From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
     we had a few days last week that were warm enough   
   where i could get out and finish cleaning up a few   
   gardens (burying garden debris), but that is likely   
   the last of that sort of thing i'll be doing outside   
   for the season.   
      
     i wasn't even really planning on doing this but it   
   just worked out.  with all the rains and snow we've   
   had (that's melted) the garden i was mostly digging in   
   was muddy, but i really wanted those last two gardens   
   cleaned up.   
      
     normally i have a policy of trying to bury what is   
   grown in a garden in the same garden where it was   
   grown.  this returns the nutrients and fiber to the   
   soil and gives the worms something to work on through   
   the winter.  this time though because i was planning   
   on digging up most of the garden in the spring i was   
   not able to stick to this policy and buried it in   
   another garden instead.  the other reason to not bury   
   things in a different garden than where grown is to   
   cut down on spreading weeds/weed seeds around (which   
   isn't a major problem inside the fence, but every   
   little bit helps).   
      
     the garden that got all the debris is yet another   
   pretty fertile heavy clay garden here.  it has been   
   amended in the past, but not very deeply so each time   
   i get a chance to add to it and to work down a little   
   more it makes progress.  i have buckets of ashes to   
   use up too - i put some of those in with the organic   
   material - the next few times i did through that area   
   (i don't disturb a whole garden that often so it may   
   take a few years to get all the way through a garden   
   again) it will get mixed in better.   
      
     the biggest improvements are in getting the area   
   raised up a bit and better drainage where some worms   
   can hide out.  i was glad to see that there were worms   
   in the garden.  it had been amended before with the   
   worms and worm compost and other organic materials so   
   they had enough to eat.  it takes about 3-5yrs of   
   amending a solid clay garden here before i see a   
   reasonable number of worms in them.  it really helps   
   if when i start out i dig a few deeper holes and bury   
   organic material in them so that worms have a place to   
   be during the hot and cold parts of the season.  a   
   shovel and a half seems to work ok for the depth here.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)