newspaper and - or straw

Melody,
Your new bed success brings to mind a qstn I have for lasagna gardening
devotees:

Last year (early summer)  I tried 2 ideas advocated on Chat.  I tried the
newspaper under soil for a new bed.  Well, after digging in there the other
day I found I could still read the newspaper - does this seem right?

Also, Gene and others suggested shredding up my excess straw from
overwintering and lay that in an area for a new bed and cover with soil.  It
is still straw under there.  How long does it take to at least start
breaking down?

Am I missing something or am I just impatient?

Kitty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Melody" <mhobertm@excite.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 12:47 AM
Subject: [CHAT] Late Easter Greetings and catch-up


> Dear gardening friends: Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We spent at
> least a portion of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at church
> celebrating this most Holy of seasons...I especially love our Easter
> Vigil service, done by candlelight...so beautiful. Easter day was spent
> in the garden once we got home from Mass...the weather was absolutely
> perfect for working outside. The peppermint/spearmint dig up is about
> half done after two weekends of hard work. We have decided that the only
> way to get rid of most of it is to completely spade up every square inch
> of soil in the garden down to a depth of at least 8-10 inches and then
> with a hand rake sort it all out for roots/pieces. Arduous and time
> consuming but it seems the only real way to get the stuff out. I do have
> a happy observation to report for the group though...this particular
> garden bed is the former site of a large (90') pine that several years
> ago was ripped out of the ground by its roots during a severe wind
> storm. The lost tree left a staggeringly massive hole in the ground and
> we had it filled in with a large dumptruck-full of "fill dirt" which
> turned out to be this horrible clay stuff. At the time we originally did
> this bed,about six years ago, we amended the clay as much as we could
> with vermiculite and compost burr (lots and lots of each) and at the
> time it did not seem to help. We then covered it over with landscaping
> cloth, planted it, and mulched. To my utter amazement, this entire bed
> is now filled with a beautiful, rich black soil, ripe with the hugest
> nightcrawlers you'd ever want to see. I guess I had assumed that this
> bed would always be full of clay, so how come it's not? I mean, I know
> the earthworms are hard workers, but doesn't that seem like an awful lot
> of work for only six years? Nature never ceases to amaze me. One of the
> benefits of hand digging out all this mint is that I have been able to
> save all my gaura, purple coneflowers, and blue flax and replant it in
> the clean parts of the bed as we go, so it's sort
>
> of a revision project too. The blue flax started as three little plants
> I received from the kids for mother's day about 5 years ago and now are
> dozens of plants everywhere...yippee! This is one of my favorites.
>
>
> BTW, Moses the cat is still around...no luck yet finding a home for him
> but he seems utterly content where he is...he has now moved his sleeping
> quarters to my compost heap area and has found himself a shelter behind
> a piece of scrap plywood that leans up against the garage. Today while I
> was resting my back a little and enjoying laying in the grass flat on my
> back with my feet propped up on a nearby rock, here he comes and plops
> down beside me, rolls over on his back and meows...he apparently likes
> to have his tummy rubbed. I noticed he has a little sore on one of his
> rear paws, so I figure tomorrow I'll probably load him up and take him
> to the vet as it looks red and very painful. I take it this is the
> beginning of the end, isn't it? Arrgh........I'm such a sucker! :-) We
> never stood a chance, did we? My husband doesn't mind him sticking
> around as long as he remains an outdoor only cat...and that is a huge
> commitment for a man who says he doesn't want any more animals at all.
> The sage continues...
>
>
> Also, I heard from Janice, Tony's wife, today...Easter greetings and to
> let us know she continues to miss him but is doing okay. :-)
>
>
>
> Melody, IA (Z 5/4)
>
> "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."
> --Albert Einstein
>
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