Viewing post #843188 by chelle

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.