I live in Seattle and just ripped out every square inch of lawn in my front yard and I'm planning on replacing it with perennials, and maybe a few trees and flowers (mostly native, but not all). The intent being to create a sort of local forest floor type habitat. I LOVE forests... especially the Olympic rainforest valleys... Quinault is amazing. That is what I want my yard to be like, accept within reason, as we don't get that kind of moisture and climate over here.

The yard is north-facing, with a two story house in the way of the sun, so the southern 30-ish% of the yard never sees direct sun. There are also two trees to the west in the neighbors yard that block most evening sun. But this should be fine if I choose the right plants, and it just so happens that berries (my favorite) typically tolerate low light like on a forest floor. I recently went to the native plant sale and got a ton of stuff: woodland strawberry, elderberry, evergreen huckelberry, blueberry, thimbleberry, snowberry, etc. Also picked up a currant and a chokecherry tree, and a bunch of native flower bulbs and seeds.

Elsewhere I've also collected some other misc. stuff from nature, craigslist, friends, etc: Sumac, ferns, clover, raspberry canes. All in all, I have about 50 small plants ready to go in pots, maybe another 50+ flower bulbs, plus a ton of flower seeds.

My hard is bare dirt now (grass removed and roots shook out) and I am trying to prepare it properly for the spring to plant all this stuff. I won't have compost ready for at least a few months, so I'm taking the advice of some others here and going to plant the new plants in my back yard garden in their pots over the winter. I read about cover crops and I think that's a great idea for the front yard until the soil is ready in the spring.

So, here's my plan for the soil... please tell me if I'm doing something wrong. These plants (natives, especially berries) tend to be acid loving already, which my *dirt* is. I'm going cover the dirt with cardboard. I'm getting some composted horse manure from craigslist and putting that on top of the cardboard. Then mix in a bunch of greens and browns (probably more browns since I think manure is considered a green)... tons of leaves and hay (like you get from farm supply stores). Maybe even fluff it up with some shredded cardboard or paper if I need to. I'll try and get this mix to be at least 6 inches deep. I can put wood chips on top of that, but would prefer to just add heaps of leaves as mulch (just going to be a challenge with the fall winds kicking up).

That's the plan... horse manure, straw/hay/tons and tons of leaves (and paper/cardboard if needed). Will this make for a good soil come spring?

I'm also worried that this will be too 'hot' for the cover crop. Not temperature hot, like in a bin, but that the activity will burn the roots of the cover crop in some way. It would be buckwheat or clovers or something good for berries, and turned in in the spring.

Also, should I really bother with the cardboard, or just add the manure/hay/leaves right on top of the dirt and till it all into the top 8 inches to help 'dilute' the new compost, and don't worry as much about the weeds?

Thanks and sorry for the crazy long post!

Your... horse manure, straw/hay/tons and tons of leaves (and paper/cardboard if needed) will make good soil come spring and the cardboard underlayer will make sure none of the grass roots survive.

but... since you already have the hardy plants & our weather is still quite mild with the rainy season here to water for you... you might want to go ahead & plant now as you said:

"just add the manure/hay/leaves right on top of the dirt and till it all into the top 8 inches to help 'dilute' the new compost"

If the manure is mostly composted it should be fine as the bottom layer, but if it's not you could skip the manure altogether & just use some purchased compost. Most of your native plants don't need a rich soil. Can also plant lasagna style skip tilling it & just plant right in your layers as long as you're not using any fresh manures.

Ask the person giving the manure if they feed weed free hay. If they do then you don't get it. The herbicide residue is the danger. I've had great results with horse manure from this area though avoided it for years due to rumors of weeds. As long as you keep it on the bottom & don't let any hay get to the top what few things sprout usually pull up easily.

you said: "and don't worry as much about the weeds?"

After you plant you can still mulch between the plants with overlapping layers of newspaper topped with the shredded leaves you acquire. As long as you don't touch the stems of the plants. Do regular patrols to keep up with the sprouting weeds as well as slugs & you'll be pleased with results. Our soil is still warm & the plants will establish themselves by spring.

OR if you just want to do the layers & plant in spring just group your pots together ideally bury the bottoms of the pots in soil or leaf mold to protect roots from freezing... & bait for slugs as they'll eat all winter long.

I wish you the best in your gardening adventure this fall.

Soil type: Got a clean quart jar with straight sides and a lid? Stick a vertical strip of tape that you can write on down the side. Add 2 cups of soil (pick out stones, roots and debris), then almost fill with water. Shake vigorously for a good minute. Then set in a place where it won't be disturbed for two or three days. After one minute, the sand & tiny stone should be settled. Mark the top of that level. After an hour or so, the silt should be settled; mark that. After 2 days, most of the clay should be settled; mark it. Very fine clay will stay suspended in the water, making it cloudy, no problem. Anything that floats is organic, not important for this test. Now look at your marks:
____

clay
____

silt
____

sand
____

What kind of breakdown do you have there? Mostly sand? Mostly clay? Here in W. WA we can have either extreme.

Our high rainfall washes out a lot of nutrients, worse if you have sandy soil. Clay retains more nutrients, but doesn't drain as well. A mix of the two is best.

See the King Conservation District at http://www.kingcd.org/pro_far_soi.htm for their free soil tests. Click on the 'Soil sampling instructions' for the proper way to collect your sample. Don't use a rusty shovel or trowel or bucket. Don't handle the soil with your hands, pick out debris with a clean fork or spoon. Write ORGANIC on the info label. You might also add "growing native plants" on your soil sample label. They can't read minds, I've heard, and will assume you want to grow vegetables, which requires different treatment. They will probably offer a phone number for questions, so feel free to use it. This program is paid for by your tax dollars.

The King County Cooperative Extension Service/Master Gardener program has over 2000 brochures on different subjects http://county.wsu.edu/king/gardening/Pages/default.aspx

One thing that our soil is always lacking is calcium. Since you don't care to raise the pH, you will use gypsum. Your soil test will tell you what your pH is, probably in the 5.0-5.8 area. The soil test people will ASSUME you want to grow vegetables, and will urge you to add dolomite lime or calcitic lime to raise the pH to 6.0-6.7 or so. Unless you're growing vegetables or plants that need this pH level, stick with the gypsum.

Note: many/most people think adding lime always raises the pH, but it doesn't. In fact, you would be better off if you just forgot any connection between lime and pH. Think of lime as CALCIUM, just use the correct kind for your needs. If your soil nutrients are balanced correctly, the pH will fall into place.

If you haven't investigated Seattle Tilth, you will probably want to. Link below.

Sue

In our rainforests, as in most rainforests, there is very little organic matter or nutrient content in the soil itself. Too much rain, everything gets washed out. The nutrients tend to be contained in plant biomass, either living or relatively recently dead and fallen to the ground. If you were to dig a soil profile in the Quinault rainforest there'd be an organic layer of leaf and twig debris on top of the soil along with fallen logs and branches; then there'd be a very very thin A horizon which is where most soil microbial activity takes place; then there'd be a heavily leached B horizon (the lower part of what's called topsoil) and below that there might be subsoil or there might be just rock, or a glacial hardpan. I'm surprised at how thin the soil is that these trees are growing on! Roadcuts and landslides in the Olympics show big doug firs growing in just a few inches of soil on top of bedrock. Typically for rainforests, both temperate and tropical, most nutrient recycling take place in the organic litter on top of the soil and the top few inches of soil. Some plant roots reach deeper of course but mainly for water and balance, there's not much microbial activity down there. That's one reason you see so many plants growing on top of rotting logs and stumps - it's where the nutrients are.

So, what to do with your garden. You could plant now, without adding anything to the planting holes, and mulch around the plants - that would mimic their native environment. In our area you can plant hardy plants any time the soil is neither frozen nor waterlogged. If this will be your first winter in this garden, you might want to see how it performs over the winter, flooding and drainage wise, before finalizing your planting plan. Or, to be sure you've gotten the lawn grasses out, you could go with the cardboard covered with manure and tree chips route, then plant in spring. Typical ryegrass lawns are not that persistent, but if you had bentgrass or quackgrass, you need to be sure it's gone before planting.

Adding organic mulches should take care of any nutrient needs. Yes our soils are typically low in calcium, but that's what the native plants are used to. Don't worry about it, or the pH. Leaf mold from deciduous trees would add calcium too, it's the coniferous stuff that makes our soil acid and calcium deficient. But what does 'deficient' mean if you're growing plants that are adapted to that state?? Calcium content is mainly an issue when growing (non native) plants from areas where the soil provides more calcium than ours does.

What, no salal?

Belgianpup: I took 3 samples for the 'dirt' and they're all pretty much the same. Looks like a lot of sand at the bottom, and a tiny layer of list on top. Here are pictures of the three samples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68789281@N08/6250951684/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68789281@N08/6250423555/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68789281@N08/6250423671/

Here's a picture of the yard so far:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68789281@N08/6250951570/

The big river rock pile on the left is everything I pulled out of the yard as I dug it up. There's a huge maple tree on the right, in the parking strip, that feeds my compost bins.

I still need to do the soil testing, but it's difficult right now as I lost my glasses and the printing on the instructions might as well be microscopic. I get some new glasses this week and I'll be able to read it and take the samples.

reg_pnw7: This is good to hear. So it sounds like all the compost I'm making will just be bonus... icing on the cake so to speak. I love the Olympics btw... I camp in the Quinault valley quite a bit and spend hours just looking at the plants and hunting for things I've never seen before. I found some Indian Pipe once... that was really cool, as I'd been looking for it for a few years (accept that I found it on the Easter side of the mountains, not on the rainforest side).

I got a ton of burlap sacks yesterday from some local coffee roasters. So I was thinking of putting those down first, then some cardboard on top of it, then the fresher manure/compost and the mulch on top. I'll keep the new plants in the containers like you mentioned and just dig them into the ground. Then come sprint I can take them out of the pots and mix a little of the compost that was over-wintered on top into the hole.

The problem I see though is that if the plant's roots are below the burlap after I plant them in the spring (i'll have to cut a hole in the burlap), and the compost is on top leaching down as you mentioned, it seems like the burlap would be a barrier for that nutrients. Am I over-worrying about that?

Thanks again for all the input from everyone!

To prolong the life of soaker hoses:

- keep covered with mulch to reduce sunlight breakdown
- use the lowest pressure you can that gives adequate watering
- Drain and put away in freezing weather
- if a large leak develops, cut the hose at that point and install a 99 cent coupler.

Hope this helps.

No, don't forgot the connection between lime and pH. Lime raises soil pH and that's a good connection to remember.

Are you thinking of gypsum as a type of lime? I'm wondering if maybe that's where the glitch might be.

In July, we started a new bed over cardboard with chicken manure + bedding. Now easy to dig right through it all in the loosened soil. The cardboard is still there, but soft & thin, so not a problem even with a trowel.

Picture it like a pie --

bottom crust: cardboard
filling: mulch & compost materials
top crust: burlap

The burlap keeps the pile moist & materials from blowing away. It doesn't take long in moist conditions for the color to fade & become uniform brown rather than light.

If you don't want to use the burlap you could save it for lining the paths between the beds. In sunny dry summer weather it lasts a good while making it easy to keep shoes clean when going out for a few berries in the morning.

corrine: Thanks for the input! I didn't know that they break down so fast. Didn't think of putting burlap on top either... that would help with the weeds that will surely be in the horse manure compost! Although, I'm going to use leaf mulch instead of wood chips on top of that... I'm guessing that I might have issues with the leaves easily sliding off the burlap. Maybe I can fix that with a little dirt on top or just building up the bed's barrier to contain the leaves.