Filed under: raised vegetable garden
Hello, I am seriously thinking about starting a vegetable garden in my back yard, (raised bed) but I am unsure of what kind of soil I should use. Can someone recommend a good, safe soil?
Thank you.
Compost,humus,cow manure and a little garden or top soil.Every gardener will tell you something different that’s because we all have tried everything and stick with what works for us.There is no right or wrong way unless you don’t tend it,after planting.I don’t use much fertilizer at all and when I do it is natural,like bone meal and epsom salts.Turn the soil well together after every growing season and leave it over winter.Comes spring you are ready to go again,just adding compost as you get it.Hope that helped.
You should use a 50/50 mix of soil and compost.
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At the garden centre they sell bags of soil specific for this purpose, it will clearly say on the label.
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Here’s what I did:
I put in a raised vegetable garden too, I used 6" x 6" (5-1/2" x 5-1/2") pressure treated lumber. My garden is 3 high (16-1/2" high) and 12′ x 24′. I over lapped the corners and held the whole thing together using 3/8" re-bar.
The 1st year I used "Humus". Humus is broken down compost. Compost is "unbroken down" leaves,grass clippings, weeds etc.
The 1st year I put in enough Humus to get to the top of the 2nd 6×6, because I wanted to have a garden that year, during the growing season I would add grass clippings in between what was growing. In the fall I put in "mulched" leaves, (created when the grass was cut).
In the Spring (after the ground thawed) I tilled the compost into the humus, last years plants and all.
I’ve had my raised garden for 15 years now and have never filled it up. I have a city lot about 120′ x 200′ and my lawn takes up about 60% of that, so I do generate about 3-4 garbage cans full of grass clippings per week during the Summer.
What I grow is beets, onions,radishes, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers and every 3 years corn.
Corn takes allot out of the soil, so that’s why every 3 years.
My tomato plants grow about 6′ tall. I grow my cucumbers up a trellis to keep them out of the dirt
I use "NO" fertilizers. I don’t need too.
Don’t use top soil alone, it gets too hard. You can mix it with humus though.
If you have to buy the humus (your 1st year), check out what the cost is between top soil & humus. If top soil is cheaper than humus, mix the two. If the humus is cheaper, than use straight humus.
I use fertilizers & weed control on my lawn, I still use the clippings. I feel that by the time the clipping break down, the chemicals are gone.
So far I don’t have a 3rd leg or arm, I don’t have a 3rd eye either. All in my family wear glasses,, I’m 62 & I don’t, so whatever I’m doing / eating hasn’t effected my eye sight.
Hope this helps
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I have 1
Compost,humus,cow manure and a little garden or top soil.Every gardener will tell you something different that’s because we all have tried everything and stick with what works for us.There is no right or wrong way unless you don’t tend it,after planting.I don’t use much fertilizer at all and when I do it is natural,like bone meal and epsom salts.Turn the soil well together after every growing season and leave it over winter.Comes spring you are ready to go again,just adding compost as you get it.Hope that helped.
References :