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The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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Posted by reillyoz007 Vic Aust (My Page) on Sun, Oct 2, 05 at 5:36
| The Good - The large garden bed at the side of the house is now under 5cm of pea straw mulch.
The Bad - I forgot about the liliums which are now under 5cm of pea straw mulch. They'll keep growing I hope?
The I'm Ticked Off - I had decided to start some veggie beds, not only for the fresh veggies but also to reduce the amount of lawn. Read Len's site and thought that was the way to go: newpapers down on top of the lawn, compost on top and then mulch. Let it all sit for a while and Bob's your Uncle.
But he's not! I just happened to pull up a corner of the turf out of curiousity to see what condition the ground was in underneath and the original turf has been grown through fine plastic mesh stuff. Like fine fishing line. A bit of the lawn had died off under the shade of a shrub (now gone) and it was easy to pull the mesh out from there but where the lawn is growing vigorously it's hell to try and pull up.
I don't want to leave it there so does anyone have any suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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- Posted by Liatris FraserCoast,Qld (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 2, 05 at 17:45
| No Bob's not my uncle, he's my brother, but that's a story for another time. lol. >I don't want to leave it there so does anyone have any suggestions? You could try sliding under it with a spade and lifting it that way. Alternately, just go ahead and build your no dig bed, and then when you're getting ready to plant there, just sharpen up the spade and slice out a section of the mat as you go. By that stage your grass would have died off and weakened enough to make the job a lot easier. |
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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Mow the grass with a very low blade before you start.
Don't use weed mat - it is c#$p!
Use very thick layers of newpaper - at least 10 sheets. Water each layer as you go. Compost or manure on top of the newspaper.
Then lucerne hay - about 10cm, not fluffed up - straight from the bale in thick chunks. Water it well. Sprinkle with lime and blood and bone or superphosphate, or dynamic lifter - more compost or manure - water well again.
Then a thick fluffy layer of oaten or wheaten straw. Expect a few oat or wheat to grow from it, but it lifts out easily and can be laid flat on top for further mulch. water well again.
Leave for a while - more than 10 minutes is good. I leave mine from 6 to 8 weeks, by which time the lucerne is getting pretty rotten and mouldy. The newspaper should still be forming an excellent barrier even if anything is still alive underneath it. Did you overlap the layers of newspaper well?
Why did you put down weed mat? |
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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I think the mesh Reilly refers to is that stuff they use in lawn growing. I'm not sure if it's something to do with erosion or birds (who knows?)so I think it was already there.
Cheers,
Dee. |
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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| If you put a good layer of mulch you can leave the mesh in place. No dig gardens as Sparaxis described can be layed on concrete as long as there is drainage. The thing is to put straw thickly, not to dig to the mesh and when you have finished with the first crop repeat the whole process again. |
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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| Many thanks for the replies - yes the plastic mesh is the stuff that the turf was grown in (through?) and we did inherit it. I would prefer to get rid of it entirely so instead of ignoring it's existence I have put down newspaper with a view to 'numbing' the grass and hopefully it might be easier to rip up. I should just ignore it but for some reason it really irritates me. Probably because I've spent 2+ years improving this garden slowly but naturally and to find this additional plastic rubbish just makes me want to scream. |
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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Novice me.
What is the main idea in a no dig garden?
Is it that there is too much clay in the soil or is it to start a garden on a hard surface and save on digging? |
RE: The Good, The Bad and The I'm Ticked Off
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It is an enormous saving on digging, and if you have clay soil, there is a good chance you have worms in your garden, who will pblige by doing the heavy spade work for you, and mix the straw and manure back down into the garden, so every year your garden improves.
It also means you do not have vegies growing from hard dry soil which is impossible to keep moist, especially if youare on restrictions, and difficult to keep weed free.
Weeds WILL grow in your no dig garden, but not many, and they are usually from the straw i.e. wheat, barley or oats. They pull out easily as the roots are only down in the straw.
The lucerne and manure provide many of the nutrients your plants require.
If you are elderly or have back trouble, your no dig garden can be raised up high enough to work from a standing position. |
Here is a link that might be useful: No Dig Fact Sheet
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