Hubby mowed our back lawn yesterday. Instead of putting it in our Compost Bin, ( last time, it went all sloppy, even with dried lucern and calf pen shavings added ). So tipped the clippings straight onto garden. Would it be best to leave it dry out for few days, or dig in straight away. Thanks.

BJB

I would leave it for a week or two or even till after the Winter that's if you don't need that part of the Garden. I have covered the empty part of mine with leaves ,horse poo and topped of with Coffeee grounds (which I get every week from two of the local Restuarants) I did this last week and will not touch this part till about August when I will dig it in and leave it till the end of September then I will Rotary hoe it a couple of times and it will be plantable on labour weekend. The rest of the garden will get the same treatment as I take out the Parsnips etc. I have one part of the garden ready for my seed spuds which are shooting beautifully and will be planted in the last week of July.

Benny.

Thanks for your info. Not using much of the garden at moment, so will leave digging it in for awhile. Must get some Stable manure when next over at Matamata, plenty going FREE over their. I have also added Dolomite to garden just recently. Do your spuds do alright, planted that early, thought the frost might get them? Thanks once again.

DJB

Yes they are always ready before Christmas but I have to be careful, I make up a cover with frost cloth. I put the frost cloth on a roller like a blind and roll it out at night and roll it up in the morning it only takes a few minutes . When I plant I open up the drills and cover the bottom of the drill with newspaper and sit the spud on top then cover the spud over with the soil,when they come through I mould them up again and once they appear above the ground I start covering them with the frost cloth. I have been using this method for years and never had a real failure,of course it depends on conditions . I only grow enough for the Christmas and New year period as Mrs Benny isn't that keen on Potatoes as her father was one of the top spud growers on the Taieri and she had "sat on that bloody potatoe planter for hours and hours planting them then came the harvesting" so she reckons she had had seen enough of them during her teenage years. I must admit I seemed to get her job when I started going with her, so being only 18 and not being able to see the light I must have been mad or something akin to that.Even after we were married I worked on the farm in my spare time,Some people never learn .