soil Raised Bed Soil and Transplant Hole Food

[MGOLD86]

Whats up everyone, I know a lot of members go the container route and mix their own soil. What I was wondering is what about all you raised bed gardeners??

There is a half a dozen Nurseries around here that sell Pre-mixed soil in bulk quantities (yard and more). They offer the normal topsoil and mulches, but then have some "mixed" soil that is compost (mostly turkey) and topsoil.

I wanted to see what you guys usually do to fill a bunch of raised beds. Do you test the soil prior to buying? Do you look for a certain mix? Do you mix your own?

Lookin forward to your recommendations.

 

[stc3248]

I would hit up Spicy Chicken on that question! He has the most BA raised beds on the block...I think he's putting around 8k plants in the ground this season. The guy's a genius. I also saw that AJ put in a raised bed this year so I'm sure you can get what you need from him as well. I personally just keep throwing compost, manure and peat at it 'till it tastes just right and then see what dies and what doesn't. I do test the soil PH...and adjust with Espoma or peat moss in the transplant holes as well.
I'll be watching this one with interest...

BTW many nurseries can build a custom bulk soil for you with ph and nutes to order...

 

[Chewi]

I did raised beds last year, I"ll go look and see if I have the pictures still and what I used. It was hard with the 100 days over 100 degrees. I didn't get any peppers until after the temps lowered. Also, the only thing that survived was the peppers.

 

[PIC 1]

I add what I need to in the beds and containers. I buy a few yards of "Garden Mix" which is top soil, mushroom compost and torpedo sand. To that I add my own compost, bone and blood meal, 10-10-10 to the planting hole along with humus and worm castings. At the end of last season I also added some garden lime. My beds already have a mix of peat and coir so no more of that. I'll top dress around the plants with more castings and compost throughout the season and broadcast some 10-10-10 around the plants perimeter. For tomato plants I'll occasionally use Cal-Mag especially after fruit set, to prevent blossom end rot. For the peppers I'll continue to spray epsom salts on and under the leaves every other week.

Greg

 

[LGHT]

I add what I need to in the beds and containers. I buy a few yards of "Garden Mix" which is top soil, mushroom compost and torpedo sand. To that I add my own compost, bone and blood meal, 10-10-10 to the planting hole along with humus and worm castings. At the end of last season I also added some garden lime. My beds already have a mix of peat and coir so no more of that. I'll top dress around the plants with more castings and compost throughout the season and broadcast some 10-10-10 around the plants perimeter. For tomato plants I'll occasionally use Cal-Mag especially after fruit set, to prevent blossom end rot. For the peppers I'll continue to spray epsom salts on and under the leaves every other week.

Greg

This is what I would do. No matter what you get it will probably need a few things added to be good for peppers.

 

[Chewi]

Ok found them.

You can see the plants were going to be too big to place the shelters over them. I hadn't thought about that....first time and all.

All was going well, things got crowded but I was managing....then it hit 100+ degrees and all went to hell. Basil and Peño's only thing that made it. Fruit came late Sept. through Turkey Day.

What I used....and don't laugh because last year was my first and everyone starts out somehow....70% topsoil/30% compost straight from the bags they had at Home Depot.
Surprisingly the topsoil was really sandy and drained well. I think that helped the peppers.

This year I'm doing half plants in the beds and some in pots too just in case I screw up the beds somehow.

One more picture...you can sort of see what my mixture looked like.

 

[Fungolia]

see how it drains, you want a bed to be a mixture of well draining materials and water retentive materials
the well draining stuff lets oxygen into the root zone and the water retentive materials will hold the soil life.
the mixture of bird compost and top soil probably wont be bad, especially if you matic/till up your soil that's
already there and mix in some compost.

 

[MGOLD86]

Looked like you definitley had it figured out Chewi, I know that those high temps can be murder for the plants. I am hoping to get a harvest before it gets too hot, because I am headed back to Afganistan before mid October, so hopefully I will get enough for seedstock and to send some care packages to people who have helped me and some noobs that I wanna share the heat with.

Greg, so once you plant out you stop liquid feeding? How do the plants take that food cutoff? Also, once you feed the hole, how long will that last you? Do you get a combo bone/blood? What brand do you use? lol. I just read this back and it is like an interrogation....

This also brings up another point, what does everyone add to their transplant hole?

 

[Siliman]

Whatever your raised bed blend, make sure it drains well. I plan to add a mega boat load of perlite to last year's bed, which has lots of organic material in it now.

For the tomato and peppers transplant hole, I put in Dr Earth, maybe 1/2-cup. It has lots of groovy organic ingredients. DrEarth fert
I'll probably use it in my containers also.

 

[Ardnek710]

we use raised beds. The first few years as we built them, we used store bought topsoil/sand/manure,humus etc. We also used the free compost offered by the city. Let me tell you, you pay for that "free" compost, in the years of backache involved in weeding every weed known to man out of your garden!!!!

Soooo....we have a small city lot in St.Louis. We bought three compost tumbers (one at a time, as we needed them...apparently we eat a lot of veggies). We now produce all the soil we need to fill and refresh every bed (6 in all, different sizes, overall 550 sq ft). We have the biggest, fattest, happiest worms around!

Raised beds is definitely the way to go! We cover in black plastic to keep the weeds down and use soaker hoses for minimal watering needs. It is hot and humid here most of the summer, we water at most once every 10-14 days on the plastic covered beds, and that is with soaker hoses. This definitely helps with high heat.

k

 

[MGOLD86]

I emailed a semi-local company about what they offer and aside from the outrageous delivery fee ($202.50) they had a few different options. Among them was a "Container Mix"

Container mix is made of the following: $34.75 per cubic yard

o Aged pine fines

o Peat Moss

o Perlite

o Sand

o Micronutrients

And a "Topsoil Blend" for 24.75 a yard.
screened native soils amended with Turkey compost and Nuleaf compost

I really dont know exactly what the typical price per yard for something like this is, but I sure as hell aint paying 200 bucks to have them deliver it.

I am emailing a local company to see if they have an analysis sheet on their topsoil blend, and what their price per yard is. If I go with 4'x8'x12" I beds I will need about a yard per bed. At 4-6 beds that can get expensive. I had my soil tested this year and it came back decent, I am still considering getting a layer of compost, and tilling it in and just planting straight in the ground.....

 

[Ardnek710]

I vote, go for the compost layer,till it in and plant straight in the ground. For the money you save,you can buy a compost tumbler and make your own soil from here on out. You can build the walls of your bed and raise the soil level only as much as you need for the first year, then you can add to it when you have more compost/soil and fill it up completely over time.

Of course, mix in something for drainage and balance. If you don't have a tiller, rent a small mantis or hand held from the home depot or local ace hardware for a few hours (here you can get a small one for $10/4hrs), mix everything up really well for the first year.

In subsequent years, mix in new compost as needed and in your planting holes.

Make sure to use mulch, something I don't see enough of in alot of pictures on the forums! Mulch is your friend!

k

 

[MGOLD86]

I am definitely going to do plastic mulch, both to keep the weeds down and to retain heat early in the year and cool the soil in the heat of summer. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it, specifically, does it keep rainwater out? We got a three day downpour last year and it all but ruined my season. I had to pull plants out of the ground, repot the potted ones, etc. I was wondering since their is a layer of plastic, if there will be much less water in the soil under the plastic. I know that it will seap in from the sides, but as far as a more managable amount, that I am curious about....

Also, it just dawned on me, but, we live on farmland that was converted to a housing development a year and a half ago. The farmer has great success with beans, corn, etc, 50 feet from my back door. My soil has GOT to be similiar....

 

[Capsicum]

Ok found them.

You can see the plants were going to be too big to place the shelters over them. I hadn't thought about that....first time and all.

All was going well, things got crowded but I was managing....then it hit 100+ degrees and all went to hell. Basil and Peño's only thing that made it. Fruit came late Sept. through Turkey Day.

What I used....and don't laugh because last year was my first and everyone starts out somehow....70% topsoil/30% compost straight from the bags they had at Home Depot.
Surprisingly the topsoil was really sandy and drained well. I think that helped the peppers.

This year I'm doing half plants in the beds and some in pots too just in case I screw up the beds somehow.

One more picture...you can sort of see what my mixture looked like.

I just made the same thing but only one 4x8' and it holds pots!!! It looks just like mine, I have deer netting from top to bottum

Anyway, I see a lot use a mix of peat moss and compost for raised beds. But I find peatmoss has its place and i am turning away from using it as I can not find a good use for it believe it or not

I like the mix you can get, you shoul get that.

"Aged pine fines

o Peat Moss

o Perlite

o Sand

o Micronutrients"

That sounds good.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Greg, so once you plant out you stop liquid feeding? How do the plants take that food cutoff? Also, once you feed the hole, how long will that last you? Do you get a combo bone/blood? What brand do you use? lol. I just read this back and it is like an interrogation....

This also brings up another point, what does everyone add to their transplant hole?

Nothing, and this is why. http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/Amendments.pdf

 

[MGOLD86]

Very interesting read. So you are saying add nothing and feed with nothing?

I would like to see some opinions on this aricle. Should prove for interesting debate.

 

[romy6]

I think that would have to depend on your soil. My first year ever growing I grew in the ground and I was adding bone meal and liquid feeding and the plants love it.

 

[PIC 1]

Not to get down to far into the hole with specfics, but.
Anything that I plant say for instance the container size is 6" wide, I'll dig a hole thats at least 10" then loosen the adjacent soil around the hole. After scattering some pellet fert I'll add a couple of hand shovel fulls of aged compost and worm castings. Then I'll tease and loosen the bottom of the root ball letting some of the plants medium fall into the hole. Then the roots get spread, the plant gets set slightly deeper in the hole. It gets a drink of diluted root stimulator with then I'll fill the hole with the soil that was removed. The soil gets lightly tamped down. I'll scatter some more 10-10-10 around the top of the soil ( aprox perimeter of rootball )
When the plantings down for the day I'll go back and water each plant.That helps the soil settle even more so theres no air pockets.
I don't use plastic mulch, I can see how that would be benefical for raised/wide row plantings as a weed barrier.
Even though the soil in my beds will never get walked on or packed down, I still like to use a hand shovel to cultivate and airate around and between the plants. Its very easy to turn over or yank out any weeds when the soils dry. I only have four Beds each around 4 x 12 so its a jif to do it all in a short time. If I can find coir on $ale I'll top the container plants with that to help keep in the moisture.
I would recommend that if you were going to use a mulch in the beds, use a fabric that breathes, That will keep the weeds out and elimate the possibly of retaining warm saturated soil (possibilty of root rot)
Folks end up with stunted plants....then what....they water even more....Aye-Yi-Yi
Just remember if you use compost make sure its well aged, if using epsom salts spray the plants don't water the soil. I use minimun amounts slow release pellet ferts to prevent soil from becoming saturated with chemicals. Certain manures, salts, ph adjusters can last in the soil for yrs. I will foliar feed with a BER product and spray on and under the pepper leaves with epsom salts.
I feel once the plants are out of the indoor soiless mixes they'll thrive from the natural elements and benifit from the minerals in the rain.

Greg

 

[synclinorium]

Can't offer much on the raised bed mix advice. When I prepare the garden for in-ground plants I usually make sure to incorporate plenty of compost and a little bit of blood meal, then at the bottom of each planting hole I'll mix a healthy portion of bone meal and throw in a banana peel (I just stick mine in the freezer inside a ziplock bag until spring). Both the tomatoes and Rocotos went gangbuster last year using this simple approach, I didn't need to give them any added ferts until towards the end of the season.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Very interesting read. So you are saying add nothing and feed with nothing?

I would like to see some opinions on this aricle. Should prove for interesting debate.

No I'm not saying that all, adding organic matter/compost and supplying nutrients is a good idea, but mix it in to the whole thing or at least the top few inches. Don't make a special planting hole filled with some medium that is different than the surrounding medium, e.g. don't make a hole filled with potting mix, peat, compost or whatever to put the plant in or you'll run into the types of problems mentioned in that article.

If using bone meal I would be careful not to add too much. Phosphorus is highly reactive and locks up very easily, plants can't use most of what's applied to the soil, I've seen figures as high as 95% being unavailable. So if you keep applying heavy amounts it's going to accumulate and accumulate since it's not water soluble. If the pH is over 7.0, then all of the phosphorus from the bone meal gets locked out. Mycorrhizal fungi help plants uptake phosphorus among other things, but excess phosphorus in the soil inhibits their growth.