Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Sep 22, 2011 5:28 pm Hi guys, long time reader, first time poster. Last year I created a no-dig veg garden using pine sleepers and lined with plastic - my thoughts were to keep tee roots out, keep the pine away from the vegies and reduce water loss. The garden was 40cm deep and I layered in lucerne, various manures and worm castings. This year I decided to remove the top layer of sleepers and create an extra 20 cm deep bed, but I lined it with Geotextile this time thinking that drainage might be a good idea. I then layered in straw and "mud" from the original bed and topped it off with worm castings before planting. I then decided to empty out all the soil in the original bed and replace the plastic lining with geotextile, but I have come up with some observations and questions. The soil is now quite a heavy mix and still has some of the lucerne layers in it that haven't completely broken down. I figure this is partly because of the worm activity - there are many thousands in there by the looks which means they are slowly doing a lot of good work, but also reducing the particle size down to what fits out their butt! Very fine particles fit close together making the soil dense and holding water really well. While digging it out, I notice that the soild is fairly damp and more so towards the bottom, but it isn't waterlogged and doesn't drip water as I shovel it. The garden is on a mild slope with leak holes at the lower end, which seems to have worked quite well. The plastic has also sucessfully kept roots out, though now has a few extra holes from the digging. Questions are - not in order. 1) Should I save myself the trouble of digging the rest out (it's about 3/4 done) and leave the plastic there on the basis that it seems to be working fairly well, or should I go ahead and replace it with Geotextile? 2) Should I be bothered about the soil being so heavy, and if so, how can I lighten it up a bit? I am adding layers of straw as I go, hopefully to open it up a bit and because all the manure and lucerne I used last year have probably made for a high nitrogen environment. 3) Will all the compost worms cause any problems? I don't see how I could remove them even if I wanted to. Any suggestions or comments appreciated. Re: Heavy Veg Garden Soil Mix. 2Sep 29, 2011 12:15 pm Well, to answer my own question. A rural friend asked me to grab a handful of soil from close to the bottom and squeeze it. Yep, some water dripped out, so I decided to continue and replace the plastic lining with the Geotextile. Re: Heavy Veg Garden Soil Mix. 3Sep 29, 2011 12:44 pm Plastic and gardens are not a good mix, sorry!! It doesn't let the soil breath. Re: Heavy Veg Garden Soil Mix. 4Nov 08, 2011 11:21 pm Your set up is fine. You have just entered the real world of making soil. A concept absolutely foreign to nearly everyone. Check out the work of Newcastle Uni on soil creation and sustainability. It is said that friable or fertile soil will be exhausted in Australia in around 15-25 years from many studies done. That's because Aussies are about the worst in the world at creating new soils. This will be a reality unless farmers change their practices (which in some areas they are doing very well and others are just flogging soils literally to death) You just changed that by a tiny smidge We just take from soils and never put back. It runs out but not at your house. Its perfect stuff. The wormies are nothing to be bothered about. They are the engines of life in many ways. Leave the plastic in there. Don't stuff about with it all. If you can integrate a means of capturing the water runoff that will be absolutely chock full of organic compounds and biological life just keen to get back into that veggie garden and get working for you So you're making new soil using soil organisms and the soil food web It is being consumed and turned into plant material. Just keep topping it up as you plan and every now and then turn it over a bit. Maybe add in some zeolite and perlite. That will serve to keep nutrients in and a better micro organism population as well. there is only 20% difference in concrete strength between 20 mpa and 25 mpa, so check with your engineer first if it fits his calculation tolerances. There are ways to… 6 18294 Firstly, if your house is still under builder's warranty (10 years in Victoria) you should have no need to crawl into roof space but let the builder handle it, unless you… 3 5633 What size are the windows, double or single glazed, can I have a pic of the full windows inside & out? If you can see packers please take a pic. 1 12383 |