How to fill raised beds for the first time? Connecticut

10 years ago

Hi! I have been an avid container gardener and herb gardener for 10 years. This year, for the first time, we're building fenced-in raised beds, just over 400 square feet of plantable area. It has been an expensive month -- building material, seeds, grow lights, everything. I've soon got to fill these raised beds and I'm trying to do it economically. I'm in Fairfield County, where everything is absurdly expensive -- there is no free compost or fill or anything anywhere. (I did start a compost pile about a month ago, but it won't be ready.)
So - my question -- I'm on just under 3 acres, where the back acre or so is lightly wooded. Can I dig dirt from there and wheelbarrow it over to the raised beds? If so, what should I mix it with or layer it with? It's nice, dark dirt that's usually covered in leaves.
Thanks for any suggestions.

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Comments (4)

seysonn
10 years ago
Welcome , Janepod !

I have lived in Southern Fairfield County for about 15 years. Have done some gardening and landscaping over there. As far as I can remember the soil up there is very good and have not seen people buying bagged soil for their garden.

With 3 acres of property, you should be able to find good topsoil, dig it haul it (in wheel barrow ) and fill your raised bed with. If you have wooded lot you will discover a lot of leaf mold and composted organic matter.

You can further amend the soil with some purchased manure, pine bark FINE, compost (from HD). Some municipalities have dumps AND compost facilities. They offer finished compost at reasonable price. I know one such town, called WESTPORT. Look around, there might be others.
2ajsmama
10 years ago
How deep are the beds? I'm assuming the beds are raised to make it easier to garden, and contain the soil, not b/c the soil where you placed them is no good? So they don't have to be deep?

Do you need to use all 400sf (need cf or cy to measure how much to fill) this year?

Are there any horse farms around, maybe (long shot?) dairy farms, people with goats or llamas or alpacas? You could possibly get really aged manure from them for now, and fresher stuff to compost for later.

Whatever you use to fill in the beds, get it tested - CAES does it for free (basic analysis of pH, NPK and a few others), I use Windsor site but there is also one in New Haven. Our soil tends to be acidic, I'd perhaps start small with compost and/or very well-aged manure, so you have some more neutral bed(s) and work on filling the rest and liming well, might have time to get in a fall crop or else next spring. Not a whole lot of time for lime to work right now if you fill all the beds with native soil.

I found a link to municipal composting facilities:

Here is a link that might be useful: Municipal Composting programs
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compost always settles or compost further so you need to top off the beds after every harvest OR keep adding enough mulch to break down further to maintain volume adding coffee grounds or dried grass clippings (herbicide free) as mulch will help retain moisture once the soil warms when tulip petals fall in western WA we don't have your heat, but we do have dry summers. your raised beds will warm more quickly than clay soil, so congrates for the mixture over time it just gets better & better if you keep adding compost we have to add lime yearly because of acidic soils & rain that leaches it out ask around what other raised bed gardeners do in your immediate area - that is most helpful to you What works here for us with small raised beds 1. check soil temps affects what germinates now more than soil mix later planted seeds catchup with early, so no rush until soil is at least 40 degrees (it's hard to wait when you want a garden now!) 2. grow what you love to eat or want to try to disguise in family meals because it's good for us (kale & swiss chard are grown here for those reasons) 3. plan for succession of crops & 3 season or almost year round growing spring planted: peas, lettuces, green onions from sets followed by summer warm weather vegs (trellis to save space & improve fruit quality or picking ease) save some space for midsummer plantings of fall & winter harvested crops 4. protect from pests such as: slugs, rabbits, deer?, dogs, cats, balls/frisbees... great ideas on SFG forum for cages (doesn't have to cover entire bed, just what you need to protect netting propped up with sticks covered by upturned water bottles/jugs upturned clear totes 2 windows as a tent or wire covered frames lots of creative options out there & something to keep you busy when you can't yet plant the garden Enjoy a productive gardening season! Corrine
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Those are some tall beds...I'll assume you're building them strong enough to handle the weight of the soil + moisture they'll be taking on. This sounds like it won't be an intensively cropped vegetable bed, too. The first few feet of soil in the bottom of the bed can pretty much be cheap top soil. I wouldn't bother with anything rich (compost/high quality organic matter) except for the top 12-18"...which I'd mix 75/25% to 67/33% topsoil/organic. Over time the organic matter in the top 12-18" will work it's way down a bit deeper adding to the soil profile (watering, worms, roots, etc). As far as some of your amendments...you're going to want lime or gypsum depending on the pH range of plants you're shooting for, not both...the blood meal is best used closer to the surface where roots can quickly utilize it rather than being washed away by watering/rain. Also, pine bark fines take a long time to break down...way longer than any hardwoods or softwoods. You might want to use that as your mulch without incorporating it into your soil. Some people use peat moss in their outdoor garden beds...I avoid it...it's use in outdoor garden plantings is debatable and I choose not to enter into that particular debate. Any organic amendments added as a top dressing in seasons/years following will also work their way down adding to the soil profile without disturbing what's been planted. This post was edited by nc-crn on Sun, Apr 7, 13 at 4:14
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Several of the community gardens in this area have raised beds that were filled with a manufactured soil. We have a company here that is dredging a lake bottom of the accumulated organic matter that has threatened that lake with eutrophication and then mixes that OM with sand and sells it as soil, not "topsoil" or "garden" soil, just soil. The OM dredged from the lake bottom is dewatered and then finely ground before being added to the sand and if you got some of this and then left it exposed to the rain the rain would wash the OM out of this soil leaving yuou with just sand, unless you added more OM to that soil. You will find that if you build up those raised beds with just organic matter you will need to add to them all summer long as the OM is digested by the bacteria. I find this true in the containers where only compost is used as the growing medium.
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I get my mulch from a local tree trimmer who lives around the corner from me. He told me he'd bring me all I want, for free. Saves him about $10 a load at the city landfill. One year he brought me about 15 loads in two weeks! I was crying "uncle"! I still have one load left to use and now it's deteriorate almost to soil. Perfect for raised beds. I line the bottom of my raised beds with several layers of newspaper and/or cardboard. It helps the recycle center clear some of it out and it helps smother out any weeds I might have missed. Over time, it biodegrades and enriches my soil. And of course, it's free--one of the best words in the English language. LOL Call some tree trimmers. They work all over the county or state. And if they're trimming trees out your way, they'll be happy to drop you a load when they're done, probably for free. Be sure to ask them in their blades are sharp. If they haven't sharpened them recently, they spit out shredded stuff that is too big to use as mulch. Asplundh dumped a load here last year that was totally unuseable. I couldnt' even get a pitchfork in it. My tree trimmer knows what I use it for, and he won't bring me diseased stuff or anything that's not properly chipped.
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digdirt2
10 years ago
Agree with the above but please don't layer your additions. That creates drainige and rooting problems. Rather mix in all the ingredients you add well throughout the bed.

Your woodland soil should work fine but can't say for sure without seeing it. And adding in lots of quality compost can only make it better. It may take a day trip out of the coutny to find cheaper stuff.

Good luck.

Dave
bardamu_gw
10 years ago
It sounds like your beds are already in place but I'll say this anyway.

What I do to suppress cost of materials and soil amendments is to match the plant root requirements with box size. As a result, I have cost saving 5 inch beds on top of clay-ish soil that work out well for things like spinach and kale. From deeper root systems like tomatoes that love their roots well drained, I have higher beds.

For me, the main importance of raised beds is to keep soil from being compacted, to drain the water more freely, and to avoid weeding. Unfortunately my clay soil means I have to import compost, etc.

How to fill raised beds for the first time? Connecticut

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seysonn

2ajsmama

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