Game 4 9:54 am
Friday, May 8, 2015 - 10:07 am
Q: I want to start a vegetable garden in my backyard this year. Any suggestions on how to do it without digging and removing grass would be appreciated.
A: Here are a couple of suggestions that will hopefully get you started and be super easy:
A bag-bed garden:
• Pick a full sun location on your property. To do this watch the suns' movements throughout a day and find an area that gets at least 6 hours (more is better) of sun and a site that drains well.
• Buy 40-pound bags of compost from a garden center. You can determine how many you want by measuring the space you have. You may be able to use 6 or 8 bags (or more). If these are laid side by side and end to end you can make a raised bag-bed of approximately 4 feet wide by 6-8 feet long.
• If this area is in grass or a weedy patch you will not need to get out the shovel, just lay the bags tight against each other and this will smother the grass and weeds and over time compost the area.
• Once the bags are laid out like you want them, using a knife, open up the plastic face of each leaving a bit of plastic on the sides to hold the soil in place.
• You can plant vegetables with more shallow roots in a one bag high. If you plant deep rooted vegetables like tomatoes, you should make long slits on the bottom of each, and stack them 2 or 3 bags high.
A lasagna garden:
• Lasagna is a layered dish so you will be doing the same sort of thing with a garden bed.
• If you have saved leaves or grass clippings in a pile nearby, you can use these as layer No. 1 — if not bales of straw work well. Unbind the straw and you will notice that it is in layers. Separate the layers and lay them side by side until you have the garden size you want.
• For ease of tending the garden, it is best not to make the width of your new bed more than 4 feet.
• If you have well composted manure, spread at least a 3-inch layer of that on top your first layer.
• Next spread a 3-inch layer of compost. Hopefully you have a compost pile that you can use, if not you can buy bags of compost at a garden center.
• More straw can be placed between layers if you like or layers of sphagnum peat moss.
• Final layer can be topsoil. (You will want at least 10 to 12 inches of material to plant in.)
• As with the bag bed, no removal of grass or weeds is necessary, just begin building your lasagna where there is full sun and no standing water.
• You can be as creative as you wish with the ingredients but for edibles it is best not to use anything that has been treated with chemicals.
• Both these gardens smother whatever is growing under them and as the season goes by, they break down clay in the soil, change the structure of soil that is compacted, and actually compost all the added ingredients. In the fall, you can add layers of grass clippings, chopped up leaves and raw manure for use in the next season.
• Separate lasagna gardens work well for squash and melons — these are vegetables that take up a lot of space.
Jane Ford is an Advanced Master Gardener. Email questions to bloominthing@gmail.com. This column is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of The News-Sentinel.
No comments:
Post a Comment