gardenening question

[Mike McCann]

At the beginning of winter I put down about three inches of saw dust in my garden. I have just amended the soil with cow manure and till them both in. Is there anything else I need to get my garden off to a good start.

thanks

[Gene Howe]

3" of shavings will require some nitrogen in the soil to replace that which the wood will leech out for it's decomposition.

Need to contact your county extension agent to determine the amount of nitrogen needed.

[Tim Morton]

my wife is a huge fan of cow manure in her gardens....

[David G Baker]

Yup on sawdust being a nitrogen thief. The cow manure should help out a lot but may still not be enough to replace what the wood used up. When I was a kid my parents used a lot of chicken manure on the garden I guess that it has more nitrogen than cow manure. You should have seen the watermelons that chicken manure produced. They had to be careful with the chicken manure so it didn't burn the plants.

[Kyle Kraft]

As a believer in "better living through chemistry", I would apply a generous amount of 12-12-12 to replace the N lost when the sawdust rots. I do it on my plot every spring and till it in.

[Dennis Peacock]

Pelletized Lime as well as Gypsum are both good for the soil. But you are for sure going to need to add lots of nitrogen to your soil after all that sawdust.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, it's best to compost the sawdust and chips before applying them to your garden for the nitrogen problem already called out. I do "fresh" shavings on the pathways, but generally add my cyclone waste to our large compost pile along with greens and other things. So you'll want to amend the solid carefully as other have mentioned before you do any planting this spring...it's probably a good idea to do that now so it has time to work.

[Mike McCann]

Everyone thanks, I have already added the cow manure. I should go our and get some lime and throw that in should help out. The zoo sells animal guana here in Cincinnati maybe i will pick some of that up if it is not too expensive.

[Lee Schierer]

Everyone thanks, I have already added the cow manure. I should go our and get some lime and throw that in should help out. The zoo sells animal guana here in Cincinnati maybe i will pick some of that up if it is not too expensive.

Better to invest in a cheap soil test kit and see what is needed before applying lime. Most county extension services will test or tell you where to send soil for complete analysis so you don't add unnecessary elements.

[Burt Alcantara]

We use the saw dust/shavings to kill all living things. In all of the areas it was put down, nothing grows. Good luck.

Burt

[Kevin Arceneaux]

Try this site

http://www.thebayougardener.com/

And then his forums. It is a small group at this time, but they do have a lot of good information

[Kyle Kraft]

Were those walnut shavings?