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Re: New garden

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

In a message dated 99-11-27 08:19:56 EST, you write:

<< I just moved into a new house and will be putting in a garden. The place
 where I think my raised beds will go currently has an assortment of weeds
 termed "grass," a bunch of ivy, and the roots from an apple tree my husband
 just chopped down. Can I just plop the beds down on it? Do I have to dig it
 all out? Do I have to rototill first? Can I just rototill it all in,
 including the ivy? Rototill the weeds/grass but dig the ivy? >>


OUCH..you sound like us.... We just bought a house in the MD/DC area too.  
Same problems..lots of grass/weeds.  Our problem is complicated more by the 
fact that the previous tenents(some time in the past) had dug down ladi in a 
layer of crushed stones covered by a mix of sand and soil.....so we CAN"T 
roto-till.  What we did was take all the boxes we had from moving and laid 
them down to help get the grass controlled..we're going to build the beds 
right on top of this..not much other choice for us.  
   We don't have the money to have it all excavated out...and have to wait 
for the tax return to afford to build the beds(and fill them with soil).  
This means we won't be able to plant the cool weather stuff this coming 
spring.  We ARE going to spring for the pre-mixed stuff we found at Behnkee's 
 (I think it's called ProMix) it had TopSoil/Compost/Peat already mixed in 
perfect proportions...just open pour and plant..no mixing!!  

  The DC area is tricky for planting..some years you can plant stuff very 
early(March) ..other years you seem to skip spring and go right from frosts 
to heat waves.  I'd say go ahead and build the beds NOW, then cover them and 
have them ready for the first opportunity to plant your cool weather crops(ie 
peas/lettuce/etc )...this might be in March..or not until late April/early 
May.  
Good Luck!!!


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