'Crusty' Top Layer of Soil?

15 years ago

As I am very new at this, I am sure I have done something wrong! I'm adding to an existing bed around a large maple tree. I've used a Mantis tiller and added three or four bags of "Compost Manure." Now, it seems that the top of the bed is a crunchy, crusty layer of broken, cracked, rather ugly soil. Underneath, the soil is very fine, dry, and crumbly - mostly the manure mix - and does not seem to hold water at all!

I am afraid that I have too much of the "Compost Manure," as there is not too much regular soil there due to the huge roots of the tree. I think I should add something else, but what? Top soil? Any help is greatly appreciated, as it's not doing very well right now and it's my first garden bed ever.

Here is a link that might be useful: far away picture of bed

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Comments (8)

trancegemini_wa
15 years ago
In my opinion it's not what you have done to the bed but rather the conditions that already exist in the bed. As you said the roots are large and there isnt any depth of soil there so plants will have trouble establishing a root system there, I cant see what you have planted but generally tough small rooted plants are a good choice for this type of area but Im not familiar with gardening in your zone so I wouldnt know what to recommend.

The other problem with underplanting large trees is the dryness, the trees take a lot of moisture out of the soil and often rainfall is prevented from getting under the canopy, the tree doesnt mind because it can search out water with it's large root system, but small plants don't have that advantage. mulching around the top of the soil with a courser material will help but the best way to succeed with this bed is find out what type of plants do well in this particular situation in your zone, you may need to move your plants elsewhere and plant something more suitable for that spot.
billhill
15 years ago
As the previous poster said, Mulching is the answer. In the Fall, mulch heavy with maple leaves shredded with your mulching mower or whole if you can not shred them. Shade loving annual flowers will grow there. Water and fertilize them well. Your composted manure is ok as is. You will not need manure again if you compost in place, a thick layer of Autumn leaves.
. Bill Hill
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maryann_____chgo
15 years ago
Maples are notorious water robbers and suck every bit of moisture from the soil. What has worked for me is to sink potted plants into the soil so that the water stays nearer the plant roots. It looks like you could raise that bed level 6 to 8", then sink the containers into it. Do you have access to free municipal compost or lasagna type mulching materials?
west9491
15 years ago
i noticed that you said you used composted manure:

I bought some of this at walmart a few weeks ago, several bags.
i poured one of em out, it plopped out in a big ball, and stunk, i believe it wasn't composted, it was basically fresh bagged horse crap.
anyways, when the bag i poured out dried, the clumps were like bricks, i could not break them apart by hand, and they were jagged, when i watered it, the water rolled right off.
needless to say i took the bags back to walmart and went to lowes and got their composted manure, much much better.
Kimmsr
15 years ago
How much manure, 3 or 4 bags does not mean much, was added over how much area. 160 pounds of manure spread over 1,000 square feet is not much manure and will do little to change the soils structure or texture.
What kind of soil do you have? Sand? Clay? Loam? Gravel?
Most all soils that do not have enough organic matter in them will, if dry, be quite hydrophic and will repel water for some time before allowing that water to soak in. Manure, even composted manure, will not add enough organic matter to your soil, you need compost, vegetative waste also.
zeituni
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you all for your ideas; I will redo the bed this week with all of these suggestions in mind. This was my first post ever here and I really appreciate all the help!
fertilizersalesman
15 years ago
I don't think I would do anything. Just leave it for a while it and I bet it sorts itself out.
petalpatsy
15 years ago
I've had problems with bought compost like this. I got even a truckload of a horse stall sweepings compost -- all wood shaving, manure, bits of feed, and the urine to heat things up.
It's wonderful stuff, but it gets hydrophobic. I had a big pile of it over the winter, and it was very difficult to wet. I noticed after a long slow rain, it was still dry just an inch down. I mixed it up. I'd try wetting it with a hose, just to prove to myself it was 'better'. It just tends to be very homogenus (sp?) and quickly begins to sort out to it's little layers---like tiny little shingles, I imagine.
I've gone back to raised beds of it, and scratched in my lovely, lovely, did I say lovely? homemade compost. I also have slowly scratched in the odd pot of plain old dirt/clay.

The mix is is very much better. I laugh at myself a little--I got truckloads when I was starting beds because it was easy. "Bah! on all this clay!" I thought. Now, I feel like I should have trusted nature to know--clay is necessary to hold water, and variety is essential for proper structure.