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Filling a raised bed
Dovefromabove
Posts: 88,102
in Fruit & veg
Hi, I have a new raised bed, 1m x 1m and 30cm deep. I plan to use it for courgette/squash plants - should I fill it with a mixture of topsoil and well rotted farmyard manure, or would you advise using 'multi-purpose compost'?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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The first, not the second. It will give your plants everything they need and regulate water retention much better.
Thanks Wintersong, that's what my instinct said but garden centre person was very worried when I said that's what I was going to do. She was so certain that I was doing the wrong thing that I lost faith in my own judgement and wondered if she knew something I didn't
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
using just multi purpose compost would be very wrong. 1. the nutrient levels are quite low and don't last long. 2. it is likely to dry out quite easily, turn to dust and blow away. 3. whilst too much water will turn into a sodden sump. Over watering plants is worse than under watering.
I'm no expert, but a decent top soil will add bulk and stability + the well rotted manure is good for water retention and nutrients = awesome veg! Simples.
Not sure about squashes since I've never grown them, but Monty shows exactly how to plant courgettes on this forum and you can't go wrong with Monty
Top soil and manure. Wintersong has said it all really.
I did a mix of Veg Compost, Horse Manure and Loam Mix, forked mixed it all. Am pleased with the results this season. Will continue to top up with more manure.
Compost from your compost heap is a soil conditioner. I use it to dig into beds to improve the structure of the soil, make it more moisture retentive and add nutrients, and mulching with compost has the same effect. I dig manure in to do the same (slightly different nutrients, depending on the make up of the compost/manure).
Use potting compost to put in pots. There's soil (loam)-based potting compost, usually described as John Innes Nos 1, 2 and 3 (and seed and cutting composts). The JI refers to to the level of nutrients, 1 for pricking out seedlings and cuttings, 2 for potting on and 3 for established plants that are going to be in the pot long term. Then there's peat-based composts and peat-free composts for pots and tubs etc. Some good, some awful, some so-so.
I would always use loam-based ones if I could afford to. I use loam-based seed and cutting compost and JI No 3 for potting up large plants into pots (my fig and my apricot will go into No. 3). Apart from anything else, the added weight stops plants in pots becoming top-heavy. But for potting up my toms, pots of bedding plants etc I use 'compost' - this year I used Levington - I'd rather not use peat-based but the peat;free I tried this year was full of rubbish.
All bagged composts have fertiliser in them, and don't usually need additional fertiliser for the first couple of months after potting.
Raised beds are more or less permanent and will have plants growing in them year after year, so a mixture of topsoil and good manure is more like a permanent flower/veg bed and produces the best results.
When planting a plant or shrub out into a flower bed you are sometimes advised to dig in some compost or add some to the soil around the plant. For this I use compost from my bin if I have some, but if not some potting compost from a bag is fine.
And then of course there's specialist composts, ericaceous for lime-hating plants, cacti compost for cacti etc, etc
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As I have a clay based soil I added a bag of compost to each of my raised beds along with that mentioned above, as I needed some fibre as well