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Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Compost in the center of the garden.

I have my garden laid out on paper and stakes marking the rows in the garden. Wooden boxes are in place for plants potatoes above mud when spring rain comes. Today I filled the 3'x10' wooden frames with tree leaves, a mix of leaves, pine needles, dead sticks, and 5 gallons of wood ash. It is suppose to rain so I guess I have to wait to shovel soil from each side onto the leaves. I hope this is composted enough by April to plant potatoes. 3 rows of potatoes about 10" between each cutting. About 108 plants. If I get 3 lbs of potatoes per plant that gives me 324 lbs of potatoes. Just have to wait and see if it works.

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I am trying to avoid rotting potatoes in the swamp.

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MoonShadows
Senior Member
Posts: 149
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:50 am
Location: Stroudsburg, PA - Zone 6a

We used to pile all the leaves from our yard in the garden each Fall. We would then dig them under. In the Spring, when we spaded up the garden, they were just about gone. Mulch them, and they'll go faster.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Good luck. I have a swamp when it rains too. It can puddle for a week. I do use raised beds and it does help, but the bed had to be high enough that the roots of the plants would still be above the pond.

toxcrusadr
Greener Thumb
Posts: 970
Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:50 pm
Location: MO

Looks great. I hope you needed that wood ash - it's highly alkaline, more so than regular lime (ground limestone). If you have very acidic soil, it'll be great. I generate a lot of ash (5 gal per week in the winter) from my stove but my soil is already neutral to just slightly acidic so I don't use it on the garden.



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