Saving a wet corner of my garden

[Christopher Riley]

Hello,

I'm going into the third year with my vegetable garden here in Ithaca, NY, and I've got a serious issue I need to deal with

[William Wagner]

Any chance for a small ditch ?

Bill

[beecrofter]

can you buy a load of loam?

[Christopher Riley]

This'll sound like a dumb question, but where does one buy a load of loam? Agway?

[beecrofter]

Ask around at the Agway, somebody will know who sells topsoil and loam or you can leave a card on their bulletin board - it's usually full of spring lamb and chicks and ducks ads by now. Or look in the phonebook under "backhoe service" or "Ecavation "

[Usenet2007]

You "heard" some unconfirmed rumour about it? Frankly, that sounds like a bunch of horse-shit.

[Christopher Riley]

It does, doesn't it? But this isn't a my-cousin-knows-a-guy rumor. It's the real poop.

[FragileWarrior]

Christopher Riley wrote in news:C23004D2.1F379% [e-mail]:

Just remember: shit in, shit out.

[mleblanca]

Man--ure all creating a big doo-fuss!

[FragileWarrior]

"mleblanca" wrote in news:1175143222.556795.114740 @p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

All in all, I'd rather be fishing... for crappies.

[mleblanca]

On Mar 29, 6:16 am, FragileWarrior

Ha........good one. I was trying to find a way to fit that one in........ didn't think of adding 'pies' to it

But I really think everyone is being rather fecestious. Now.....SCAT!!!!

[simy1]

Just raise the beds to the point where they do not flood anymore. Granted, I do not have the clay that predominates in Ithaca, a place I visited so many times I know which soil it has. But the paths between my beds flood every spring, and the garlic in the beds, also sensitive to waterlogging, does not care. There are about 4 inches between water level and beds surface. To build up your beds, I prefer cinder blocks. You can plant carrots, parsnips or radicchio in the blocks holes if you want to use the space maximally.

Also, if you are confident of your disease situation, it is a good idea to leave roots in the ground when you clean up in the fall, they will decay and become a draining channel. Many vegetables get down to 4 feet or more. Not advisable with cabbage.

To fill in, just about any organic material you can lay your hands on will do, if you are patient enough. I prefer to get uncomposted stuff, pile it high, plant things in it that will manage, and wait. You can surely find a tree company that will deliver a load of wood chips for free. They are very harsh, but if you mix a bit of manure in it, potatoes will grow decently right in the chips. If you top dress with wood ash to balance the pH ( a couple of times during the season), plus the manure, cucurbitae, garlic and tomatoes will grow well in it. Greens, peas or carrots will not grow in such stuff though. The chips do take a couple of years to decompose, but in the end you have a soil with a thicker humus than with other organic stuff.

If you can get the manure, most everything will grow well in it, and the next year your soil is already fine for general use. I have no experience with city compost, but if it is mostly leaves, they turn into quality, neutral soil where everything grows by midsummer. Just pile it high enough. If you can't make the beds, just make the pile, plant a melon or squash on top, and let it sprawl.

[FragileWarrior]

"mleblanca" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I had to go anyway. I'm making cowpies for supper.

[FragileWarrior]

"simy1" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

There's an article in Better Homes and Gardens April 2003, titled: SUCCESS IN SOGGY SOIL, on someone who had a wet yard and fixed it. You could check your library for a copy. Basically, though, they just kept dumping in tons of topsoil, year after year.

[mleblanca]