Just wondering what everyone's opinions are for a cheaper soil for my outdoor beds. Last year I put some Ocean Forest in part of my garden. I recently made a couple raised beds, 8x8, and I've got them about half full of horse manure and leaf mold, and a little composted soil from under a huge old leaf pile. I was wondering what some of you might add to top off my raised beds, and maybe my other parts of my garden too. I also added a bale of Sunshine Professional Grow Mix #8 but it didn't add much to such large areas. I see Menards has the Promix All Purpose Professional Growers Mix 2 cubic feet, for $14. Is there anything cheaper, but just as good? I'm not looking for much in the way of fertz in it, just to fill in the rest with a nice soil that I can use again. I plan on adding more leaf mold and manure at the end of the growing season, for next year.
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soil Decent soils for outdoor gardens?
- Thread starter OhioGrown
- Start date
Some towns and counties sell or give away compost made from leaves, grass clippings, and other yard waste. My county sells compost by the yard for cheap, but they also sell what they call "garden mix". It's a mix of compost, black dirt, and sand. I want to say it's something like $15 per yard. I don't know if your town does something like that, but it's worth looking into.
Leaf mold and horse manure compost sounds like a pretty great start to me. If you put that over a native clay soil and work it in you will be able to grow anything. The worms will eventually turn that into nice crumbly dirt, but you might give it a kick-start with some bagged worm castings. Top it all off with quality hardwood mulch and you are good to go.
It's my first year growing so fingers crossed but heres what i did.
I put about 4 years of kitchen compost on top of tilled native soil which is quite clay like and rocky unfortunately. Although I could see expanding shale being good for making air pockets maybe? Anyways, tilled this black as night compost in, as well as some decomposing leaves, guinea fowl shit and ashes from the fire pile. Then I dug holes about 2 feet down, put in sphagnum based garden and backfill 1:1ish and put the plants in there.
Unfortunately got home late yesterday and rain I wanted to plant before had already started. So I'm hoping there isn't too much compaction or that the large holes of loose soil will compensate. Feels good to get those babies in the ground and seen no wilting or yellowing or anything bad yet.
I put about 4 years of kitchen compost on top of tilled native soil which is quite clay like and rocky unfortunately. Although I could see expanding shale being good for making air pockets maybe? Anyways, tilled this black as night compost in, as well as some decomposing leaves, guinea fowl shit and ashes from the fire pile. Then I dug holes about 2 feet down, put in sphagnum based garden and backfill 1:1ish and put the plants in there.
Unfortunately got home late yesterday and rain I wanted to plant before had already started. So I'm hoping there isn't too much compaction or that the large holes of loose soil will compensate. Feels good to get those babies in the ground and seen no wilting or yellowing or anything bad yet.
What nutrients in the soil are mainly required for peppers to grow healthily? I'm asking since I'm a beginner, and for now I only have a couple of seedlings in potting compost (I guess that's a mistake, I should have used seeding compost). I plan to transplant these seedlings to my garden when they are mature enough, but I'm not sure whether the soil in my garden is good for pepper growth.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks a lot!