“Thank you for identifying the excess carbon problem in my beds, now what do I do about it?“
-Joye Hancock, Eatonton
Last week we discussed Miss Joye’s beds, affected by uncomposted wood chip contamination in her annual topsoil application. The wood chips in her topsoil act as a sponge, seeking to absorb every bit of nitrogen they can extract from the surrounding soil. Given ample time, they will become a rich humus, but it is a very slow process, and raised beds needn’t be idled for a season when the problem can be rectified quickly. Let’s take a closer look at treatment:
Dig it out or cover it up?
You could dig the topsoil layer out and add it to a compost pile, put it on established beds as a mulch, or toss it in your chicken pen where it’ll break down quickly, and then start over with fresh good compost forked into the top layer of the beds.
This is the shortest route back to growing – and the most expensive. If you are growing a garden to counteract the ever-rising price of produce at the grocer, this cost can easily put you on the wrong side of that equation. I would suggest you look around your garden for the solution. You likely already have what you need right at home.
Cover it!
1. Water thoroughly with a high nitrogen compost tea, or 10-10-10 fertilizer dissolved in your watering can. Really soak it down good.
2. Cover the topsoil with a finely chopped green layer one-inch thick. I use lawn clippings that have quite a lot of clover in them, and which have not been treated with weed-n-feed broad-leaf targeting herbicides.
3. Add a thin layer of chicken coop litter if you can get it.
4. Water with compost or fertilizer tea again thoroughly, then cover it with black plastic sheeting, cardboard, or an old tarp. This will help everything break down quickly and suppress any weed seed germination from the lawn clippings.
Wait, water and plant.
Peel back your covering and water the bed after two weeks, then recover and wait two more. Repeat this process until you see quite a bit of wiggly little life in the soil and it begins to look like good compost – at that point it is! The wood chips have been composted in place and are ready to plant. In Putnam County, frost-tolerant, cool-season crops like carrots, kale, cauliflower, cilantro and chard can be sown indoors in July and August, then planted out in beds in September. Summer-harvested crops like squash, tomatoes or peppers can be direct sown throughout July and August. There are about 115 days left in this season until first frost. That’s plenty of time to repair a raised bed and replant it. Look for seeds that come to maturity in 90 days or less and you’ll get a good little window before the cold.
Until next time, Eatonton Gardenerd
garden.nerd.31024@gmail.com
The Eatonton Gardenerd is an experienced gardener who works with local organizations like the Butterfly and Blooms Garden, the Garden Club at PCPS and various local farmers’ markets while maintaining his own acre of densely planted food. He has previously worked for USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service and is on his way to completing his first gardening book.