Raised bed soil, compost question
crystalshoe
10 years ago
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ericwi
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
raised bed/compost question
Comments (15)no need for peat or even coir in most cases, we start our beds using spent mushroom compost from the farms, that comes as cheap as. in some locations there is coposted recycled green waste available from the refuse sites somethimes it is free to residents. no difference to the plants between raised beds and tilling the soil realy, at the end of the day it is all growing medium and the raised beds make gardening easier as there is no tilling or disturbance to the soil structure, can't realy see the connect between raised beds and container gardening? as container gardening is a whole 'nuther process. simply adding the compost in a layer on top works fine, cover it well with mulch and the worms will do the digging work. we don't do composting at all all material gets composted in the garden beds in that above manner, that includes all rottabe kitchen scraps. save a lot of work and the need for a composting position in the yard. len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page...See MoreWorms in lawn, soil, rocks, raised beds, compost pile
Comments (5)Well, IMO "luck" doesn't play a part in creating fertile soil. Many of us have spent years and a lot of work to have healthy soil with lots of worms. I've never seen an earthworm in my compost tho, even when it's not very hot. I started with heavy clay soil with only a very thin layer of topsoil and by amending it with cattle/horse manure, mushroom manure, sawdust, and even 'topsoil' I then grew cover crops which can greatly improve the soil. We didn't have large rocks in our garden area but I've handpicked a ton of smaller ones. The best way I've found to increase the population of earthworms is to bury raw kitchen trimmings between plants. The worms find them, enjoy their banquet, and reproduce. I think one might have worms in a raised bed unless you have used landscape cloth under it for weed control. However in a hot climate it may be too warm for worms depending on the depth of the raised bed. If I had a yard with all those rocks I'd hire someone with a skid steer and scarifier and rockhound attachments to remove those rocks. Otherwise they'll be a continuous problem....See MoreSoil question in a raised bed
Comments (4)You should not need vermiculite or perlite for raised beds. They help with drainage in container mixes, but raised beds really aren't pots. I think your mix will be fine. 50% is a lot of compost but about half its weight is water, and only part of the dry half is organic matter, and some of that will decompose away, leaving only a small fraction of the original compost as semi-permanent organic matter. So it really isn't too much. Just keep in mind that your beds will likely sink a lot the first year as that process takes place, so pile them up well or be prepared to add a little more soil next year if you want them at a certain level. Once you have good soil you can maintain it with much smaller additions of compost. Happy gardening! PS: For hot dry summers I use lots of mulch after planting the garden. Grass clippings (if not sprayed with herbicides), shredded leaves, straw, even half-done compost will work around your tomatoes and peppers and other large plants, and between rows of smaller plants. This post was edited by toxcrusadr on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 13:28...See MoreQuestions re: raised bed soil + composting/fertilizing
Comments (15)While many tell you that you need something called "topsoil" they also fail to tell you what they mean by "topsoil". "Topsoil" is defined as the top 4 to 6 inches of soil from someplace and it may be something worth using or it most likely will not be. Many of those I talk with think "topsoil" and loam are the same thing, they are not. An ideal garden soil would be a mixture of about 95 percent mineral (the sand, silt, and clay particles) and about 5 percent organic matter. If you really could get about 50 percent organic matter mixed into the soil you could have a bog, a soil that holds too much water and causes plants to drown. The soil I have gardened in here for years is Lake Michigan beach sand and even by adding what some consider extremely large amounts of organic matter I have not been able to get the level of OM in the soil above about 8 percent, and that has been ideal. Plants evolved eons ago getting nutrients from the Soil Food Web, those wee critters that convert organic matter into something plants can use. Dumping fertilizer onto soil to feed plants is something only about 200 years, or so, old, much too new to really do the job of feeding plants since they have not adapted yet. Feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants. Mel's Mix is basically a soilless potting mix and it needs a lot of perlite, or vermiculite, to provide proper drainage because it is all organic matter and would tend to hold moisture too well. kimmq is kimmsr....See Morenancyjane_gardener
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
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10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
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10 years agolast modified: 9 years agonancyjane_gardener
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
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10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
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10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoVivVarble
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agocrystalshoe
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agomckenziek
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoyolos - 8a Ga. Brooks
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agooliveoyl3
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agocrystalshoe
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKosch
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
10 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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