Re: Advice/Compost

>Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 08:44:49 +0000
>From: Lynn Lamb <silverhands@mindspring.com>
>Subject: Re:  Advice/blackberry lily 
>
>Hi All,
>   I am new to this list and new to perennial gardening and have lots to
>learn.  I have just had two blackberry lilies (belamcanda) rot at the base
>and die only days after planting.  The obvious answer is that the bed is
>too wet, but all the other plants are doing well, as far as I can tell.  I
>am worried about putting other bulbs in there now.  The bed is somewhat
>raised and we prepared it with pine bark mulch, manure, bonemeal,
>superphosphate, and lime tilled in and then put mulch on top.
>    Also, have any of you planted in a raised bed made up just of compost?
>I saw an article in *Fine Gardening* that someone did that.
>
>Thanks, 
>Lynn Lamb
>Zone7/8, North Carolina

Hi Lynn,
 Welcome to the list. And Thank You! for adding your zone info and a
general geographic area. 
 I've never tried blackberry lilies, but I think your bed might be a bit
too rich for them. Many bulbs do best with some dryness in mid summer. A
lot of them seem to like dirt a bit on the lean side.
 OTOH, if it rotted within 2 days, it may have been in trouble when you
bought it. Did you try taking it back, or at least asking the nursery about
optimum growing conditions?

 As for raised bed of compost, YES! I highly recommend them! We started
with berms 18 inches high and 9-14 feet deep. They were made of mostly
finished municipal compost (free in our area) and looked great. The compost
was at the 'white thread' stage, to give you an idea. I planted dwarf fruit
trees, some perennials, some Pampas grass, and various buddileas, vines, etc. 
 I was concerned about the compost not being finished enough. The fruit
trees were bareroot, so I added bagged topsoil right around the roots, 2-3
bags per plant, to at least start them in dirt, then let the roots wander
into the compost. The roots were 2-3 feet long when we recieved the plants.
 Since the compost was so easy to work, I just scooped out 6 inch deep
trenches with my fingers for each large root, put down a little dirt, then
the root and then a little more dirt. Then cover with more compost. There
was only maybe 2-3 inches of dirt surrounding each root, the rest was all
compost.
 Most of the other plants had a 1 to 3 gallon rootball. I always massage
the roots when I plant anything. I added maybe an inch of bagged dirt under
and around the roughened rootball, but that was all.

 After 5 years, the compost has fully decomposed and is now only 4-6 inches
high. The plants have all done wonderful, usually much better than their
counterparts in other peoples yards without compost. I generally do nothing
for them, no suplemental fertilizing, seldom water, only occational
deadheading.
 The only drawbacks is for the trees and taller shrubs. Since the trees
were bareroot, and the 'soil' they were in has been 'melting away' for the
past 5 years, they are real floppy right at the roots. You could knock the
whole 9 foot tree over, and pulling it up by the base of the trunk wouldn't
take too much effort, and would probably still keep a good 2-3 feet of
roots attached. Needless to say, all the dwarf fruit trees are well staked.
 Oh yeah, since this was generally a one time thing, I'm kind of cheap
about my dirt when I divide perennials for friends. The plants are close to
bareroot when I give them away. "You can have my plants, but not my dirt!" :-)
 It's a little crass, but since it took 137 trips in a Dodge Raider to get
the compost, I figure I'm entitled to keep my dirt. ;-)

 Something else to consider is that there is 'good' municipal compost and
'bad' municipal compost. Our municiple compost is made up of everything
from fall leaves and grass clippings to chipped tree limbs *and* whatever
green stuff some people throw out, including nutgrass/other weeds from
their flower beds and diseased veggie plants.
 It took a while to get rid of the nutgrass seeds I imported with the
compost. And I'm not sure if it would cause problems with large veggie
gardens. I only grow a few token tomatos and peppers each year (in the same
spot every year).
 In spite of a few potential drawbacks, I would do it all over again, and
highly recommend it to other people.

Matt Trahan  <matttrahan@ecsu.campus.mci.net> or <garden@juno.com>
USDA zone 8, AHS heat zone 7, Sunset zone 31, northeastern N.C.

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