Compost or manure to start the bed on grass?

[michalParticipant]

Hello Charles and all,

First of all, thanks for everything you do. Absolutely amazing work.

Me and my wife are trying to set up a garden on our back lawn. It’s pretty big but it can get pretty soggy in the winter or after heavy rainfall. The drainage isn’t great but we are still hoping to achieve some harvesting next year.

At this stage it’s just a lawn and we have a few options as what to put down.
Our plan is to cut the lawn and put down either old horse manure or compost or both of them. There is also the possibility to get a top soil but we are not sure if it’s needed.

What are your recommendations? Any advice would be appreciate it.

We live in west side of Ireland, right next to the ocean where it can get pretty windy. But have been collecting some seaweed for mulch and compost as well. But we are not exactly sure how to use it.

We also just bought the calendar for next year and as was the previous topic about the broad beans being sown in November undercover, would it be possible to sow them after we just put down compost on the fresh cut grass or you need the compost and soil to get adjusted and leave over the winter?

Thank you so much all,

We are just beginners but weren’t we all at some point?

Great appreciation from Ireland.

[JDParticipant]

Hi Michal,
You don’t need the top soil (unless you want really high beds) as it would just ‘dilute’ your compost.
Horse manure and/or compost are both fine as long as they’re well rotted, otherwise you’re just encouraging slugs. You probably need to give your horse manure a test for a nasty chemical called aminopyralid (which is becoming more prevalent again) before you use it. It’s sprayed on fields to reduce ragwort etc poisonous to horses, but the residues can end up in manure and cause distortion in susceptible veg. You can use the search facility on this page to look the test up, or maybe someone will send you a link.
You can sow your beans direct in the compost if you wish, no need to wait, but if you have a mouse problem you may be better off sowing them under cover and then transplanting. As a thought you could use some beans to test for aminopyralid at the same time and if they’re ok transplant those too.
I’ve not tried seaweed so I’ll leave that to others, but I imagine you would add it to your compost heap to rot down otherwise you’re at risk of slugs again as a mulch.
I wish you the very best with your new veg patch.
Jan

[LizParticipant]

I have a similar question – I’m starting new raised beds on grass from scratch with cardboard/paper/twigs on the bottom and then a thick layer of manure mixed with kitchen waste. As I don’t intend to plant anything until next spring, is it ok to use fresh manure as it will rot over the winter? I’m just treating it as a giant compost bin covered with a thick layer of carpet.

[Tony PParticipant]

I’ve run a bit of an experiment in my garden with this, 3 beds… 1 with manure at bottom and compost top layer, 1 with seaweed compost on the bottom and a general compost on top, and one with a john-innes type compost and general compost on top.

Still early days (done in September) but I’m seeing good growth in all beds – so can’t tell them apart. The biggest difference I’ve seen is when watering – the john-innes bed the water tends to run a bit before soaking in.

[JackieParticipant]

Hi All

I’d welcome some comment on my dilemma starting veg beds on grass. I’ve already got several beds with grass paths and other grassy areas that I want to expand into. Instead of spreading compost/manure directly on the grass or on cardboard, I was thinking of digging (!) up the turf to stack and eventually produce a loam/compost. It’s a lot of heavy work, which I’m actually looking forward to, and obviously it goes against the ‘no dig’ label. Do you think the result will be worth the effort? We are on quite a heavy clay soil in the east of England.

[charlesModerator]

Have to say I find this question unusual, for no dig.
My advice: save your soil and soil life, leave soil in place, mulch on top.
As well as the extra work, you would lose fertility, and have sunken beds.
Plus lose loads of time and effort.
Feeling energetic? Source more materials and make compost. It’s more useful than loam plus usually has fewer weeds.

[Author]

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