Building materials in my outdoor garden, please advise

I got my hands on a power tiller and decided to start a large garden (12x14)

I worked on it all day yesterday, my neighbor saw me outside today and came over with 2 bales, about the size of peat or straw bales. Told me it's shredded paper and it would be good for my garden, will retain moisture and I won't have to water as often. "it's just shredded paper".

He's twice my age, has grandkids, and likes to share his wisdom with me. So against my better judgement, I mix this shit into my garden under his supervision, tilling it into the top 6" of soil.

So, any blame is entirely on me. It's my fault for not reading the MSDS on this before mixing it into 3 hours of hard labor. http://www.greenfibe...ded Formula.pdf

^turns out, it's insulation and the flame retardant is Boric acid. 11% Boric acid. I know that plants use it, but in high concentrations it can kill insects, fungus, and bacteria.... which I think would be the point of soaking it into insulation.

Did I just ruin my garden? Should I remove the top 6" of dirt? It's only about 100 cubic ft of topsoil, but it's a lot of freaking work. On the other hand, I want my garden to be as healthy as possible. Can anybody advise me here?

I would advise not to use insulation...I have never heard of that. Newspaper is good in compost and decompose quick. I would you some newspaper mixed in with the soil. But not much, like 5:1 ratio. Every 5 parts top soil 1 part newspaper mixed in. See if you can get your hands on some EWC. Mix that in with your top soil 3:1 and should help your plants grow (not sure if you planned on going organic or not).

What are you planting?

How many different species?

Any pictures of your garden?

Edited by ruh roh, 16 April 2012 - 09:59 PM.
added more shit.

This doesn't sound very good! I would remove any of it I can!! The paper is OK, but flame retardants are bad!

Don't let people tell you how to garden next time!

I, as well, have neighbors who feel compelled to invite themselves to see what I'm doing in my yard; the worst culprit is one my wife and I named the "Mullet Man". A self appointed referee for our little cul de sac. His uniform is a pair of red shorts . . . period! All summer long he sits perched at the end of his driveway basking in the sun eyeballing everyone who comes and goes. Creeps me the fuck out/ Sorry just looked over my post and realized, like always I never have anything to add pertinent to the thread. Forgive my diatribe.

Edited by mrjerky, 17 April 2012 - 04:50 AM.

I removed it, thanks for the input I feel better about it now. Here's a pic of my spot... it's 9am so it's shady but it gets the most afternoon sun, when the woods are shading the rest of the area. You can see the pile of topsoil back by the woods, if stuff starts growing in it I might incorporate some of it back into the garden next year. Now.... I just need 4 cubic yards of quality topsoil.

Matt... yea, I planned on using organics. It's a real shame because I have very good topsoil, I'm really mad at myself for doing that... should've known from his lanky tomato plants last year that he doesn't know shit about gardening. I plan on tomato, squash, pepper, sunflower, and maybe some cucumber or carrot. I'll do some hot peppers and maybe some peas and beans in 10 gal pots up by the house, part of my yard I can't dig up because of my septic, but it gets great sun so I just use containers.

I'll be setting up a vermi compost box behind my shed for next year, I'd like to set up a chicken coop as well. I've been doing some reading in the organics section....

I, as well, have neighbors who feel compelled to invite themselves to see what I'm doing in my yard; the worst culprit is one my wife and I named the "Mullet Man". A self appointed referee for our little cul de sac. His uniform is a pair of red shorts . . . period! All summer long he sits perched at the end of his driveway basking in the sun eyeballing everyone who comes and goes. Creeps me the fuck out/ Sorry just looked over my post and realized, like always I never have anything to add pertinent to the thread. Forgive my diatribe.

LOL, I feel like he just came over with some trash that he couldn't get rid of and was like "here, bury this in your vegetable garden" and like an asshole, I did it

I removed it, thanks for the input I feel better about it now. Here's a pic of my spot... it's 9am so it's shady but it gets the most afternoon sun, when the woods are shading the rest of the area. You can see the pile of topsoil back by the woods, if stuff starts growing in it I might incorporate some of it back into the garden next year. Now.... I just need 4 cubic yards of quality topsoil.

Matt... yea, I planned on using organics. It's a real shame because I have very good topsoil, I'm really mad at myself for doing that... should've known from his lanky tomato plants last year that he doesn't know shit about gardening. I plan on tomato, squash, pepper, sunflower, and maybe some cucumber or carrot. I'll do some hot peppers and maybe some peas and beans in 10 gal pots up by the house, part of my yard I can't dig up because of my septic, but it gets great sun so I just use containers.

I'll be setting up a vermi compost box behind my shed for next year, I'd like to set up a chicken coop as well. I've been doing some reading in the organics section....

Awesome dude. Looking forward to see this stuff set up.

Since you have some land to work with id check out Permaculture. I have a thread in my sig all about it.

Also the Soil & Health Library.com is awesome, as is Acres Magazine. Threads about both are around.

I would scoop Kelp Meal and any kind of Rock Dust. I'm assuming your already composting?

Anyways welcome dude

Edited by SoooHaggard, 18 April 2012 - 06:04 AM.

Awesome dude. Looking forward to see this stuff set up.

Since you have some land to work with id check out Permaculture. I have a thread in my sig all about it.

Also the Soil & Health Library.com is awesome, as is Acres Magazine. Threads about both are around.

I would scoop Kelp Meal and any kind of Rock Dust. I'm assuming your already composting?

Anyways welcome dude

/\/\/\Yea...that

And I'm glad to hear you are going organic...I am too, on my first grow. My garden will be a little smaller than yours but I like your style with mixing it up with a little bit of everything instead of just one species. It's good for the land you are on.

Listin to SH too, he's helped me out in the past. Smart dude...so good luck!

Here is something that worked incredibly well for our outdoor garden the past few years.
Its a little late now but maybe for next year ;-)

We used to build a trench about 6" deep by the length of the garden on all sides and used it for an irrigation system. The water flows right to the roots and encourages roots to grow down and stronger resulting in huge yields (for tomatoes especially).

So, how is your garden once you have cured the boric acid problem?

Edit: I guess the directional flow of the water would change greatly depending on your land and the degree of slope. For flat land you would probably want to dig a more extensive system to make sure the water runs to all the roots, not just to the plants on the perimeter.

Edited by Cheesed, 27 June 2012 - 12:32 PM.

I replaced the topsoil and mixed in 10 bags of hummus and 2 bags of plant tone. I've got pumpkins, watermelons, peas, corn, and carrots. I should've used mounds for the carrots, there's a lot of things I'm going to do differently next year. It's not really organized or anything, wife and kids planted a few things, I planted a few things, grass is starting to creep in lol.

The topsoil I used compacts too much, or I'm just used to fluffy potting soil lol. Either way I know I have to condition my soil for next year and I don't really know the best way to go about that. I'm thinking some kind of after-harvest treatment or tilling?

I set down 2 plastic pallets, drilled some holes in them for drainage, and wrapped them in fencing for my compost area. I have plenty of grass clippings but no access to "brown" material like dead leaves, I understand that too much grass clippings will give the compost too much nitrogen and take forever to break down? Can anybody weigh in on this?

My potted peas and peppers are doing great, my bulbs (can't remember the name) are 12" tall already. Everything is still real young at this point though, no flowers or fruits yet. Next year I will start a few things early, peppers and some of my flowers for sure, they're taking forever. I'll grab some more pics today

I set down 2 plastic pallets, drilled some holes in them for drainage, and wrapped them in fencing for my compost area. I have plenty of grass clippings but no access to "brown" material like dead leaves, I understand that too much grass clippings will give the compost too much nitrogen and take forever to break down? Can anybody weigh in on this?

Actually, nitrogen is a compost accelerator. However if you feel that too much is coming from grass clippings you could always just use them as a mulch instead of digging in.

That said,

A pile of grass clippings has a very high moisture content and tends to form a compact mat that restricts air movement. So in composting, even if you turn it weekly, if you have too much grass and too high nitrogen your pile will compost anaerobically and leave you with foul odors and hindered compost time. You want to try having enough bulk material - leaves, wood chips, hedge clippings, straw, etc. to avoid that.

Grass clippings are a great addition to a compost pile, they are rich in nitrogen that the microbial population uses as they decompose the organic matter. In my experience dry leaves, wood chips or straw need to be mixed in a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio with clippings to produce good compost and reduce odors.

Hope that helped you ;-)

That's a big help, now I understand why it takes so long to break down even if turning it. I have access to straw bales and now that I know this I'll have an endless supply of compost.