Gardening & Landscaping
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soil seems really wet
so, we created our raised bed garden 3 summers ago. it's 8' x 12' and about a foot deep. we originally filled it mostly black dirt and some composted manure. the past 2 summers, i have mulched with straw which was of course tilled in but other than that, i've only added additional composted manure.
when i planted this year, the soil seemed very very wet still (and it hasn't rained much over the previous week)
i feel like next year i need to add in something non-dirt next year to create more lightness to the soil. (does this even make sense???)
i love having a veggie garden but i don't know enough to take good care of the soil. help?
thank you in advance for your advice and expertise.
Re: soil seems really wet
just topsoil that you can get by the truckload: http://www.ehow.com/about_4608228_what-black-dirt.html
can you buy large quantities of vermiculite/perlite?
I don't think you're going to find vermiculate/perlite by the truckload if that's what you mean by "large quantities." But you don't need a ton and it is a one time thing. I think I bought 4 cu ft. bags. It's a common component in "Mel's Mix" which is a formula for soil for square foot gardens. This website has some info. You maybe want it to make up 1/4 to 1/3 of the soil in your raised bed.
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/mels-mix/
It can also be expensive, so shop around. Home Depot, Lowes, etc. don't carry it (at least not around here). I bought mine at Southern States. Don't know if you have that near you. I would call the nursery first to see if they carry it.
Do NOT attempt to spread the vermiculate/perlite on a windy day. It goes everywhere. My bags tore while putting them in the car and I still find the stuff all over my Jeep a year later.
LOL it's the same around here.
Google will help you find an affordable supplier.
And if black dirt is so rich and heavy (and full of manure) why would you add more manure to it? It's probably too rich, holds too much water, and is very high in Nitrogen. I'd be afraid of it burning my plants.
i added it because the garden is 3 years old. we only added 6 bags of composted manure last year and i did 12 this year. i figured that the soil gets depleted over the growing season and would need new nutrients. that was my uneducated thinking anyway.
also, the top soil we got wasn't nearly as dense/wet as the composted manure. it had more of a lightness to it so it wasn't like i was adding wet to wet. i was adding wet to something that borderlined on dry after the first 2 seasons.