When we first moved in 5 years ago we did not prepare the alkyne clay soil in the flower beds the way we should have. Now the plants are not doing as well as they should. What we want to do is, next spring, remove all the perennials out of the beds and protect them while we remove 4 to 6 inches of soil and start deep tilling compost and aged manure in to a depth of 8 to 10 inches, let that settle and then add more improved soil to bring it level. That would make a minimum of 12 inches to 16 inches. Is that enough or do we need to go deeper?
Hello There 2OF, the 16 inches sounds good to me--the closer to 20, the better, I feel. What a good idea you have. It sounds like you have taken on a good project and have obviously researched it a bit. The only thing that I would consider is to do the work this October and let it settle over the winter. The plants that you take out and want to save could be saved by temporarily planting in another bed or bundled and kept in your garage for instance or a greenhouse...the roots would need a modicum of moisture throughout the "rest". In march you could then set them back out in the re-worked bed. Let me know how this goes, I am interested in how your project goes.
I think Sjoerd is right about doing it in the fall. But, if you are anything like us, you are already so busy that it may have to wait till spring!
Well, our vegetable garden is done, so we will transfer the plants into the veggie garden. They will be moved back into the flower beds before the veggie garden will be planted in the spring. I was wondering about the Iris but I would guess that they just wouldn't bloom for a year. I transplanted 2 smaller peonies today into a different bed but there is still a large one that we'll have to move to the garden. We are going to wait another two or three weeks, depending on the weather before we start moving the rest of the plants. I'm really not looking forward to this much work!
Our soil is dense and, when wet, sticks together. If I try to dig in it while it's wet it just sticks like glue to the shovel in a big clump that won't fall apart and then dries like a rock. I'm hoping that with removing some of the soil and then adding lots of compost and some rotted straw and manure in it that I will end up with healthy soil for my plants.
I am convinced that it will do just that. It is sticky because of the high clay content the compost and other soil ought to correct that, although it may not be completely corrected in one year...but we shall see. My hat is off to you for attempting this...just don't give up, for the soil is correctable.
Islandlife, I haven't tried it but it is an interesting idea. I'll have to ask around and see if anyone has attempted it and, if so, what were the results.
It cooled off enough so we got 1 side of the bed done. All the plants were re-planted in the vegetable garden and then we started rototilling and removing the soil. Did this twice, removing 6 inches of soil each time and shoveling it into a trailer. Rototilled the next 6 inches of soil and added rotted straw, compost and manure and tilled it in. Shoveled six inches of soil, compost and manure on it, tilled once and added another 6 inches on it, tilled and raked smooth. This is what it looks like now... We didn't get as deep as we hoped to but we started running into a lot of rocks. I had hoped to get both beds done but just the one kicked our rear ends. I need to rake up any rocks showing and then let Mother Nature do her thing through the winter. Depending on the weather, I may remove the plants on the other side of the bed and at least add compost and manure and just use a garden fork to stir it in as deep as I can and then rototill it. Maybe the worms will mix it. This old woman is still too sore and stiff to want to do more.
This is looking supurb, 2OF. I would only suggest that you cover that bed with a thick layer of plant debris for the whole winter...so only rain can get through and little or no sunlight. Give that girl a golden star !
