Marianne's Response
A trick for softening up old soil
I have a raised bed garden that has not been used for many years. It is so weed and root bound I can’t figure out how to soften it up. Too tough for little tiller, too tough to spade. I did cover four of the beds with black plastic. I need to know if there is something I can do to get this dirt workable. Thanks.
Posted by Joanie Lamm on March 11, 2015
Marianne's Response
Here's a way to soften things up: cover the weeds with a few inches of manure and then wet newspaper 3 to 5 pages thick. Now add 3 to 6 inches of compost or topsoil and go ahead and plant shallow rooted crops like lettuce, spinach, and kale. In June the weeds below will be rotted under the newspaper and manure and you can plant your warm season crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. Don't try potatoes this yearâthey don't like manure. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti
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