Re-Energizing A Garden Bed

Now is a good time to revitalize a garden bed or portion of a garden bed if your vegetables seemed to be bug-ridden and the harvest was less than expected. Nutrients need to be added back into the soil on a regular basis, and this method is more for tired soil. This particular plan is from the Happy Earth website.

"Last weekend we set about ‘revamping' two of our five circular veggie beds. We used whatever materials we had on hand, and picked up some free horse manure from the local horse stables at Kembla Grange. Here's what we did:

1. Cleared most of the vegetation in the beds (we left just a few tomatoes as they were still going strong, and we could easily work around them) and gave the bed a good watering2. Scattered half a bucket of trace minerals plus the contents from our compost bin and worm farm. This was then watered with diluted liquid seaweed
3. Spread the horse poo and again watered with diluted liquid seaweed
4. Spread some mulch on top (chopped down comfrey, lucerne and lemon grass etc)from around the veggie beds)

Just a few days later, when we poked a trowel into the revamped beds, there were worms and lots of other little soil building critters going mad – just what we want to see! We'll leave all of this new goodness to break down for a few weeks, before planting them out – and then enjoy watch our little autumn seedlings jump to life!"

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This could be considered a recipe for the garden, and instead of using exactly what these people used, use what you have available. The bed doesn't necessarily have to be cleared, just knock down the vegetation and cover it with thick layers of wet newspaper. Trace minerals, compost (purchased or homemade), and liquid seaweed is always good to include. Manures are good, although sometimes cow manures have a lot of salt and wood mulch in them (that's why they are usually so cheap). You can make as many layers as you want, top it off with a nice thick layer of mulch, and let the bed rest a while. The worms and other biological life will explode in such a mixture! And, by spring the bed will be ready for whatever you want to plant.