I dont know what to do about my early spring garden!

[SarahFair]

Its been SO wet here! I dont think my soil has dried up since fall!

I want to plant my early spring garden (carrots, lettuce, onion, beets, etc) in a grassy area Id need to work. I read to not work soil when wet because it can cause drainage problems.
For most of these I would like to put them in a raised bed but still have to work SOME dirt.

I dont know what to do! I feel like I wont be able to plant a lot of this stuff!

Any ideas?

 

[boggybranch]

Just about going to have to wait until it dries out, at least a little, or buy bag topsoil to fill the beds (not an option, for me).

 

[wifezilla]

Would peat moss help?

 

[lesa]

You should think about raised rows, at least. Even if you don't do fancy raised beds. This way the plants stay high and dry and the water runs in the aisles. When my neighbors gardens were rotting, my did fine...You can do the lettuce in containers with good drainage...Good luck!

 

[patandchickens]

Option 1) Container gardening Seriously. For the lettuce at least, which does extremely well that way assuming you don't let them dry out.

Option 2) Lay several layers of cardboard or newspaper where you want your beds, then buy a dumpload of topsoil or triple mix (assuming it is available this time of year in your area?), and plant into that. A few perennial weeds will come up through, eventually, but not TOO bad as long as you have 6" or so of stuff atop the cardboard/newspaper. The cardboard/newspaper will gradually rot away and the storeboughten soil will merge with the underlying soil and no you do not have to dig it all up, just leave it be.

Option 3) You *could* dig the turf up in large as-deep-as-possible shovelfuls, turn upside down (preferably on top of some compost or year-old manure or suchlike), and cover with a sheet of clear (NOT black) plastic very well-weighted-down around the edges. Wait til it dries out enough for you to break the clods up and lightly work the soil, and plant into that setup. This will not gain you *much* IME and you are likely to have persistant grass problems for a long time, possibly years, so I do not really recommend it especially, but it is an option if all else fails and you just can't wait any longer

Personally though I would go with option 1 for sure, and maybe option 2 if I were a topsoil-or-triple-mix-buying kind of gal.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[vfem]

I push for what Pat suggested. If things aren't going to dry out in time... and they just might not, try container gardening or raised bed erection.

I think if you try to plan there anyways you will end up with failure and rot. This is one of those situations where nature is working against you, so you have to take a different approach.

 

[SarahFair]

Thanks for the idea guys!

I was thinking of doing containers for shallow rooting plants but what should I do about carrots?


If I laid the newspaper down under some top soil and planted carrots that got 7-8 inches would the paper be rotted by the time the carrots would reach that far down (if I had 6" raised beds)?

 

[HiDelight]

Sending you tons of empathy now I am in a swamp myself! but my greens are growing great and nothing is rotting ..just doing the back stroke

and I have all raised beds and tons of containers still everything is soaked ..later when my water bill is through the roof I will be wishing for some of this

when it is soggy like this I look at my rain barrels and wonder what is the hold up of getting those installed! I mean seriously if you have rain coming out of the sky and a garden ..not having a rain barrel is crazy! maybe this weekend ..sorry I am digressing but if it is soggy you should go read the rain barrel thread that is where I am going now ..maybe capture some of that money coming out of the sky for when the ground is dry as a bone!

 

[SarahFair]

Sending you tons of empathy now I am in a swamp myself! but my greens are growing great and nothing is rotting ..just doing the back stroke

and I have all raised beds and tons of containers still everything is soaked ..later when my water bill is through the roof I will be wishing for some of this

when it is soggy like this I look at my rain barrels and wonder what is the hold up of getting those installed! I mean seriously if you have rain coming out of the sky and a garden ..not having a rain barrel is crazy! maybe this weekend ..sorry I am digressing but if it is soggy you should go read the rain barrel thread that is where I am going now ..maybe capture some of that money coming out of the sky for when the ground is dry as a bone!

Oh how I would love to buy several $50 rain barrels
But I cant


Oh well maybe next year...

 

[HiDelight]

Sending you tons of empathy now I am in a swamp myself! but my greens are growing great and nothing is rotting ..just doing the back stroke

and I have all raised beds and tons of containers still everything is soaked ..later when my water bill is through the roof I will be wishing for some of this

when it is soggy like this I look at my rain barrels and wonder what is the hold up of getting those installed! I mean seriously if you have rain coming out of the sky and a garden ..not having a rain barrel is crazy! maybe this weekend ..sorry I am digressing but if it is soggy you should go read the rain barrel thread that is where I am going now ..maybe capture some of that money coming out of the sky for when the ground is dry as a bone!

Oh how I would love to buy several $50 rain barrels
But I cant


Oh well maybe next year...

do not wait there are free things out there waiting for you to claim them!

craigslist.com (a friend gave me mine they are 55 gallon plastic drums that were used for foodstuffs) but you can post an "I want for free willing to pick up" ad on Craigslist and see