(12/8) I have large extensive gardens around our property, and I didn’t dig any of them. Most garden books will tell you you need to dig up the sod, and turn over the soil to establish a new garden, but this is not true! I pile compost right on top of green, healthy grass. Before I had compost, I bought mushroom soil - - a lot of it! I pile the organic material up to 5 or 6 inches deep being sure not one blade of grass is showing. You can start with wet newspaper or cardboard if you like. These materials will actually smother the grass more efficiently. Of course, paper is an organic material, so it will become part of the soil with no problem. Wet it first so it doesn’t blow away, and also because moisture will start up the decomposition process quicker.
I have seen some landscape companies use Round-Up to kill the grass first. But why would you want those dubiously safe chemicals in your soil? My method is to pile organic materials right on top of good, healthy grass. The grass will be smothered, and the decomposed sod will add extra nutrition to your soil.
I like to start these projects in the fall, and let that organic material lie on top of the grass all winter. I then wait for spring before digging or planting anything. In the spring, to plant a new plant from a nursery pot, I dig down and remove a ring of the dead sod from the bottom of the hole and add it to my compost pile. Then I plant my new plant allowing some of the compost to fall into the hole as I dig. This is the way every bed I own was established. I am too old and too small a person to do all that digging!
I might add here that, if I were planting seeds, I could put them right in the compost . As long as the organic material has sat there all winter, it is definitely ready to receive plants or seeds. It has now become an excellent planting medium. Beware of UNFINISHED compost. Too much unfinished compost or raw organic material added around plants can cause a period of nitrogen tie-up which is harmful to the plants. This is the reason you put the compost down in the fall, then wait for spring before planting.
I am assuming that when you use this method, that you are planting in an open area. If you are planning a garden around a tree, never pile anything on the soil more than two or three inches deep because you can smother the feeder roots and kill the tree. Also, never pile organic material or any kind of mulch against the trunk of a tree.
Remember, when discussing compost and mushroom soil, that mushroom soil IS actually compost that has been commercially produced for the purpose of growing mushrooms. It is usually composted chicken or horse manure with some other organics added. It is known to have a high salt content which, undiluted, can harm plants. For this reason, many people buy it mixed half and half with topsoil.
Good homemade compost is always the safest and highest quality soil conditioner that can be found. When making your own compost, adding any farm animal manure is a good thing. Never add dog or cat waste. Never spread compost while it is hot or even warm. The heat in compost is caused by the working of the billions of tiny microbes in the soil eating the organic material. Its temperature can rise to as high as 150 degrees which will burn your plants. You have to let it "finish" or cool down before using. The sun has nothing to do with the temperature of your pile. Your compost pile is actually better in the shade because full sun will dry it out too quickly, and it needs to be damp at all times.
When you apply that compost to the garden floor, those tiny microbes with the help of earthworms will work the compost down into the soil with no help from you. Digging and turning the soil actually kills many valuable workers. Ever wonder how that soft-skinned earthworm can work his way through rock hard soil? He eats his way leaving a nice tunnel behind for water and air to move through the soil. Very cool, isn’t it?
After years of doing nothing but adding organic material on top of the soil, I can now put a spade into just about any spot in my gardens on a hot dry day, and send it down a full shovel depth with one good kick.
A very interesting detail to me, is that when I started my gardens years ago, I used this method only because it saved me a lot of work. At the time, I owned a heavy duty rear tine Troy-bilt tiller. I tried to till the soil in my new backyard, and the tines just bounced off the hard surface. At the time every authority told you, you had to till or "double dig" the soil before planting.
Today, thirty years and much research later, the universities are recommending "no-til" farming as well as gardening. I was ahead of my time, but didn’t know it!
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