Lasagne turf - how soon can I plant?

[Sylvan]

We have a lot of new 2ft high raised beds, which we would fill with the lasagne method if we could... but all we have available is turf. If we stack the turf in the beds how long will it take to rot down? If we threw a layer of topsoil on the top and planted overwintering onions in it would the turf have rotted sufficiently by the time their roots reached down that far?

Also, we have a vast amount of rhubarb that we need to move, but haven't the time to prepare beds for it. If we just take off the turf and bung the rhubarb plants in are they likely to survive for a year till we can give them proper beds?

[Aberdeenplotter]

have never tried that with onions but they are shallow rooted so should be fine.

[rustylady]

Yes to both I would think. I would give the onions some general purpose fertiliser in the Spring.

[Sylvan]

Well it's worth a try isn't it?

Do you know whether B&Q sell onions? I have a £10 voucher and over 60s get 10% off if they can manage to totter in on Wednesdays

[Bigmallly]

Would it be worth leaving the onions till spring as they will catch up............the Rhubarb should be fine.

[veggiechicken]

I'd give the onions a go now - and try again in spring if they fail I'm sure B&Q sell onions - whether they have them now or not, I haven't a clue

[zazen999]

We put potatoes in directly under turfs and they are fully rotted by the time the spuds come up.

I'd go for it; I'm sure they will be fine.

[Snadger]

Well it's worth a try isn't it?

Do you know whether B&Q sell onions? I have a £10 voucher and over 60s get 10% off if they can manage to totter in on Wednesdays

Thats interesting! Only 6 months to go before I can nip down to B&Q with my zimmer frame on Wednesdays!
Was looking forward to my bus pass also but apparently its later for that?

[Sylvan]

Ooh, that's a point - Grumpy got his in January. I can send him to B&Q on the bus this Wednesday

[kathyd]

Grumpy?? lol .

We used turfs in our raised beds, with a bit of compost or other soil on top, and planted everything in it straight away (well it was spring!). It all did fine. The turfs were all covered in soil anyway, so that helped. And I got onions from B&Q last year, and they were considerably cheaper than from online seed merchants .

[alldigging]

Try it!

But you are really making a lazy bed rather than a lasagna bed.
How to make a lazy bed for Growing Vegetables - YouTube

[Sylvan]

Aye Kathy, we used to call him GOD. Grumpy Old Dad

Thanks for the link alldigging. I'd worry about the soil falling off the sides with that method, but we won't have that problem with enclosed beds.

Let's see now, 20 beds @ 8'x4'x2' means I'll need 1,280 cubic feet of turf. I may be some time...

[kathyd]

Blimey, she can do sums too....!

Is the 2' the height of your beds? What are you growing in them?

[Sylvan]

Aye. We tried 16" but I still had to bend a bit. 2' means I can do more before having to rest
(It also used to stop the dog filching strawberries as she wandered past.)

Potatoes will go in tubs and I thought we could put carrots in buckets, using the pure sand we've been digging out of our planting holes but just about everything else goes in the beds.