I finally have space enough with enough sun to put in a vegetable garden! Tore down the old garage, it needed tearing down. The dirt, notice dirt not soil, is a cacaphony of debris, such as old concrete, and rocks rocks everywhere. So as you can clearly understand, my work is really cut out for me. I do not own any powered gardening tools. My back and my shovel, rake, et al, is what I have. After I get most of the worst offenders out of my future garden, I wonder, what if any easier methods to developing and nice thick rich loamy garden soil might I employ? LOL! I wish I had a mulcher, and a compost tumbler! I am thinking about peat moss, manure, and lots of compostable material layered, then covered with landscapers weed block to allow water in, but to hold in heat, and activate decomposition, before winter sets in. I am hoping to be able to plant some next spring, but I am all ears, to hear any and all of your suggestions. Most especially wondering what I can do to speed up the breakdown of raw materials. Things I should avoid. Thanks! :(
You might be fine putting on layers of compostables now...not totally familiar with your climate. At least there will be adequate moisture for things to breakdown. You're basically talking about "lasanga gardening", putting lots of layers of leaves, manure, grass clippings, whathaveyou down, maybe some soil layers too. I have also laid down opened up cardboard boxes around the edges to inhibit existing weeds/grass from growing into my new garden bed. Many layers of newspaper does the same, lay these down first then begin dumping on the organic stuff. It usually produces a beautiful rich soft soil by spring sometime...all the hard work done by critters in the earth...
