Sounds like a lot of work for a gal with a bad shoulder.
You can't go wrong on the Fair Grounds mulch if it is like what I get up here. Good luck on your new garden.
phil

Just plant in the mulch/horse poo or horse/mulch and you are finished. It really is no more complicated than that!

Water often because this new planting area will not hold water well for a year or so. Mulch heavly this fall 2-4 inches and stop watering and you are finished again. Water again in the spring and summer and early fall, mulch again and you are finished again.

I agree with you, Phil--but our *local* guy provides only the *raw* version. I'll have to alocate a spot in the back
of our place to leave it for a year! Something to consider, but, I need a "fast-poo carry-out" right now, "well-done" please! :o)

Great to see you posting--seems like it's been awhile! You've got lots of really *helpful info*, ya know--or at least *I* know you do,
that would be great to share with this forum! :O) Hope to see you posting more often! Nudge, nudge!!!

Oops, I was *constructing* a response to Phil while you were posting, E.O.!

Can you tell me why this area won't be absorbing much water this year, after putting it together?

Thank you for your encouragement, as well!!!!

Horse manure is safe to use after 3 months. A moist environment encourages the microherd to multiply and work up the ingredients closer to the surface. You can add grass clippings and coffee grounds too, nitrogen sources for them to munch on.

Several reasons but the question is these ingredients have not reached the point where they hold water well, the water will just run through which is a good thing on the short term. You need to provide the water that is draining out quickly so the roots dont dry out.

The microherd, soil organisms will begin to sort out what you put down and they don't actually need to be water logged to do their work yet they need evenly moist. They start to break down this organic matter you are providing, rearranging the parts into a structure. One organism eats a little poo and a little bit of a leaf or twig and is eaten by another organism, reducing the organic matter finally into soil.

I think it was the soil organisms thread, find and read that and you will see the process you are starting with this lasagna bed.

You have done all you can do in this process except water when needed which will be more often than nature will do unless you are unlucky. This area is almost like a big potted plant.

Thank you, Maryann, for that information! So I could stock pile it maybe over winter for next year! Maybe, I'll plan
on getting it late into the year so it won't draw flies! :o)

E.O., are you referring largely, to the compost/mulch top layer or the whole *pot* as it were? The clay soil that the plants
are actually rooting in, will not absorb the water, yet??

I thought that you were planting in the lasagna section not the soil. In that case it is the section where the plant is planted that needs the water and should not need the amount I'm talking about.

If it were me then I would make this mulch/poo layer thicker and plant like a 1/4 of the root ball in the soil with the rest in the lasagna section. Then keep mulching to keep the depth proper for the crown. AND water of course more because it will require more with this system.

Then put 1-2 inches on top in the fall.

If this procedure makes you uncomfortable try a few this way. Look for the difference in the 2nd and 3rd year.

My beds are filled with horse poo mixed with wood shavings. It was free and over a year old when I got it. Check with some big horse farms, race tracks and stables. They may have a big pile rotting out back, just begging to go home with you. Around here, I could never put sod in my beds to rot. the sod we have is so tough it would continue to grow would quickly fill in the beds. The worst weeds I am dealing with now are a few grape vines, hickory and maple seedlings and some grasses. I pull what I can, round-up the rest.