Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old June 11, 2012   #1
meatburner
Tomatovillian™
 
meatburner's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 40
Default Turface in a lasagna garden?

Will be starting a lasagna garden raised bed in the next week or so and have a question. I have about 50 lbs of Turface and wandered if that would that be a good additive to sprinkle around while building the bed? Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
Keith
__________________
I may be schizophrenic, but I at least have each other.
meatburner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #2
zabby17
Tomatovillian™
 
zabby17's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Ontario
Posts: 211
Default

meatburner,

(Why I even talk to you I don't know because your avatar photo always makes me SO HUNGRY! )

Most of my gardening ahs been done in lasagne-created raised beds, and I've used quite a range of materials to create them.

I haven't heard of Turface but a quick Google search suggests it's a clay-based product. Does that sound like what you have?

The answer I think depends on what kind of soil you have underneath. If your soil is naturally very sandy (mine here right by the shores of Lake Ontario is), I'd think it could be a good component in modest amounts to contribute to a balanced texture. Clay is somewhat water retentive, and mixed with lots of fluffier things like peat, and lots of more nutrient-rich things like compost or manure or compostables.

But if your soil is already clay-based, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case in much of Missouri, I think it's the last thing you want. In Toronto, only a few hours away from where I live now, my soil was very heavily clay-y, and my raised beds' biggest advantage there was to get AWAY from that heavy, muddy texture to something that drained better.

Whatever's in your native soil will eventually get mixed in some with your lasagne additives (thank you, worms), so if you'll be getting clay from underneath, I'd skip it in the adding and go heavier on the peat and compostables.

But maybe someone else here has experience with actual Turface?

Z
P.S. What else is going into your layers? How high will they be? I'm a big fan of lasagne gardening 'cos I'm way too lazy to dig!
zabby17 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #3
meatburner
Tomatovillian™
 
meatburner's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 40
Default

LOL "Z", I have lots of food pics on fb. Love to cook and bbq. Thanks for your advise. Our soil here is pretty nice and not clay. Layers will be newspaper/cardboard (whatever I can scrounge up), peat, compost, straw, kitchen compost, perlite, coffee grounds, pine bark fines, some dolomite, bone meal, etc. Just about anthing I have around. I just happened to have a bag of Turface and looking for a use for it. Generally, moisture is not an issue except in mid summer. My gut feeling is to leave it out. Thanks for your advise.
__________________
I may be schizophrenic, but I at least have each other.
meatburner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #4
RayR
Tomatovillian™
 
RayR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
Default

Turface is a manufactured product, it is a porous hard ceramic material made by firing weathered volcanic silica montmorillinite or illite clays. It would be fine for breaking up heavy soils with fine clay particles, increasing porosity and drainage. It would work similar ro expanded shale and degrades extremely slowly, lasting for many many decades.
RayR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #5
zabby17
Tomatovillian™
 
zabby17's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Ontario
Posts: 211
Default

mb,

Your ingredients sound perfect and I can't see that you'd need the Turface, but with all that stuff to lighten it up I don't see how it would do harm, and it would add bulk.

I love how an awful lot of things are all "the right answer" in gardening.... ;-p

Happy lasagne!

Z
zabby17 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #6
meatburner
Tomatovillian™
 
meatburner's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 40
Default

Thanks Ray and Z. I plan on getting the beds ready soon and try a fall crop in part of it at least. I still have a couple big bags of leaves from last fall and some garden soil to use up and get new in fall. Thanks again.

edit: I do have another question if you don't mind. Would you advise using the soil from self-watering contains in the fall as an addition. One tomato plant developed "gray wall" which I will not use though.
__________________
I may be schizophrenic, but I at least have each other.

Last edited by meatburner; June 11, 2012 at 03:26 PM.
meatburner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #7
fortyonenorth
Tomatovillian™
 
fortyonenorth's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NW Indiana
Posts: 1,150
Default

Turface holds water, but releases it readily to plant roots. I don't see how you could go wrong based on the amount you plan to use and the type of soil you describe.

Last edited by fortyonenorth; June 11, 2012 at 04:34 PM.
fortyonenorth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #8
meatburner
Tomatovillian™
 
meatburner's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 40
Default

Thanks fortyone. I might go ahead and start the beds and work them a month or so and see how the moisture holds out and then decide.
__________________
I may be schizophrenic, but I at least have each other.
meatburner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 11, 2012   #9
meadowyck
Tomatovillian™
 
meadowyck's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Brooksville, FL
Posts: 1,001
Default

sorry my post wasn't related to your topic.
__________________
Jan

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Last edited by meadowyck; June 12, 2012 at 09:23 AM. Reason: post wasn't related to topic
meadowyck is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 12, 2012   #10
meatburner
Tomatovillian™
 
meatburner's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 40
Default

So, how is the Turface as an addition to a lasagna bed relate to what you are talking about in my original OP?
My opology if I missed something.
__________________
I may be schizophrenic, but I at least have each other.

Last edited by meatburner; June 12, 2012 at 02:18 AM. Reason: Aggrevated: Other forums don't allow "hijacking" the OP like this forum does. "Keep on Topic" for the OP is ignored here.
meatburner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 19, 2013   #11
meatburner
Tomatovillian™
 
meatburner's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 40
Default

Hi everyone! I got my seeds from Baker Creek yesterday and am going crazy thinking about spring getting closer. It popped off a beautiful 60 degree day after everything being frozen for the last few weeks. Here is the last pic of the garden just prior to harvesting a first time fall crop last November. Wow was it awsome. No pests or diseases and the crop was the best I have ever had. I did top off all the boxes with garden soil, mushroom compost, shreaded wheat straw, then topped with a thin layer of my finished compost and a couple inches of shreaded fall leaves. Haven't touched it until today. Pulled back a couple spots of leaves and found rich almost black soil. I am so excited about planting this spring. I promised myself to not rush things. That may be next to impossible. lol
Headed to Lowe's in a few minutes to get the lumber for two more 4 x 8 beds to get put together and start filling up over the next few months. Wishing everyone a great next few months starting seeds, winter sowing, and dreaming of spring planting.

Oh, I did not use the turface after all.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Garden 10-2-12 1.jpg (624.5 KB, 25 views)
__________________
I may be schizophrenic, but I at least have each other.

Last edited by meatburner; January 19, 2013 at 04:33 PM.
meatburner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 21, 2013   #12
TightenUp
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Jersey
Posts: 1,183
Default

looking good! keep us posted
__________________

TightenUp is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:13 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★