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| I am looking for some advice on what is a good soil mix (topsoil, compost, etc) to put in my new raised bed. The soil I grew tomatoes in last year was a mix of natural clay, compost, as well as other amendments (should I dig down and get rid of this also or leave it?). I'm not looking for anything complicated and overly analytic nor do I want to spend a lot of time on this. I did go to the soil forum and there does not seem to be a consensus on what to put in a gardenbed. I just want to fill in my new 3 feet by 6 feet by 1 feet bed and grow better tomatoes than I did last year. I'm thinking one part topsoil to one part compost but not sure if this is the way to go. This bed gets 7 hours of sun starting in the morning. Thank you for any advice. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Forgot to attach a photo - here is the new bed. Thanks. |
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| mmm, I am home gardener too, so go by feel most of the time. My recipe for raised bed is to put whatever compost I have and one can not have too much of good stuff LOL Handful of soil from other place like forest or some other area where there is a good growing place and I literally mean handful, you just need bacteria and fungi from that place not soil itself. I add rock dust like Gaja green rock dust. During planting I add mycorrhizae to the roots of the plant also. Re top soil, hmm, if your soil is not complete clay I would rather not bring anything new, otherwise then you have to check what you brought etc. Building up my own soil may take time but this is what I would rather do. As for consistency if I have soil soft enough that I can make holes for planting with my bare hands- or almost- we are good to go. |
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| You can get some of the best soil mix recipes available over on the Container gardening forum. And the Vegetable Gardening forum has many discussions about what to fill raised beds with. Linked some of them below. Just scroll down to the discussions with the blue borders. My personal preference for raised beds, regardless of the crop raised in them is approx. 1/3 good manured compost, 1/3 good loamy dirt, and 1/3 peat and then add more fresh compost 2x a year. Fill it up to just below the brim and mix it all up well. I wouldn't remove what you have, just mix it all in. Layering of components just creates other problems. Dave |
Here is a link that might be useful: fill for raised beds discussions
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| DIVERSIFY! The more compost, the better it is(IMO). What you buy as "MANURE" is also mostly compost. Unlessyou haul it from a horse farm. |
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- Posted by johns.coastal.patio 9b (My Page) on Wed, May 14, 14 at 12:47
| I think raised beds are an excellent way to bootstrap good soil, but think of them more as a localized improved bed, rather than any kind of container. In most soils they should be open on the bottom, and not a container in any sense. Since they aren't containers they don't need peat, or perlite, etc. They just need soil and compost. If the soil is at all good around the yard, a 50:50 mix of it and compost (made, bagged, or delivered) should be good. I have heard of very bad soils, so bad, that they can't be a component in a raised bed, but I haven't encountered that yet, myself. On the other hand, if you raised bed is closed at the bottom, with any kind of root proof barrier, then yes, it is a very large container, and could use a large-container mix. In my area Kellogg sells a "raised bed and potting mix" for $10 per 3 cu ft. I think that's about the best price you can do with a bagged product, but you may find very good deals for cu yds delivered. Sources near me will deliver compost, 50:50 soil compost mixes, or even cu yds of potting mix. Good luck googling local sources. |
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- Posted by johns.coastal.patio 9b (My Page) on Wed, May 14, 14 at 13:11
| Ah, here is a nice article that dovetails with advice given by all of us above: |
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| I am glad John piped in....I am pretty knowledgeable about container mixes...not so much raised beds. I suspected raised beds were a different animal, but I was not sure. I am planting this year once again in containers. Depending on crop...I have good success. My plan is: next year roto-till the container area and build raised bed planters. I think my costs will go down, and production will go up. |
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| Thank you for all of the great advice. I have narrowed down my growing medium and will get some plants in this weekend. Can I use this mix for next season and beyond or will I need to change it out? |
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- Posted by johns.coastal.patio 9b (My Page) on Thu, May 15, 14 at 9:14
| Both Mike McGrath (soil/compost) and Mel Bartholemew (potting mix) agree that you don't need to till, just apply more compost on top. I think it works best when you do that at the end of a season, and let the worms work on mixing it all through the off-season. |
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| Due to the way I garden in community lot I have to build new raised bed every year. Since you have seems to be permanent location just adding more compost and mixing with existing soil will do. For myself because I have no option of rotation crops and soil is being used very intensively I feel a need to add minerals, kelp and slow release fertilizer with various microbial stuff to my beds every year. |
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| Can I use this mix for next season and beyond or will I need to change it out? As a general rule all growing mediums need regular refreshing - at least annually. That doesn't mean you have to "change it out" but you do have to mix in fresh ingredients. That is true for pots, raised beds, and even in-ground gardens. Which ingredients and how much new stuff you mix in depends on what mix you use and you don't indicate what you have decided to use. Dave |
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| I'm going to use 40% good, bagged topsoil and 60% Bumper Crop (a high end product out of Maine with compost, peat moss, and a lot of other great things). I will mix this in with the existing soil as was good advice, and build up to the rim of the raised bed. I will post at the end of August with hopefully some happy news. Thanks for all of the follow-up. |
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- Posted by johns.coastal.patio 9b (My Page) on Thu, May 15, 14 at 12:02
| lol, Bumper Crop is lobster ... talk about luxury! Sounds great, have fun. |
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| Then since any compost will continue to decompose and shrink and your soil level will fall as it does, using that high % of compost means adding more of it each year will be necessary. Dave |
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| I re-use my potting mixes...adding fresh material to it every Spring. Two things: do not re-use any mix material that grew a diseased plant. Also, keep in mind for the container grower...material breaks down and starts to restrict water movement through the medium. Avoid this "fine particle" situation when container growing. |
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