Bought 6 yards of compost/manure

LA47 · Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:15 am

It looks like it's pretty good. Light and fluffy and doesn't clump. It isn't as dark as some I've seen pictured here but there isn't any large sticks and the small ones I've checked crumble when I mash them. We've put 3 inches on the veggy garden, and flower beds. I saved some for a small flower bed I'm putting in. My question is whether 3 inches is too much or not enough? The original soil we had delivered is top soil from a field that hasn't been farmed for 20 years but, like all soil around here, it has a lot of clay and is, of course, alkaline.

valley · Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:21 pm

Well sounds good to me. In Nevada we have clay also. We added a bit more and dug it in. Last year we planted trees using manure mixed with the soil from the holes we planted the trees in. Early this year I had reason to dig into that mix and found it was wonderful, no longer rock hard when dry or like wet cement when wet.
It will be fun for you, I'm sure, working with soil and watching it get better and better.

I'm guessing you'll be adding mulch, sand or whatever you see is needed as time goes on.
Never been organized enough to compost, I instead gather that here where it is done naturally and take it down where it is lacking.
Have a great season,

toxcrusadr · Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:03 pm

3" is not too much for a first application onto a poor soil. The rule of thumb for maintenance - when your soil is in good shape and you just need to maintain nutrient and organic matter levels - is 1/2" - 1" per year. But if you're starting with clay, you can use more than that for awhile!

LA47 · Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:58 pm

Thought I'd show what it looks like.

: difference between old soil and the new compost

: This is a close up of the compost

: This is after we spread the compost

toxcrusadr · Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:47 pm

Looks nice. It is very light colored though. Do you think there's soil in it?

gixxerific · Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:06 pm

That is very light colored.

3 inches is not bad, are you mixing it in?

LA47 · Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:58 pm

I'm afraid there is soil mixed in it also. Bulk compost is very hard to find in our area but this was the best. Hopefully next year I'll have some of my own.