Hello, I am new to this forum, and I would be polite and just lurk for a while, but need to figure out if I've got a big problem on my hands, or not. We just moved to Georgia on bought a home on ~1/2 acre of land; make that CLAY! So, I've been layering (a la lasagna gardening) for months in the areas I'd like to plant a lavender bed, and mixed flower/veggie beds. Until now, the layers consisted of newspaper, coffee grounds, oak leaves, pure horse manure (no bedding), and more coffee grounds. Yesterday I brought home manure from a new source, and this manure was mixed with sawdust, aged about 6 months. We put this on my beds, and then I got thinking: sawdust is way high in carbon; will this ruin the growing potential for these beds for the next several months? I've placed my largest order ever for seeds and perennials, and my garden has been my main therapy in this new and different community. Did I blow it? Any advice for "fixing this" organically? I've already planned to plant peas, and can add more coffee grounds,which I know will introduce nitrogen, but don't think there are many other things I should add besides compost, once I've started planting? Oh, I'm also looking into compost teas, but am not very handy, so hope I can create a pretty simple set-up for aerated tea. Thanks in advance for any good advice; I've been heartsick to think I may have set back the progress here quite a bit.

I've always used sawdust and woodchips in my garden. Never had any ill effects from it at all, other than the black walnut woodchips that I only use in certain areas.

I would be more concerned about the manure you are adding. Are you sure it is well composted? It may contain major weed seeds that could be a big problem later on. You might want to check out solarizing your beds as a way to destroy weed seeds and make sure the manure is composted enough to not burn.

What did the sawdust/manure mix look like?
If you still had visible manure and sawdust you "may" have a problem, but if its a fairly evenly dark mix there should be none.

Keep it on top of the soil and you should be in great shape. If you bury it the soil microbes will try to decompose the wood dust and that will tie up the nitrogen for awhile. If it is on top, the soil microbes don't come into play.