Catmint20906 said:
My one lasagna bed for this year is still full of dried leaves and other mulchy stuff--have to wait for next season to plant it.

Why do you need to wait? Is it that it won't hold moisture at all?

chelle said:

Why do you need to wait? Is it that it won't hold moisture at all?

hi, Chelle. It needs more actual soil!
It is still really just last year's huge compost pile full of plant and grass clippings and autumn leaves, piled on top of the layer of cardboard over the grass, and then outlined with old wooden boards. It needs to compact down and decompose some more, then I'll probably add some soil builder and top soil. So I think it won't be ready for a while now, unfortunately.

Catmint20906 said:

hi, Chelle. It needs more actual soil!
It is still really just last year's huge compost pile full of plant and grass clippings and autumn leaves, piled on top of the layer of cardboard over the grass, and then outlined with old wooden boards. It needs to compact down and decompose some more, then I'll probably add some soil builder and top soil. So I think it won't be ready for a while now, unfortunately. :-(

That's a shame.

I'm over the waiting thing myself. As soon as I'm sure my pile won't heat up excessively I add compost to each planting hole and plant it. It seems similar to a forest floor in that state; there's enough moisture-holding capacity from the compost to get the ball rolling, and the plants' roots will wander down to the soil level below quickly, since the layers are still loose. If it isn't hot, it's really just acting like a nutrient-rich mulch anyway.

The spring bulb bed in the middle distance here has no actual garden soil, except for whatever the worms pulled up into it from below.



I just piled up alternating layers of debris and horse manure in early fall, laid in the bulbs, and added a few more layers. It's got to be the best spring bulb display I've ever had, and there are also early summer wildflower-type seedlings and daylilies in there too, ready to take over after the bulbs are done. I haven't been able to get a really good picture of it yet, but I'm going to try again today.

Looks beautiful! Hope to see some close up shots soon!
I'm not too good at the waiting thing either!!
With the lasagna bed I created for last year, I did something similar to what you describe--planted in tons of tulip bulbs in the fall while it was still very mulchy, and boy those were beautiful tulips the next spring!
I want to plant perennials in this bed, though...
And there are several inches of leaves, grass clippings, and whatnot...
But maybe I could try layering in some manure!! Maybe that would help speed things along....

Catmint20906 said:
But maybe I could try layering in some manure!! Maybe that would help speed things along....

Or just some finished compost. I'd feel really bad if your plants were burned by manure. My daylilies for trialing in this bed were extras, so if something went wrong I wouldn't feel too bad.
Or do you mean now, well before you add plants? That would help, I bet.

I'm disgusted with my long-view pictures today ; it was too strongly sunny by the time I got out there, I think.










Here are shots of two other small beds done the same way.





Sorry the picture quality is so poor!

No apologies--they are beautiful!! Love the variety of daffs and tulips. What kinds do you have planted?

Oh, those are lovely pictures, come on. I especially like those purple tulips in the last one.

The manure I bet Robin is referring to is composted and bagged -- I use it directly on plants and in potting mixes myself, and it is far past the burn point. (As long as it's steer manure in that bag. The chicken manure can still be somewhat hot.)

As a matter of fact used some today as I am running very low on potting soil and had a container project I was in the midst of....

kylaluaz said:Oh, those are lovely pictures, come on. I especially like those purple tulips in the last one..

well, I'll see what I currently have sitting on my patio
spreading substances has gotten harder with my knee pain, but my handyman is coming over this afternoon to mow the front lawn for me, so maybe he can help me spread some stuff, too!

Oh good idea to ask him!

This is the first year I'm asking for his help with the yard, but it's gotten too painful for me to do much walking or lifting.

It's okay--my favorite part is just looking! :-)
I do need to do some weeding, though--and that's not something anyone can help me with because only I know what I want to let grow or not!

I have a really pretty, small-flowered narcissus that must have come from you, Catmint. I know I didn't order it, but it's in with the other new bulbs in the debris beds. I love it!



I'm taking a break from planting glads right now. I really wish I had gotten myself up earlier today so I'd be done by now.

Very pretty, Chelle! I wonder if that is Tete-a-Tete?

Glads are pretty, but the planting is definitely a chore to get them in deep enough and find a way to stabilize them so they don't flop over!!

Okay, this afternoon I dropped DD off at a friend's house and afterwards as I was driving home the car just happened to swing by one of my favorite nurseries. Got several things on my wish list and wish I could say I was good and stuck only to that!

Guess I have some planting to do tomorrow!!

Oh, that car! For shame. It shouldn't run away with you like that! Tsk.

Have fun. Whadja get?

I know, right? Bad car!
well, I picked up several tender perennials and annuals that I always love getting every year--African Blue Basil, New Guinea Impatiens ('Sonic Sweet Cherry' this year--just love the color), Vincas, polka dot plant, pentas, lantana ('Bandana Cherry Sunrise' this year--very excited), Homestead Red Verbena, pineapple sage, some varieties of coleus, Verbena bonariensis which the skippers love, and even an ice plant which I swore I wouldn't get anymore because they *never* survive our winters even though they're supposedly hardy to our zone--but it was a cute little thing in a small container, and well somehow it jumped into my cart when I wasn't looking.

I was also tempted by a stunning color of columbine--called 'Clementine Salmon Rose', and also a plant that's new to me--first time I've ever owned it!--Verbascum 'Southern Charm'. I'll have to get pics of them tomorrow. And then I saw some varieties of sedum in small containers whose siren call I could not resist...

No, the first picture below shows Tete-a-Tete, and they're early bloomers. The unknowns are much taller, they're some of the latest to bloom, and the flowers are different.


Whatever they are, I'm overjoyed to have them.


I'm planning on doing the glads the same way; just keep on adding layers. Funny though, I'd never soaked them in manure tea before planting till today. I started soaking them around noon, and by 7:00 the ones I still had left to plant were beginning to sprout already!


Oh, you'll love that columbine! Mine have made it through, I think, three years now.

How do you keep your verbena nice? Mine always got mildew, so I stopped growing it.

Interesting about the daffs. the only other one I have that could be a possibility is Martinette, but I think that one is earlier blooming as well. They are pretty, though!

What is manure tea?

I've found the homestead verbenas to be a bit fussy, and yet every year I'm enticed to get one! The spot I found that worked for them last season is quite sunny, but my lavender and African basil grow in that area as well, so I think they got a little afternoon shade from them. The verbena I've had the most luck with is V. bonariensis--it does well in a part sun area and the skippers especially *love* it. It is really a pollinator magnet.

Thanks!

V. bonariensis does better here too, but if I start it from seed it doesn't bloom until a week or so before the first frost.

Manure tea made by me is just a fancy name for horse poo in water. I think other folks usually let it cook in the sun and stir it intermittently for a week or two, but for ornamentals I usually just use it in weak concentrations and skip the wait. There I go again...skipping the wait!