[BethParticipant]

My neighbor has offered me some of her horse manure (which I know isn’t contaminated with herbicide). She warned that there may be a few rocks though. I usually sift my finished compost with a sieve and I am now doing slightly raised beds (trying to put logs on them for sides). I can’t really sieve this year-old horse manure and am wondering if a few rocks in raised beds is worth the manure. I would love to have it as there is never enough finished compost! How big an issue are some rocks in raised beds?

[BethParticipant]

I live in Idaho and gardening folks here don’t seem to really know about using fleece. I have some fleece but it is not clean. I assume it is okay to lay it flat on top of veggies that I am trying to protect from frost after reading about the sweetcorn. I had a fleece laying over my eggplant but am removing it during day. Do you keep it on all winter and then remove it in Spring? Seems like it would compost down. If I used it only for frost protection can I pick it up this winter and store it again for reuse?

[BethParticipant]

Just wanted to add that I have 5 hens and would like to occasionally let them out on my garden beds. Having sides helps keep them from totally flattening the bed. I was thinking of raising the bed only 6″. They primarily seem interested in scratching for bugs. I don’t know if they are considered to destructive in their scratching for no-dig philosophy…

[BethParticipant]

Thanks Charles for such a quick response.  I am worried about hoeing too deep and vigorously in beds as I don’t want to disturb soil.  How deep can I hoe bed without really causing damage?  I am feeling inclined to extend arm like I am mopping  a floor all along the bed.  Also, not sure if I should leave the hoed grass on bed or if it needs to be removed..

[BethParticipant]

I have some beds I made this spring that unfortunately have new grass springing up all over them. I think it’s grass ???  Newbie so not really sure what the blades are.  I have been hoeing it from the paths but it is too deep to hoe beds.  I think I will cardboard or newspaper over entire bed and start over.  Would like to do it now but am in Idaho in zone 7B and it is still getting hot.  Can I plant the white radish now you mention as a good winter manure into these beds after putting down the cardboard or newspaper? 

Or would you suggest I lay down the paper or cardboard and just cover with manure and compost and leave it until spring?  Then I will be concerned about weeds sprouting in it and also rains washing away compost and manure into the paths between.  Not sure what to do about beds with blades popping up all over this time of year when it is supposed to be 90 degrees next week…

Thanks

[BethParticipant]

Charles, do you keep the width of your beds the same or do you change bed width depending on what you’re planting? 

If you change it, then are you putting manure and compost on the paths as well regularly?

 

[BethParticipant]

Thank you Charles so much…in addition to the manure without bedding decomposing faster, it seems it would be better in that it wouldn’t have the weed seeds. But perhaps it still would simply from what the animal ate and it passing through. Seems that it would have less though than with hay and straw bedding.

[BethParticipant]

Thanks for the greenmanure link. It looks like alfalfa would last an entire season. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to kill it without digging. I am guessing I will have to lay down cardboard and then mulch to sheetmulch/smother it. Then I am wondering if there are some negative effects to the soil by doing sheetmulching…

Has anyone heard of Dr. Jill Clapperton, who is no-till, discuss mixing cover crops and being as diversified as possible? Here’s an excerpt from an article that starts discussing her ideas halfway through.

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-02-07/edible-ecosystems

“I learned the details at a workshop in Kansas led by Dr. Jill Clapperton, a soil scientist, who told the audience that the key to rebuilding soil health is to start a “conversation among plants.” Cool-season grasses, such as barley, wheat and oats and cool-season broadleaf plants, such as canola, pea, turnip, lentils and mustard, she said, need to dialogue constructively with warm-season grasses, including millet, corn, and sorghum, and warm broadleafs, such as buckwheat, sunflower and sugar beets. Who gets along with whom?”

This is her youtube presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6daE2sYegg

[BethParticipant]

That is nice to know that I may be able to just let the woodchips delivered free to my door sit for awhile and then use that as compost. Of course, I compost my food scraps along with garden stuff and leaves, but it never seems to be enough and done when I want to use it. It would be really nice if I didn’t need to turn the wood chips and let them sit…maybe a year?

I noticed the wood chips they delivered last summer had a lot of pine needles in them though and seemed to be mostly pine.

Thanks Charles!

[BethParticipant]

Thank you for your reply and I currently have more land than I can manage. I have 1.2 acres and am planning to garden by myself. Over time, my teenage boys may get interested and want to sell some veggies. Good to know about your plots being so productive after 15 years!

I read on your website that you don’t like green manures. How about the compost crops the Biointensive method talks about (yes, I’ve been reading lots of books and yours is on the way!). I am thinking we don’t need to grow crops for compost because we are primarily using manure as compost. I can’t wait to get your book!

Thank you, Beth in Idaho

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