Sunday, April 06, 2014

Fall rye...the experiment is a failure.


In the fall I sprinkled fall rye in all the garden beds but one. It grew beautifully over the winter. It was time to stir it in and that is when I discovered that fall rye and clay soil is not a good fit. You can't pull the rye out, you can't fork it out and the clay/thick clumps that came with the rye, do not break down. So using shovels and rakes, we ended up throwing most of the rye and clumps of thick soil into the compost bin. Then taking wheelbarrow loads of our precious horse manure and topping the beds up. So all in all it came out beautifully, but it was the work. The backbreaking work. 
If I didn't garden in raised beds it would have been easy with a rototiller. So lesson learned. Do not plant fall rye in raised beds with thick dense soil. 





To be continued......


5 comments:

Mark Willis said...

I thought the whole idea of a green manure was not to take it out, but to dig it in. Is that not so?

Erin said...

Yes it is...yes it is. That big lumpy mess was after about...mmmmmm....a week of digging in. Big clods of lumpy, clay rye. Brutal.

Gardeningbren said...

I've seen these small rototillers..mantis I think they are called. Might suit a raised bed.
What you accomplished would be too much work for me. But if I were to do this, I'd have 'him' whipper snip the lot first and have him turn the sods. But, your effort is not lost Erin. You put it in the compost and it will do wonders in there!

Erin said...

Thank you for the tips. :-)
Today I single handedly dug up four established Japanese Maples that were in clay and med them. I also dug up and moved an apple tree. I am beyond sore and pooped.....but oh so satisfied.

Gardeningbren said...

Wow! you are strong Erin. I am pretty sure, that is beyond me now ;-) Wonderful feeling though heh!