Renewing garden bed

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Killerbunny
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Renewing garden bed

Post by Killerbunny » Thu Aug 17, 2017 11:10 am

I am digging out, sieving and amending the soil in garden bed, about 9" total. I was thinking of putting newspapers in the bottom as weed suppression. Has anyone done this? Opinions?
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Jaye
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by Jaye » Thu Aug 17, 2017 12:48 pm

I haven't put it underneath the soil before, but in the past I've put it on top of soil between planting rows and put a bit of mulch or stones on top to anchor it. It worked for awhile, but it did break down/compost and need replacing a couple of times during the growing season.
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labradors
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by labradors » Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:49 pm

I too have used (a couple of layers of) newspapers under bark chips. It makes the bark chips last longer :)

Are you building a bed over grass? If so, it's probably not a great idea to do it over crab grass because those roots can spring up from anywhere.

I tried making a little strawberry bed in an area that had been bushes. I cut everything to ground level and hoped that weed barrier would take care of things, with soil over the top of it, but it didn't work for more than one season. Grey Twigged Dogwood grew up through it and the bed was a mess before very long.

If you really want to suppress the weeds, perhaps cardboard would be a good idea, but it would be best to kill all the vegetation first, and then dig up anything "woody" that survives. Leaving the cardboard in place, might cause drainage problems.

Linda
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Killerbunny
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by Killerbunny » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:35 pm

No it's a bed that already exists and I'm removing the soil (and plastic that someone put there) and amending it before putting it back. The plastic explains why it always got waterlogged. It's next to the patio that we had to relay because of the plastic.
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LongCrow
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by LongCrow » Thu Aug 17, 2017 5:31 pm

Haven't tried newspaper but I think if you buy any feed in paper bags they would last much longer.
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by Ontario Chick » Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:30 pm

Opinion? me? ;)
I have done it about 10 years ago, they are the two beds facing the house.
Wanted to add two beds without digging, since we are on bedrock, not much to dig.
On advice of a gardening "guru" , put down 10 layers of newspapers, directly on grass, then had a small load of soil dropped in to the frames, about 8" deep.
Being a skeptic was pretty much ready for failure, worked like a charm, no grass or weeds ever came thru.
Garden June 2017.jpg
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Killerbunny
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by Killerbunny » Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:10 pm

It's that one directly behind the patio door. I think I'll try it hen!
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by JP* » Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:47 pm

Under our raised beds we have heavy craft paper. It has worked great at preventing the grass from growing up.

A bunch of newspaper will do the same thing.

Give'r
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Webber45
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Re: Renewing garden bed

Post by Webber45 » Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:01 am

I just heard of the newspaper technique! Sounds worth a try.
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