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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Fill Dirt isn't good dirt, is it......

16 years ago

Okay, I had DH build a raised garden to even out the front yard. He built a wall and fixed the drainage problem, but we used fill dirt. Just dumped it in. Then planted the plants. It rained a few days later, and walking on it felt like a trampoline. We're in a 7 inch rain deficit, and the soil is moist to the touch. Digging a hole to plant something leaves the dirt in clumps that do not crumble, even days later. Did I make a monumental mistake??? Can I rectify this in any way? In the future, if I plant anything else, I was intending on digging a hole and using potting mix to replace the missing dirt. I am making my first compost pile, I was thinking of mixing into the 'topsoil' if I can. Maybe just dumping it on top. One good thing I think I did was buying encapsulated earthworms. I did that immediately after building the garden, and they are thriving. Any thoughts??? Christy :)

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Comments (2)

Kimmsr
16 years ago
Fill dirt is as good as any "topsoil" you will find and most likely they are the same thing in most areas of the world, with fill dirt maybe being a little less "clean".
Just add lots of organic matter to what you have and around Maryland, when I was there several years ago, there were lots of deciduous trees that dropped their leaves every fall that many people raked up, bagged up, and threw away (just like here) that should be going back into the soil. Your town may even have someplace those leaves are accumulated that you could get some from now.
reg_pnw7
16 years ago
After dumping in the soil it needs to settle, and to build structure. Neither happens over night! your plants will not appreciate the process either.

Dig in lots of organic matter like compost and manure.

Then get a large sheet of wood and lay it on the surface of the soil and walk around on it to tamp the soil down and get it to settle. Water well.

The tamping will settle the soil down, and the organic matter will give it something to build structure, which comes from soil particles binding together. Organic matter decomposition products are the glue that bind soil particles and build structure. Worm poop too.

Don't use potting soil in garden soil. You'll cause drainage problems if you do. A hole filled with potting soil becomes a pot without a drain hole.

Clumps that don't crumble is hardly the end of the world, so long as they're reasonably small clumps. For many soils that is their normal structure. Is this clay soil? if it is, don't dig in it or walk on it when it's wet or you'll pack everything down into a chunk of concrete. One of the benefits of raised gardens is the nice loose structure you get from not walking on it. If it's so big that you have to walk on it to reach things, lay out wood planks and walk on those, or put in stepping stones once the soil has settled.
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