What to fill a new raised bed with?

[A. Lyric]

I want to fill a third 4' x 8' raised bed this fall.

What do you recommend I fill it with in order to have the healthiest possible soil in the spring?

 

[Meadowlark]

If it were mine:

1) first choice would be to fill it with good garden soil from your property and plant it immediately in a legume cover crop for spring

2) second choice would be to fill it with any sandy, loamy topsoil on your property, add considerable composted animal manure, add organic matter, and plant it immediately in a legume cover crop for spring

3) third choice ask a neighbor and/or good friend if they can give you some good garden soil (or even good sandy loamy topsoil as in #2 above) and plant it immediately in a legume cover crop for spring

4) last choice and least desirable would be to find a reputable dirt yard and purchase topsoil to partially fill the bed and fill the rest with composted animal manure, mix it, and immediately plant in a cover crop for spring.

Next spring, I would turn the cover crop into the soil and after a couple of weeks have the soil tested to see exactly where it's at. Amend accordingly and ready to plant.

 

[A. Lyric]

If it were mine:

1) first choice would be to fill it with good garden soil from your property and plant it immediately in a legume cover crop for spring

2) second choice would be to fill it with any sandy, loamy topsoil on your property, add considerable composted animal manure, add organic matter, and plant it immediately in a legume cover crop for spring

3) third choice ask a neighbor and/or good friend if they can give you some good garden soil (or even good sandy loamy topsoil as in #2 above) and plant it immediately in a legume cover crop for spring

4) last choice and least desirable would be to find a reputable dirt yard and purchase topsoil to partially fill the bed and fill the rest with composted animal manure, mix it, and immediately plant in a cover crop for spring.

Next spring, I would turn the cover crop into the soil and after a couple of weeks have the soil tested to see exactly where it's at. Amend accordingly and ready to plant.

When I filled the raised beds I currently have, I filled them with Mel Bartholomew's recommended mix of peat moss, compost, and vermiculite purchased in bags. The soil in both beds is actually several inches below what was put in originally.

I live within city limits in a residential area and I have yet to notice a garden in a neighbor's yard and haven't met a neighbor who gardens. My raised beds are in my backyard surrounded by grass which gets mowed periodically.

Lastly, at the risk of showing my considerable ignorance, I've never heard of a "dirt yard". I've wished a thousand times I had access to composted manure, but I don't. I have seen topsoil in bags at the store.

There is a recycling center in a nearby town that sells compost and mulch but they are out of both and I don't think the compost they
have, when they do have it, is from manure.

Thank you, Meadowlark!

 

[Meadowlark]

A couple of possibilities: Pitchfork Landscape Material Company in Nixa, MO or McMullen Landscape Center in Springfield, MO

These are what I call dirt yards.

 

[pepper]

When I filled the raised beds I currently have, I filled them with Mel Bartholomew's recommended mix of peat moss, compost, and vermiculite purchased in bags. The soil in both beds is actually several inches below what was put in originally.

I live within city limits in a residential area and I have yet to notice a garden in a neighbor's yard and haven't met a neighbor who gardens. My raised beds are in my backyard surrounded by grass which gets mowed periodically.

Lastly, at the risk of showing my considerable ignorance, I've never heard of a "dirt yard". I've wished a thousand times I had access to composted manure, but I don't. I have seen topsoil in bags at the store.

There is a recycling center in a nearby town that sells compost and mulch but they are out of both and I don't think the compost they
have, when they do have it, is from manure.

Thank you, Meadowlark!

Most garden centers, hardware stores and Walmart stores sell bags of composted manure. They do here, but it might be different where you are. If you are stuck not being able to find animal manure it would be worth checking a few of those places on their online websites, especially Walmart. If they don't have it at the location closest to you, you can usually order things on their website and it will be delivered in their next shipment for you to the nearest store location without a delivery fee.

 

[Meadowlark]

The bagged stuff from box stores would literally be a last resort for me and even then, I probably would not go that way. Not only is it very expensive by the bag but it is also highly suspect of harmful impurities such as residual herbicides that could take years to recover from.

 

[pepper]

The bagged stuff from box stores would literally be a last resort for me and even then, I probably would not go that way. Not only is it very expensive by the bag but it is also highly suspect of harmful impurities such as residual herbicides that could take years to recover from.

It's definitely not ideal, but they sell tons of it every year so it can't be that bad or no one would be using it. It's rare for people like you and I who have access to free manure that is raised without of all those things.

 

[A. Lyric]

The bagged stuff from box stores would literally be a last resort for me and even then, I probably would not go that way. Not only is it very expensive by the bag but it is also highly suspect of harmful impurities such as residual herbicides that could take years to recover from.

Even OMRI stuff?

It's rare for people like you and I who have access to free manure that is raised without of all those things.

And enviable! I've seen ads on CL and other places for cow manure, but I have trust issues when it comes to it not having all that stuff in it, regardless of claims made.

 

[pepper]

Even OMRI stuff?

And enviable! I've seen ads on CL and other places for cow manure, but I have trust issues when it comes to it not having all that stuff in it, regardless of claims made.

I don't know. The way I see it 99% of what we eat is filled with things we shouldn't eat. If you buy bread, the grains to make it probably got sprayed with that stuff. If you buy flour and make your own bread, same thing. An organic garden, more often then not the neighbors are spraying their lawns and it's drifting into your garden anyway. It is just my opinion and outlook and I respect anyone who disagrees, but I don't think it's possible to get away from any of that stuff regardless what you do or don't do in a backyard garden. It's in the rivers, lakes, ocean, sea, even rain. Most farmers use it herbicides and pesticides, very few don't and they are mostly small scale.

 

[A. Lyric]

the neighbors are spraying their lawns and it's drifting into your garden anyway.

I have a neighbor next door whose lawn is perfect. Everything over there is perfect. He mows way more frequently than I do. Poor guy lives next to someone (me) who tries to mow often enough that I can still see my lab in the back yard. I mow grass and whatever alongside it that isn't grass.

Anyway, one day he was out with his wand, spraying along his fence row, when suddenly he glanced furtively all around, hauled his wand over the fence, and sprayed something on my side. He's actually a nice man, I think, and at the time it made me giggle. He's a slave to persnickety.

He has no idea I saw him sneaking his wand onto my yard. And now I'm not sure I'd be so quick to find that amusing because I know you're right. Still, I guess all we can do is the best we can do and hope it pays off more than it would if we were toting our own poisonous wands.

 

[Meadowlark]

... I don't think it's possible to get away from any of that stuff regardless what you do or don't do in a backyard garden....

I very much disagree...respectfully.

For decades now I have raised well over 90% of the veggies my family consumes every year...all without chemicals and most of which is consumed fresh. I also have raised beef for food and compost that grazes on chemical free grass. Fish for food and occasional compost from 5 different ponds/lakes which I built and stocked that contain millions and millions of gallons of pure rainwater. Again, all without chemicals. At times, we've had chickens, off and on, and when off get our eggs from organic neighbors we trust. Our closest neighbor is about a mile away and lives on property we sold them, very selectively I might add.

It is not only possible but very doable to get "almost" entirely away from that "stuff" within the limits of this Planet. The reward for me is "taste" and the belief that this approach leads to a healthier daily lifestyle for myself, my family, and those that live "downstream and upstream" of me.

My garden soil routinely tests out "No N P K required" and above 90% on the nutrient density score. Water comes from collected rainwater and deep wells which have water filtered through hundreds of feet of sand and materials. The rainwater has no factories within at least 50 miles to pollute the air that the water comes from.

None of this is "bragging" simply stating the facts on a lifestyle that is very doable even in today's environment. It can't be achieved overnight, but the journey has been the stuff dreams are made of.

 

[skinyea]

Meadowlark I have said it before and probably will say t again, but you are living a dream life. I am happy you put yourself in that position. Thank Yu for sharing.

 

[big rockpile]

The bagged stuff from box stores would literally be a last resort for me and even then, I probably would not go that way. Not only is it very expensive by the bag but it is also highly suspect of harmful impurities such as residual herbicides that could take years to recover from.

Use to sell to these stores. We were required to send samples to a Lab that had no connection to us. Analyze send us Tags telling buyers what was in it.

Do tell!

big rockpile

 

[A. Lyric]

I very much disagree...respectfully.

I'm in awe of what you've done and what you have. But I'd guess the vast majority have back yards, live in residential areas, or apartments, and achieving that would be impossible financially, physically, even legally. I'm not zoned for so much as a chicken.

 

[pepper]

I very much disagree...respectfully.

And I agree with that for you personally. You own enough land that you mentioned before you are miles from the closest neighbour. You also have a massive garden. And you lived there for many years.

But, you don't sell to grocery stores and I am referring to massive farming that supplies food to stores, they mostly use chemicals. I mean I have no idea, but take a guess at how many tons of pesticides and herbicides are used in one year just in USA alone, not counting all the other countries.

And realistically most people don't have land like you have, they are lucky to have an acre of yard. And, most people have neighbors right beside them. Most people don't have cows and access to the manure you have. Many people recently purchased their home who are younger and have no control over what was sprayed or dumped there prior to owning it, as you said it stays in the soil for years.

I totally get what you are saying but generally most people have to buy at least some groceries and most don't have the option you have to be almost completely self sufficient. But I still think it's impossible to live in a country dumping millions of tons of chemicals into the air, water and land without having a trace of it on your land.