What should I use to fill my raised beds?
hazeldazel
9 years ago
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theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Why should I use a raised bed?
Comments (12)I would suggest, for your particular soil, adding compost and vermiculite. Sand drains beautifully, to the extent that you would rather it hold moisture for longer, and it isn't very strong on plant nutrients. My father has sand in his front yard (with gravel underneath), it drains about as well as anything could, and the addition of compost and vermiculite has made a tremendous difference to how well his gladiolae and roses grow. With the soil you are working with I would try and mix these in down to spade depth. I bet you will see the need to water less. If you can find Mel's original edition of the SFG book, which is white and quite a bit thicker than the current book, you can read his extensive information about amending soil. The same ingredients, vermiculite in particular and also compost/organic matter, which are famous for "lightening" and improving the drainage of heavy, dense, (clayey, etc.) soils, will have the opposite effect on sandy soils, and will help them retain the watter you apply longer, and allow your plants to make better use of them. Your lack of weeds and dieing grass may be symptoms of the sandy soil being unable to support them well, especially in dry weather, due to lack of water and nutrients. Then by amending your soil and mulching your garden bed you made a much better growing environment,and, like Mel's Mix, you started without much by way of pre-existing weeds, and kept the weeds well under control. The other topic that Mel hit much harder in the original book was not walking on the soil, I know from my own years of pre-SFG experience how much of a difference this makes. Mel designed his suggested raised beds so that it would not be an issue, since he specifies a design that you can always reach the middle of, especially if you can get to at least three sides. In your situation I would try and plan places to walk into my beds to make sure I can reach everywhere without walking on the soil, it makes a tremendous difference, and is the other big reason for the raised beds. (Clearly defining an area and keeping the plot to a size you can reach all the way into so that there is never any need to walk in it.)...See MoreWhat do I use to fill my garden beds?
Comments (0)Square foot and similar intensive gardening methods require an especially rich growing medium to support the plants, and raised beds impact water retention. One thing you don't want much of is plain garden or topsoil, especially the bagged stuff available in garden centers or dirt companies. There are different philosophies on how to fill the beds. Some people prefer (and some locations benefit from) "double-digging" the garden bed and working in amendments when a bed is initially built. This was the method Mel Bartholemew originally recommended, and it is still being published in his book.Similar but less effective is using a tiller to first till the soil, then till in amendments. Afterward, a thick layer of a soil-less fill mix is applied to the top, possibly putting a fine sprinkle of clean soil where starting fine seeds. However, many gardeners have experimented and found no difference in production between beds that were tilled or double-dug and the no-till methods where the soil-less mix is simply placed in the raised bed over a degradable liner of newspaper or cardboard to suppress the existing grass and weeds below. "Mel's Mix" is the most common fill substance and consists of a mixture of approximately equal parts of compost materials, durable "brown" organics for bulk & drainage, and a water retention substance. Mel's Mix, now being recommended by Mel Bartholomew via his website, is equal parts by volume of compost, peat moss, and coarse vermiculite. Mel recommends using compost from 5 different sources to ensure getting a wide variety of nutrients for the plants. Some people plant in almost pure compost, others use a mix of compost and leaves. Compost is talked about at length in the Soil,Compost, and Mulch forum. Essentially, it is a mixture of organically based materials that has been allowed to rot in a controlled manner. Finished compost does not stink, and a properly maintained compost pile also has almost no odor to speak of. Compost can be made of anything - chicken droppings and sawdust, various manures and straw, household scraps and leaves, or lawn clippings and chipped wood or small branches. A good variety is helpful, but use whatever is available and cheap. For the initial filling of the beds, price bulk compost from soil companies or see if there is a mushroom plant nearby. Because of its uncertain origins, municipal compost is not recommended for vegetable beds. For a cheap source of bulk compost, look for a nearby mushroom growing operation.The durable organics used for bulk are primarily shredded (or not) leaves or leaf mold, coir, or sprangham peat. The use of peat is currently debated as to whether it is renewable, but has advantages when making beds of acid lovers (though using leaves of certain trees can accomplish a similar result).Water retention substances are available in a variety of forms. Cheapest is vermiculite, a naturally occurring mineral deposit. Perlite (perlized mica) is a a mined product that is "popped" to make a water-retaining matrix. It retains the least water and has a tendency to rise to the top of the bed. Expanded shale is also mined then expanded, but has percolation properties not present in perlite and holds up longer than vermiculite. There are new polymers (man-made) that come as granules and form a gel that absorbs and slowly releases water. Some climates and situations will have more need of the water retention component than others. Vermiculite can also be bought from pool supply companies (sold as pool base), specialty packaging supply companies (it is used to ship glass bottles of chemicals - also check with places that receive chemicals using vermiculite as packing material - school labs come to mind), hydroponic stores, and some nurseries keep the bulk bags in storage so you have to ask for it. It can also be ordered by feed and grain stores or similar outfits, though you may have to ask persistently to get them to look it up and order it for you. The cheapest vermiculite you can find will do, you do not need the fine "horticultural" grade of vermiculite for filling beds, the coarser the better. Contrary to popular rumors, there is *not* a problem with the mines or asbestos in currently marketed products, though wetting it down before mixing to eliminate dust and prevent it from floating up in the initial watering is strongly recommended.These last two components are one-time additions to a bed; once a bed is built,adding compost to replace nutrients used by the plants is the only thing the bed needs.If you want more info on how to make compost or the pros and cons of various methods of amending your soil, the Soil,Compost and Mulch forum can teach you more than you've ever dreamed of knowing about compost and how to make it yourself....See MoreHelp with filling my first raised bed!
Comments (16)I used to buy Lambert peat moss based mix which is available at Home Depot. But now I make my own mix. I buy a few of those 5kg block of coconut coir from a local company and get them to sell to me at wholesale price, because they are expensive ordering online. Although a bit pricey, I find coconut coir have superior water retention compared to peat moss. I also buy mushroom compost and horse manure compost. Or I get the horse manure for free from a nursery and compost it myself. I make my own leaves compost with leaves from my neighbor yards, and have worm bins. For the mix, I use my Florida native sandy soil, some peat moss, the coconut coir (one of those 5kg block expand to 2.5 cu.ft.) and the composts. I'm concentrating on making more of my own leaves compost, growing cover crop, making worm casting and getting free horse manure so I don't have to keep buying stuff. My next goal is trying to make some of my own biochar, but not sure if the city will be happy with it. You should look at cover crop and mulching to suppress the weeds, I grow nettle and those things reseeds insanely. I mulch with leaves around their base to prevent them from taking over. Also once the vegetables are already growing, I put down clover seeds, they suppress the other weeds from coming up and does the nitrogen fixing, but you have to watch they don't take over the growing space of the other vegetables. I guess you could cover the raised bed with black plastic and only let the vegetables you're growing go through. My property have lots of weeds before I moved in and my main way to suppress them is covering them with a tarp or some old carpet for a month or two for all the weeds to die, then put raised beds over them. One thing you have to watch out for is trees, or invasive plants or vines, their roots will inevitably go into the raised bed, so I till my beds after each growing season....See MoreCape Cod Soil/Should I Use Raised Garden Bed?
Comments (5)What kind of soil do you have? Most of what I saw on my short visit to Cape Cod was sand and raised beds on sand tend to drain too quickly. Start with a good reliable soil test (a basic soil test from UMASS is $15.00) for soil pH and major nutrient levels. These simple soil tests may also be of some help. 1) Soil test for organic material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter can be bad as well. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. Once you know more about the soil you have then you can make a more intelligent decision about whether raised beds might be needed. kimmq is kimmsr...See More
katiekwilts
9 years agoCharlie
9 years agoFor my raised bed shown in the picture, I a layering system. The first layer was cardboard to prevent grass growth and encourage worms. The second layer was a mixture of 1 part garden soil, part top soil. The 3rd layer was a mixture of top soil and manure/humas. The last layer was shreaded leaves. Seems to work well.
wildturkey_grower
9 years agoshawnsfurkidz
9 years agoCathyCA SoCal
9 years agoshawnsfurkidz
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agorandy_coyote1
9 years agoLike charlie I'm using a layered or lasagna bed this year. First year at this house, had access to a lot of leaves, hay, and free compost (your mushroom compost would be perfect if it were free, but cheap is good too).
First layer was broken down cardboard boxes, 2 sheets deep, watered in, then 4" of leaves (I didn't chip them because I had no way to do it),
then about 4" of spoiled hay (free for the hauling),
then about 2" of compost.
I repeated the leaves, hay, compost layering until I had the total depth I was looking for (about 2').
I'll mulch with the left over hay I have, and hope for the best.
beesneeds
9 years agogridgardener
9 years agoAndrew Kolodziej
9 years agorandy_coyote1
9 years agopurslanegarden
9 years agoAndrew Kolodziej
9 years agoplanterjeff
9 years ago
jbest123
9 years agoplanterjeff
9 years agojbest123
9 years agoThis is the soil test of my raised beds after 3 years. The only amendment was what the red worms and night crawlers added.
planterjeff
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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