Raised Bed Soil Recipe

[Bass Akwards]

"Raised Bed" gardening has become the "hot new thing".

Articles and books boost it, and it does look very simple.

The same soil mixes used for weed work fine for veggies.

But, those mixes require expensive amendments, like guano.

One of our relatives wants to start gardening in back of their newest project ( restoring a very old home ) but they don't have time to excavate beds, much less improve the soil enough to have an edible crop this season.

They built two raised beds, and want to use a recipe they found in a book from the library. It calls for using equal parts Vermiculite, Peat Moss, and "compost", ( the source of which wasn't specified ). That's it ... the entire mix, no limestone, no kelp meal, no nada.

We're skeptical that it'll work.

What would you add to those three?

 

[dubwise]

sterile soil and perlite and sunshine

 

[habeeb]

I've been told to look into the lasagna method . there are a lot of books on this technique

 

[Cookie monster]

"Raised Bed" gardening has become the "hot new thing".

Articles and books boost it, and it does look very simple.

The same soil mixes used for weed work fine for veggies.

But, those mixes require expensive amendments, like guano.

One of our relatives wants to start gardening in back of their newest project ( restoring a very old home ) but they don't have time to excavate beds, much less improve the soil enough to have an edible crop this season.

They built two raised beds, and want to use a recipe they found in a book from the library. It calls for using equal parts Vermiculite, Peat Moss, and "compost", ( the source of which wasn't specified ). That's it ... the entire mix, no limestone, no kelp meal, no nada.

We're skeptical that it'll work.

What would you add to those three?

Sounds a lot like the mix i'm using in my raised beds.
I am adding lime, blood&bone,silver sand and vermiculite, i'd imagine the "compost" is just regular kitchen/garden waste compost unless otherwise stated.

 

[Bass Akwards]

A few additives ...

A few additives ...

There is some kitchen compost available ... two buckets or so.

There's also composted cow manure available in bags, and a mix of composted manure and mushroom compost. That's probably the best bet. A regional farmers cooperative produces the stuff. It's reasonably priced, but the bags are heavy & wet. ( Hard to mix up properly unless it's allowed to dry out for a while. )

Bone meal and blood meal are an option, but adding limestone is a must. The same probably goes for greensand. Other than suggesting a dose of those two amendments, we'll just let them go ahead and see what happens.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I have been at the raised bed game for 5 years. The first bed, 4 ft. by 16 feet has herbs, garlic and a couple of tomatoes. Excellent results.

I got serious this year and built a much larger garden. I have 6 beds that are 4 ft by 4 ft and 13 beds that are 4 ft by 12 ft. All beds are made from 2" x 12" pine planks. My soil mix is 2 parts sandy loam from a major river 30 miles away, 1 part cow manure from a local feed lot and 1 part peat moss. I will feed with compost but I may have to supplement with commercial fertilizer (at least until I can get a larger compost supply ready).

All of the herbs, garlic and root crops doing well. The lettuce bed is also doing quite well. I hope the rest does as well. Photos to come.

 

[North]

Bass Akwards,

Sounds like your relatives may be thinking about "square foot gardening"?

the soil mix you mentioned is more or less what Mel Bartholamew recomends.
the compost must come from as many different sources as you can get, I think Mel recomends 5 sources, the idea being to average out Nutes and Ph. with the varied sources. it works pretty good actually.

 

[jonnypotseed]

i dont know about your area but here the local cotton gin throws the hulls outback and allow people to load them for free or will load with a backhoe for a small fee. there is also a local guy on craigslist that gives away manure. they both work great added to my garden every year plus its free!

 

[ISP_SmokeTrain]

Azomite is a great amendment. It seriously ups the trace minerals in any soil. A little goes a long way. I'm lucky to have a neighbor with horses, so I get lots of free horse manure. After some composting, it works great.

 

[dubwise]

ISP-how long do you compost your horse manure?

 

[ISP_SmokeTrain]

ISP-how long do you compost your horse manure?

I compost it for 3 months minimum. I add browns (leaves) and greens (grass clippings), to ensure it gets hot enough to kill off the undesireables. It also helps to turn it once a week, and keep it just slightly moist.

 

[michaelharris]

Hi guys,

It's really great.......!I appreciate with that.



Thanks

Regards
Michael Harris

 

[gronko]

No dig gardens are pretty good. We have a bunch of flowers growing in 10cm soil bed

See link http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s867068.htm

"Raised Bed" gardening has become the "hot new thing".

Articles and books boost it, and it does look very simple.

The same soil mixes used for weed work fine for veggies.

But, those mixes require expensive amendments, like guano.

One of our relatives wants to start gardening in back of their newest project ( restoring a very old home ) but they don't have time to excavate beds, much less improve the soil enough to have an edible crop this season.

They built two raised beds, and want to use a recipe they found in a book from the library. It calls for using equal parts Vermiculite, Peat Moss, and "compost", ( the source of which wasn't specified ). That's it ... the entire mix, no limestone, no kelp meal, no nada.

We're skeptical that it'll work.

What would you add to those three?