Using Compost without Soil?

Billy, I've snipped the "memory lane" just for brevity and not to censor your words. I remember some of those episodes well and agree with you that they were unsavoury. However, I still defend the right of anybody who wishes to express a view or describe an experience relating to gardening issues here in a public forum to go ahead and do so. You say that he (Shelly) sometimes "can be spot on, but it's not worth the risk". For that reason alone I would contend that it *is* worth the risk and surely people can make up their own minds about what he says, especially if there are diligent well argued replies to counter his views from other posters, such as yourself, when expressing your own opinion. I've made my point and will retreat back to "lurkdom"!

best wishes

Geoff

Reply to
galyles
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My remarks were not unsavory, except to those wusses ascared of

*truth*. And WTF are you to make yourself judge and jury... when you don't play the game you don't get to make the rules... you're only a scumbag cowardly lurker who contributes absolutely nothing but your occasionally oozing out from under your rock to cause a putrid stench and to do some COWARDLY left handed opportunist sniping before scurrying back to your slime.... you may envision yourself some hero type but in fact you ARE *unsavory* _garbage_. You're far worse than Billygoat, he contributes nothing useful either but at least he's not hiding. Your only purpose for making your presense was to highlight the Billygoat's manure, regardless your claim of innocent protectionism... you're as phony as any politico. Now stay TF away.

All my gardening posts are based on my own personal- hands in the ground -*practical* experience, unlike the Billygoat's theoretical

-never touched dirt- fantasies. If even one person benefits from my posts that fine with me, the rest of you obviously envious bashers can drop dead.

Ode to Billy:

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Reply to
brooklyn1

Point taken. Good lurking ;O)

Reply to
Billy

ROFL ;O))

Reply to
Billy

I was expressing an opinion, Sheldon, just like you have ........

ROFL.

Geoff

Reply to
galyles

I looked, and so what? There is still a need to loosen the clay. Start with a 3-4 inch layer of sand, add peat and if the soil is clay, it needs at least 4-8 inches of peat moss. Use spading fork to get a real work out or the easy way, a tiller. Go deep. Add compost on top, if ya got it or as you say there are winter cover crops, I'd prefer clover to add nitrogen and then plant what ever you want to grow and produce some edible crops. You can grow some beans and peas to increase nitrogen content in one area and then put corn in the next year. Gardening is not a one time project, it takes a few years to get the soil you want. And it is organic soil. Yeah, one does notice the difference in taste.

There is nothing like getting ones hands in the dirt. Now I can't but the several years I did, there is nothing like sitting in the garden and watching what is going on with the insects ane how they interact with the plants.

Reply to
Bud

A damn fine answer, . . . to a different question.

On 4/29/10 8:58 AM, Naga Jolokia wrote: Hi all,

Is it alright to use compost straight without mixing it with soil or other additives? I plan to fill up some raised beds with cheap compost that I can get from a local recycle center.

Thanks.

The above is the question that Naga wants answered. He has clay soil, but is going to use raised beds. K?

By this time, I suspect he has both hands over his head, and is running off into the bush, to escape the crazy people.

Reply to
Billy

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.

- Will Rogers

P.S. My nascent garden can be seen in alt.binaries.pictures.gardens

Reply to
Billy

Hi everyone,

I actually learn a lot from these answers.

I just got the first yard of compost today. Perhaps at least 5 more loads during next week.

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about $25 a yard--more like three yards--to me, it's quite a much better deal than the bagged stuff from Home Depot.

The stuff looks marvelous. It's all black with small pieces of partially composted wood chips. I think that would help a lot with the drainage but I am quite sure that without added sand, this stuff is going to retain water for a much longer period. I initially plan to add only sand to improve drainage, now per your suggestions, I think I have to mix in some clay to help the stuff binding together.

My next question.

I need to redo the lawn. Currently, my lawn is really not a lawn at all. It's mostly bared, hard clay soil with weeds and a few strains of grass. It looks quite terrible. From my understanding, the grass roots can't penetrate the clay and also that the water can't get down to the soil deep enough to support the grass.

I plan to put a layer of compost mixed with screened fill dirt on top of the clay.

My question is: How thick the new layer of soil should be to support the grass and retain water for a reasonable period? I am looking for the minimum thickness, not the optimal one, for the obvious reason of cost. The question can be asked in another form: how deep the root of the grass normally reach down into the soil?

Many thanks for your suggestions and help.

Naga

Reply to
Naga Jolokia

There are much better; that is cheaper and more effective ways to deal with clay than by adding peat moss unless you are filling something the size of a hanging basket, in which case you didn' t need to have the clay.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Gaia's Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway

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Our love of tidy but not very diverse yards is imprinted on us by our culture. The immaculate lawn, under siege from ecological writers every- where, developed in the mild and evenly moist climate of Great Britain. Its implications are deeply woven into our psyche. A lawn in preindustrial times trumpeted to all that the owner possessed enough wealth to use some land for sheer ornament, instead of planting all of it to food crops.

And close-mowed grass proclaimed affluence, too: a herd of sheep large enough to crop the lawn uniformly short. These indicators of status whis- per to us down the centuries. By consciously recog- nizing the influence of this history, we can free ourselves of it and let go of the reflexive impulse to roll sod over the entire landscape.

------

Before you plant your lawn, you might consider more of park type setting with edible landscape.

Otherwise, I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell you about lawns.

I hope, whatever you do, you do it organically.

Reply to
Billy

Use some gypsum to loosen that clay soil along with your thin layer of compost each year.

Reply to
Bud

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