Hello all. I know there's some posts about this on here but I've still got some questions. my husband and I are building a raised bed to grow vegetables in. It will take about 2 cubic yards of matter to fill it up. Our yard is not accessible by a truck or even a wheel barrow (skinny side yard, house is on the street and several sets of steps). All that said, we must purchase everything in bags. I know that can get costly so I thought if I bought the components separately I could keep the cost down. We do not have any compost.
So my question is, what components are best to buy bagged? I'll need some sort of dirt but I've read that top soil can be pretty low quality. Also, I'm not sure what to use in place of compost (remember it must be bagged)
Thoughts?
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noobgardener
- Full Member
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:56 am
- Location: Southern VA
Hi Noob!
If you have clay soil, you'll definitely want to see if you can buy some veggie compost somewhere if you can find it. It'll help you out a lot. Also, You can get free/cheap food grade buckets from local sub shops, grocery store delis/bakeries, etc.
Many farms and mini farms are very happy to give you free composted manure or compost if you are willing to bring your own truck and buckets... but you have to do the shoveling!
You can find lots of these on craigslist in the "free stuff" section or make your own post asking for it and you'll get responses. Just make sure it's already composted.
Here is a link to some places in Virginia where you can buy bulk or bagged compost or manure, as well. The Virginia section is at the bottom of the page; give 'em a call before you head down.
A raised bed is kind of like a giant container, so you'd be right not to just use top soil. Here is another link to a really good thread on the topic on this forum.
It'll also depend on your climate to a degree. I use a lot of compost in my bed because it helps to keep it aerated and moist and is also key to building up the microbial life in the soil.
We use 30% bagged potting soil, 20% top soil, 40% compost, 5% perlite/vermiculite mix, and about 5% composted steer manure. And then we also had to mix in slow release fertilizer because it is so hot and dry here we have to water so much I'd be putting down fish emulsion every week or so (which I am just not willing to do).
My climate is very different than yours, so you may not need the amount of moisture retaining materials and compost that I use. Hopefully we'll hear from someone closer to you as well.
Good luck!
If you have clay soil, you'll definitely want to see if you can buy some veggie compost somewhere if you can find it. It'll help you out a lot. Also, You can get free/cheap food grade buckets from local sub shops, grocery store delis/bakeries, etc.
Many farms and mini farms are very happy to give you free composted manure or compost if you are willing to bring your own truck and buckets... but you have to do the shoveling!
You can find lots of these on craigslist in the "free stuff" section or make your own post asking for it and you'll get responses. Just make sure it's already composted. Here is a link to some places in Virginia where you can buy bulk or bagged compost or manure, as well. The Virginia section is at the bottom of the page; give 'em a call before you head down.
A raised bed is kind of like a giant container, so you'd be right not to just use top soil. Here is another link to a really good thread on the topic on this forum.
It'll also depend on your climate to a degree. I use a lot of compost in my bed because it helps to keep it aerated and moist and is also key to building up the microbial life in the soil.
We use 30% bagged potting soil, 20% top soil, 40% compost, 5% perlite/vermiculite mix, and about 5% composted steer manure. And then we also had to mix in slow release fertilizer because it is so hot and dry here we have to water so much I'd be putting down fish emulsion every week or so (which I am just not willing to do).
My climate is very different than yours, so you may not need the amount of moisture retaining materials and compost that I use. Hopefully we'll hear from someone closer to you as well.
Good luck!