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| Is now the time to add a top dressing of compost to my planting beds? I'm in Wisconsin. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| If it is well composted I would say you should be fine. |
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| If you're going to plant seeds, I would do it now if you can wait at least 3 weeks before planting...otherwise, I would wait until after germination. For transplants, I think it's fine. Personally, if you've got some lead time before seeds, I might work it into the soil. Otherwise I'd top-dress as you suggest (which is what I'll need to do this year). Others always top-dress, and never work it in. |
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| If you intend to treat the topping as a mulch, and the area hasn't dried yet to the point you can work in it, then I suppose its not the time. Often, when mulch prevents areas of high moisture to dry out it becomes mushy and invites those critters that like to nest in such dampness; earwigs among them. Pulling mulch away, letting the area dry and then putting the mulch (or fresh toppings) back can be done and a topping made prior to that time. Be careful with topdressing where peonies might be. Topdressing these effectively puts the plant deeper and may cause the plant to affect its blooming. Sidedress a peony only. |
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| I never put compost out in the rain or snow(ice in S.C.)or after dark, other then that, anytime is a good time for compost. That is compost, which goes without saying is well rotted plant & animal waste. The above posts have pretty much covered every thing.:-) |
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| I never thought of the repurcussions of adding compost to a moist area - good to know. Most of my yard is dry, fallen leaves and all, raked and cleaned. As for other areas, I'll wait until the weather gets a bit warmer. I've never worked it into the soil with all my perennials around I don't know where they are until they sprout later in the season, so I just use as a top dressing, and as a "mulch" as regular mulch is just too messy for my taste. I have planted seeds, indoors, aready sprouting, and will be putting those plants out in early June after the risk of frost here (Morning Glories). I'm *assuming* the composted manure I get from the local box store is well composted - it doesn't have an order to it. Thanks all for the feedback. |
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| Whether now is a good time or not depends on soil temperature which determines the activity of the Soil Food Web. If your soil has warmed enough so the SFW is out and about and active then now is a good time to spread compost. If your grass is greening up and growing then yuour SFW most likely is active, but if the grass is just green and not growing it may be too early. As jolj has alluded spreading compost on soil that does not have an active SFW can allow any nutrients available in your compost to be washed away by the rain that may fall now. Spreading compost on soils that are too cold is as bad as spreading a synthetic fertilizer on cold soils. |
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