What can I throw in these garden beds ?

[JDarvall]

Excuse. I'm a gardening idiot.

I've making 3 garden beds up for the misses. 3 sleepers high, to save her back a bit. I'll lop off the top of those posts a bit and slap on some loooovely turned knobs.

I'm gonna get some topsoil from a mates farm, for the top few inches........but what do I put in it first to get its height up. Ideally something cheap or free.

I've got a big pile of sawdust and shavings behind the shed. But my wife thinks she heard somewhere that your not supposed to throw that into garden beds. Which doesn't make sense to me.

Does it really matter what I put in it ? Drainage an issue. Any ideas ? Thanks.

[wheelinround]

Newspaper down first as much as you like stops the weeds coming through
that means paper recycling has to missout
Straw from a barn or horse stable
Vegi scraps

There is another thread with details regarding saw dust and compost
https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...ht=coming+ears

No bodies though

[Sturdee]

It depends on what you are going to grow in it and how deep the roots will go.


Newspapers on the bottom, hay and sawdust for filling or any compostable items and manures that are free draining and then topped with soil to at least the depth of the roots.


Peter.

[weisyboy]

i would not put too much sawdust down as it will make the soil dry out to quickly and waste watter.

as long as there is no treated pine or camphor in your sawdust then you could mix it 4 parts soil/compost to 1 part sawdust. also horse manure is good.

[JDarvall]

Thanks for the suggestions and link.

Their just for veggies. Point taken on not putting too much in. Shame, cause it be perfect. Just move it a few metres and the beds are full. uno.

No bodies though

Got me thinking. There just the right size too.

[wheelinround]

Thanks for the suggestions and link.

Their just for veggies. Point taken on not putting too much in. Shame, cause it be perfect. Just move it a few metres and the beds are full. uno.



Got me thinking. There just the right size too.

There goes another fine woman ....mother in-law

[NSP67]

Now for a stupid novice question?

Would putting newspaper down not be the equivalent of inviting the local termite population to move in?

[Bleedin Thumb]

Jake the problem with putting sawdust in is that when it breaksdown it robs nitrogen from the soil.
To fix the problem make sure that you have a lot of N in your mix to start with as well as plenty of organic matter. Lucerne is good for this.

If it seems like a good rich mix...it probably is!

Then let the whole lot sit for a while (about 2 weeks should do) to settle in before adding plants. I would suggest getting a pH test kit from your local nursery because your biggest problem besides pests is getting the pH right (not always).

[LandscapeDesign]

There are a few problems with putting sawdust or any other non-decomposed organic matter at the bottom of your planter boxes.
1. Anything organic breaks down, and loses mass, so the whole lot of soil will sink and it will be even more of a hassle to reach inside the boxes to garden, than if you were gardening on the ground.
2. The sawdust pulls nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down.
3. The sawdust is likely to compact down into an impenetrable layer, and not allow water to drain out. (Speaking of this, you should consider putting some ag-pipe drainage at the bottom with a hole exiting the side of the box, to prevent water logging)

So, my suggestion is to find some sort of non-organic filler to fill up the bottom half. e.g. Subsoil dug from somewhere else onsite that doesn't need it (like if you've dug a pond or flattened some earth for a retaining wall); or pebbles.
Another option, if you are only planning to plant annual vegies, would be to use the No-Dig gardening method, which layers different materials like newspaper, straw, compost, dead leaves etc, and plants the veg straight into that. (You'll find plenty of info by googling this)
I agree with the idea about putting newspaper (wet) at the bottom to stop weeds coming up.

One last thing - if you want to be extra kind to your Mrs, maybe add a plank around the top of the box for leaning or sitting on while gardening.

[echnidna]

Things like spuds will grow in grass hay without any soil.
And you get nice clean spuds out of it too.

[bitingmidge]

Jake,

Try here for no-dig information by the ton. It's a ripper way of getting into gardening too!
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com

Cheers,

P

[echnidna]

Put a compost heap (including some sawdust) in one of them,
when its rotted down mix a bit of soil &/or sand in it and youve got one nice gardem ready to go.

BTW stable manure with plenty of straw in its a good thing to fill one right up with, grow almost anything in it.

[rhancock]

The obvious answer is whatever you can get your hands on in large quantities - if you've got three of these to fill, you're going to need quite a lot of material. So if there's stables, farms, roadworks, new swimming pools, etc,etc.

If you're growing veggies then only the top 30cm is useful. Underneath you could put almost anything, but drainage is a key issues, as almost no vegies grow with wet feet. Clay is not good. Everything else is ok, but remember that it will sink, so you should over fill, and have more to add in six months or a year.

As for the sawdust, you could mix it with something high in nitrogen like grass clippings, turn it every fortnight, and you'll get a low quality compost in a few months. Chook poo is good too.

At the end of the day, with the quantity you're going to be limited to what you can get hold of cheap!

[wheelinround]

The obvious answer is whatever you can get your hands on in large quantities - if you've got three of these to fill, you're going to need quite a lot of material. So if there's stables, farms, roadworks, new swimming pools, etc,etc.

At the end of the day, with the quantity you're going to be limited to what you can get hold of cheap!

Not the road works not in NSW if you get caught a big fine and or prison as its regarded as stealing. I knew fellow took his trailer down to a dumping site from roadworks he got fined quite heavily and was taken away leaving his car & trailer behind till he could return. Even picking up RTA tree loppings can have the same effect aparently.

[rhancock]

I hadn't thought of that... I was wondering the other day if my neighbour can be done for trespassing if she keeps dumping her grass clippings under my tree...