Need Advice on Soil Mix for New Raised Beds

[Sally PB]

Thanks! Of course, now that I have added two more beds, I need another ton of rocks. I have lots. Lots and lots.

When they grade to road, I sometimes stop and get the bigger ones that they turn up at the sides of the roads. I don't think anyone minds....

 

[gtaus]

Thanks! Of course, now that I have added two more beds, I need another ton of rocks. I have lots. Lots and lots.

When they grade to road, I sometimes stop and get the bigger ones that they turn up at the sides of the roads. I don't think anyone minds....

Love your enthusiasm, but I think you are the only person I know that brings rocks TO the garden!

More seriously, I do like the natural look of those garden beds. Very nice.

 

[592784]

We have very sandy soil and nothing grows. We started a raised garden last year and used nothing but compost and mixed manure from a local nursery. Everything grew well. This year we turned over that same dirt/ compost and mixed in top soil added some steer manure to it. Everything is growing well

 

[Sally PB]

Love your enthusiasm, but I think you are the only person I know that brings rocks TO the garden!

More seriously, I do like the natural look of those garden beds. Very nice.

Thank you again.

Here's why I pick up rocks by the road. I can put them in the footwell of the passenger front seat. I get them home, unload them into my cart. Take them downhill to the garden and put them where they need to go. Pretty easy, even with big rocks.

Just about any place there are good sized rocks on the property, there's an uphill involved to get the rocks to the garden. Or to a place where the Jeep can go.

If I find a really nice looking rock, it goes up by the front door so I can see it. I have a nice row of pudding stones there.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If I find a really nice looking rock, it goes up by the front door so I can see it. I have a nice row of pudding stones there.

Reminds me of when we'd bought a house in a new development years ago, and I planned to make a dry riverbed as the focal point in the tiny yard. We asked the builder if they minded if we took some large rocks since they were digging up quite a few, and they said that was fine as long as we stayed out of the actual buildings. We stopped by each week to pick out nice rocks, and put them in the storage unit. Accumulated quite a lot of rocks by the time the house was ready to move into.

 

[gtaus]

Just a quick update. I sifted 30 cubic feet of compost the past few days and mixed that 1:1 with that black Red River Valley topsoil I bought. I filled my two raised beds which prompted this thread, and I also top filled my 3 elevated planters and a number of pots for Dear Wife.

I still have about 6 cubic feet of topsoil left to mix up with compost. So, I got a much larger scoop of topsoil than I thought I was buying. I was expecting around a 12 cubic foot load, but it looks like I got more than 30 cubic feet of high quality topsoil.

I will be sifting more compost the next few days and mixing it with the topsoil to amend my hügelkultur beds and my raised beds in my main garden. Plan on starting my planting this week. Daytime temps are in the 60F's and staying there. Soil should be warm enough to drop the transplants and seeds.

 

[BReeder!]

We have very sandy soil and nothing grows. We started a raised garden last year and used nothing but compost and mixed manure from a local nursery. Everything grew well. This year we turned over that same dirt/ compost and mixed in top soil added some steer manure to it. Everything is growing well

How raised is it? If you have 4-6" of compost and rotted manure mixed together I could see how that would work well over sandy soil. Plenty of nutrients and holding moisture but roots can grow down into the soil below. I'd be shocked if you have a deep raised bed with just compost and manure doing so well unless you are primarily growing leafy greens and other nitrogen loving plants. That would seem too rich of a mixture for fruiting plants and root/tuber crops and I would suspect extra foliage but less fruit or tuber production. Adding top soil to the mix this year sounds like a good move though.

 

[gtaus]

How raised is it? If you have 4-6" of compost and rotted manure mixed together I could see how that would work well over sandy soil. Plenty of nutrients and holding moisture but roots can grow down into the soil below. I'd be shocked if you have a deep raised bed with just compost and manure doing so well unless you are primarily growing leafy greens and other nitrogen loving plants. That would seem too rich of a mixture for fruiting plants and root/tuber crops and I would suspect extra foliage but less fruit or tuber production. Adding top soil to the mix this year sounds like a good move though.

Thanks for the response. My new raised beds are 16 inches high. I put hügelkultur logs and wood chips in the bottom 8 inches of the raised beds. That served to fill up space and to add water retention to the raised bed. Then I topped off the bed with a 1:1 top soil/compost mix to fill up the top 8 inches. I just planted the first raised bed yesterday, making it a strawberry bed.

 

[592784]

How raised is it? If you have 4-6" of compost and rotted manure mixed together I could see how that would work well over sandy soil. Plenty of nutrients and holding moisture but roots can grow down into the soil below. I'd be shocked if you have a deep raised bed with just compost and manure doing so well unless you are primarily growing leafy greens and other nitrogen loving plants. That would seem too rich of a mixture for fruiting plants and root/tuber crops and I would suspect extra foliage but less fruit or tuber production. Adding top soil to the mix this year sounds like a good move though.

my beds are about 2 feet deep with last year’s soil/ compost/sand mix. This year it’s mixed in with leaves and dead plants. Bought some top solid to mix in this year along with plain manure where everything is now toiled/mixed/ settled in. Plants have been planted and are growing. Peppers, corn, lettuce, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, zucchini, squash and onions are growing