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04-23-2012, 10:41 AM | #1 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: North Eastern CA
Posts: 9,119
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Soil is still confusing me
I think I want to use compost, vermiculite and peat moss for my raised beds. Or I thought I did until I saw the prices.
Would it work the same to get some top soil (from public land maybe or see if anyone is giving it away), and then put the compost/vermiculite/peat moss mix in each hole that I did for each plant rather than in the whole raised bed? Does that make sense?
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~Emily INTJ, Type 4 Wife to D Mama to: E 12/05 L 7/08 Z 12/10 A 6/14 and J in heaven 2/10 Torah Keeping, Unschooling Family My blog on unschooling and family life: Peace On Dark Nights. |
04-23-2012, 05:29 PM | #2 |
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Location: Rural Saskatchewan
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
Your proposal would be problematic, yes. BBL... gotta get supper made.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Macky For This Useful Post: | saturnfire16 (04-23-2012) |
04-23-2012, 08:26 PM | #3 |
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Location: Rural Saskatchewan
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
I've encountered this question a few times while reading on GardenWeb. Most often, the question regards digging down into substandard soil and just removing it and replacing it with good soil. Replies on those threads were nearly unanimous, if I recall. Doing that makes, in effect, a large bathtub that inhibits proper drainage because the native soil is so much more dense than the lighter medium it's replaced with. Your idea would be somewhat similar, but on a much smaller scale (a mini tub for each plant). You could cut the vermiculite/compost/peat moss mix with native soil to decrease costs. That would work. If your bed isn't lined, you could just build the area up with entirely native soil (ammended only if necessary) and plant the plants and seeds in that. That's what all of us in-ground gardeners do.
Why do you think you need vermiculite? That's something we use for potted plants to help with drainage |
The Following User Says Thank You to Macky For This Useful Post: | saturnfire16 (04-26-2012) |
04-23-2012, 08:35 PM | #4 |
Rose Garden
The Lion Cub
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Northern Arizona
Posts: 10,798
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
That's the soil recipe recommended by square foot gardening.
Soil is expensive. I have 2 large raised beds that were quite expensive to fill. I found a mulch mix that was $5 for 2 cu ft. I mixed that with horse manure (free for the hauling) and homemade compost mix.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Blue-EyedLady For This Useful Post: | saturnfire16 (04-26-2012) |
04-29-2012, 12:14 PM | #5 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: North Eastern CA
Posts: 9,119
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
I ended up going with bags of top soil and bumper crop compost. I hope it works!
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~Emily INTJ, Type 4 Wife to D Mama to: E 12/05 L 7/08 Z 12/10 A 6/14 and J in heaven 2/10 Torah Keeping, Unschooling Family My blog on unschooling and family life: Peace On Dark Nights. |
04-29-2012, 02:36 PM | #6 |
Rose Garden
The Lion Cub
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Northern Arizona
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
Sounds like a good mix. Certainly it will be fertile enough to grow a few plants.
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Mama to The Engineer (7 yo) "When I grow up, I'm going to build Highway 100!"
The Imaginative Adventurer (4.5 yo) "I'm going to rescue you!" and The Lion Cub (1 yo)- Smart, cute, strong, and unstoppable! Sister to BlessedBlue forever Co-Founder and Lead Writer at Food Allergies On Ice |
The Following User Says Thank You to Blue-EyedLady For This Useful Post: | saturnfire16 (04-29-2012) |
05-06-2012, 11:25 PM | #7 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Central WA
Posts: 17,196
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
I did native soil (terrible heavy clay) mixed half and half with free dairy compost from my neighbour (works at a dairy and brought me several trailer loads...I paid him for gas, great deal for me!) in my raised beds. Not ideal, but things grow. I'm gradually amending with homemade compost and spent potting soil from hanging baskets, etc. It's actually terribly funny to look at b/c there are clumps of clay and clumps of compost, but it's working. <shrug> As I work the beds I crumble the clumps so hopefully in the next decade they'll all be incorporated together.
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The Following User Says Thank You to canadiyank For This Useful Post: | saturnfire16 (05-07-2012) |
05-07-2012, 10:42 AM | #8 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: North Eastern CA
Posts: 9,119
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
I planted on the 27th and nothing is sprouting yet. Did I mess it up? Or am I being too impatient?
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~Emily INTJ, Type 4 Wife to D Mama to: E 12/05 L 7/08 Z 12/10 A 6/14 and J in heaven 2/10 Torah Keeping, Unschooling Family My blog on unschooling and family life: Peace On Dark Nights. |
05-07-2012, 02:18 PM | #9 |
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Location: Central WA
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Re: Soil is still confusing me
Impatient. It always takes longer than I think it should!
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to canadiyank For This Useful Post: | Blue-EyedLady (05-07-2012), saturnfire16 (05-07-2012) |
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