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filling a raised bed in apocalyptic times

LizarghLizargh Posts: 20
in Plants
Hi Looks like I'm going to be living with and shielding my 87 year old mother for some time so am regenerating her veg garden trying to self sustain. I have already built 2 hugel beds and am now building a new raised veg bed 3m x 1m. trouble is am having trouble getting any compost delivered. I have about 400 litres of compost in bags but have also resurrected the compost system here too. I have a new bay of compost that is only about 8 weeks old, turned once but could i just dump all that in the bottom of the new bed even though its far from ready just to give me some volume? I also, have access to seaweed, so could dump some of that in, I have used every last piece or avail wood in the garden so cant put anymore in the bottom of the bed. Also, some of the trees in the garden have been damaged by honey fungus would that spread in a veg garden or damage any of the growing veg if the spores got In? 

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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    New compost will be fine at the bottom of a bean trench.  Seaweed is a great addition. It rots quickly, but if you are making compost I would rinse the seaweed, then add to your  bins mixed up with anything else. Try neighbours for grass cuttings  as the council is not empyting green waste bins.  Don't use any from lawns that have been treated with weedkiller.  Veg does not have to grown in a raised bed. I have a rim around a new bed I made where some pigeon shed were, but that is because I add so much  manure  or compost or old tomato compost, that the levels on my veg bed raises naturally over the years, and I have to keep it in.  Get the plants in, worry about how deep it is later.  The only really raised bed I have was to grow herbs that need very good drainage. It has six inches of gravel in the bottom, then usual soil mixed with gravel on top.
     I  thought that honey fungus really only affected hard wood plants. I think veg will be in and out too fast for any effects.   If you have honey fungus on the garden, remove any fruiting bodies (mushrooms) as soon as you see them to stop spores. The RHS has a sheet you can download about susceptible plants.
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