Finished one 30-foot row in the annual garden. Happy that this is getting done, and grateful for Edgar's help broad forking the second bed. It can settle while I'm in CA. When I return I will plant seeds TBD.
The ground has challenges. The turf grows upon a half inch layer of topsoil, which overlays the basic subsoil of clay of such purity that once you wrestle your spade into it, the soil will not yield it up again. In order to deal with this soil, my strategy is to break up the ground in the area immediately uphill from the log that forms the terrace, adding soil bacteria, bone meal, and wood ash. Then I cover the broken and unbroken ground with a layer of cardboard to shade out the turf plants. On top of that on the downhill half I put organic manure (featuring a lot of worms) with grass compost and some pot grower's designer soil on the top.
On the uphill side I put either sawdust or wood chips as a mulch and walking surface.
I hope in time the cardboard will shade out the weeds, which decompose along with the cardboard, and with the help of the worms begin to work the organic layer into the soil between the blocky broken up clay. Next year's deep rooted crops will continue the process, and I will add layers of compost over the years, and the woody mulch will decompose, and the crop remains will be chopped and dropped in place to collect between the logs and build more soil. Finally the logs themselves will break down and contribute their matter to the soil. Then it will be time to build rock walls or add more logs for the next cycle.
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| Some of my fence posts are sprouting spontaneously. |
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