September 16, 2025 • 34 mins
This week we tackle one of the biggest questions in raisedbed gardening – how to fill it! It can be daunting, staring at this gaping box, trying to figure out how you’re going to fill 18” or even 36” of depth without going broke.
So, today on Just Grow Something, we’re digging into the dirt – literally – on how to fill your new raised bed. We’ll cover the different materials you can use to get your garden bed off to it’s best start for your plant’s sake, but also for your wallet’s sake. And, we’ll talk about the materials you don’t want to use, even if it’s just to fill space in the bottom of a very deep bed, and the alternatives. By the end you’ll have a pretty good idea of where to start and where you’ll end up so your raised bed materials can settle in over the winter and become the beautiful loamy soil you’ll want to plant into in the spring. Let’s dig in!Save 20% and get free shipping on your new raised bed from PlanterBoxDirect.com by using code JUSTGROW20, now until October 15th!
For full show notes and transcript head to https:/justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/episode/layer-by-layer-how-to-fill-a-new-raised-bed-ep-267
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In the first week of this special series on raised bed
gardening, we talked about how to decide the proper dimensions
for creating a new raised bed inyour garden.
Last week we talked about the different materials that we can
use to build those beds and options for purchasing or
repurposing. This week we tackle one of the
biggest questions in raised bed gardening.
(00:20):
How do you fill it? It can be daunting staring at
this gaping box, trying to figure out how you're going to
fill 18 inches or even 36 inchesof depth without going broke.
So today under Score Something, we're digging into the dirt
literally, on how to fill your new raised bed.
We'll cover the different materials that you can use to
(00:42):
get your garden bed off to its best start for your plants sake,
but also for your wallet's sake.And we'll talk about the
materials that you don't want touse, even if it's just to fill
space in the bottom of a very deep bed.
And the alternatives? By the end, you will have a
pretty good idea of where to start and where you'll end up so
your raised bed materials can settle in over the winter and
(01:05):
become the beautiful loamy soil you'll want to plant into in the
spring. Let's dig in.
Hey, I'm Karen, and what startedas a small backyard garden 20
years ago turned into a lifelongpassion for growing food.
Now, as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help
you do the same on this podcast.I am your friend in the garden,
teaching evidence. Based techniques to help you.
(01:26):
Grow your favorites and build confidence in your own garden.
Space. So grab your garden.
Journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow
something. So before we dig in, I have a
little bit of a maintenance tip for you as we head into the
fall, specifically for your tomatoes and your Peppers and
(01:48):
eggplants and some of the other veggies that may take longer
than 30 days from the time they flower to the time you will get
the finished fruit. So if you have something that is
going to take longer than 30 days, then if when you are about
four to six weeks prior to your next or your first anticipated
(02:09):
frost, which is what we're at right now, at least in my area,
now would be the time that you want to start pruning and
topping those plants. If we think about this in terms
of the energy availability in the plant, if you have a flower
that is going to take say 45 days to produce a fruit and you
(02:32):
are only 30 days ahead of when your first frost is supposed to
hit, then obviously that fruit is not going to get to maturity
before the plant dies off. So we want to conserve that
energy. We don't want the plant putting
any energy into those new blooms.
And I know that this is painful because right now, if you have
had any break in your summer heat at all, you're likely
(02:56):
seeing a bunch of your plants suddenly putting on all of these
blooms. I know my tomatoes and my
Peppers specifically right now are doing this.
I have tons of brand new blooms all over the place, but our
first usual frost date is aroundOctober 20th or so.
That's only about four weeks away.
I know that none of those flowers are going to get to
(03:21):
maturity at this point. So my best bet in order to give
all of that energy, redirect allof that energy out of the plant
into those existing fruits that already are on the plant and are
working on getting to maturity, is by removing all those other
blooms. You can do this really easily by
(03:43):
just walking across the tops of your plant.
So that's usually where you see is like this fresh green growth
going on and all these new blooms, you can just kind of
start lopping off the tops of them and that is going to
redirect that energy down into the existing fruits.
You might have to do this several times because you know
what happens when you cut off the top of one of some of these
(04:05):
plants where it's going to try to send out these side shoots
around where that topping happened, right?
And then it's going to try to flower.
So this might be something that you have to do a couple of
times. But I have seen really good
results with doing this, like I said, in like tomatoes and
Peppers and even eggplant, just to sort of let the plant utilize
(04:26):
its energy in a way that is mostbeneficial to me as the
gardener. We want it pushing that energy
into creating more mature fruitsthat we'll be able to go ahead
and harvest. You can do the same thing too.
If you still have like winter squashes or pumpkins that are
flowering but very obviously arenot going to get to maturity at
this point, you can either just remove those blooms or you can
(04:51):
chop the vines if necessary. You can cut them off where that
brand new growth is going and just allow them to continue to
put their energy into the fruitsthat are closer to the root zone
that, you know, might have a chance to actually, you know,
finish before the end of the season.
My only caveat to that is with those sort of more succulent
(05:13):
types of of vines, like winter squashes where they're really
thick, you might be opening up that plant to the possibility of
some diseases if you have pathogens that can enter into
the vine from the areas where those get cut off.
So if you're only growing a few of these squash plants, my
(05:34):
advice would be just to take theblooms off and allow them to
finish growing out the rest of the squash and pumpkins.
But if you have a ton of them and it's just faster for you to
go through and just sort of chopthem all off, then, you know, be
my guest. But either way, we want to be
pruning and topping anything that is going to take longer
than 30 to 45 days to get from flowering to fruiting.
(05:55):
And we want to do this about four to six weeks prior to our
first anticipated fall frost. OK, so I know what I normally
use to fill up my new raised beds, and I know what I advise
my clients to do and what I helpthem do in their own gardens.
But to prepare for this episode,I really did kind of want to do
(06:15):
a little bit of a deep dive intothe different gardening forums
and places where, you know, these questions are being asked,
just to see what questions were being asked about this topic so
we could address them. Questions about soil recipes and
cheap ways to fill beds absolutely dominated the
discussions around this. OK, so gardeners were often
(06:37):
asking about what the ratio of topsoil to compost is and
whether or not they should add sand to the mix and how to layer
in the materials. So let's take a look at 3:00
university Extension Service recommendations and three
gardening expert recommendationsand we'll kind of compare them
(06:57):
and we'll see. We'll see what each one of them
says and we'll figure out where to go from there, Right.
So UMN Extension recommends filling beds with roughly 2/3 to
1/2 topsoil and 1/2 to 1/3 plantbased compost.
They also said to add sand if your native soil is very clay.
They warn that too much compost can dry out very quickly and
(07:20):
that potting soil alone also dries out very quickly.
UMD extension suggests mixing compost and purchase topsoil in
a one to two or one to one ratio.
So pretty close to what UMN recommended.
They basically said the only difference was if you're talking
about filling beds that are on hard surfaces to do equal parts
(07:41):
compost and a soil less mix and then add about 20% topsoil.
And then UVM extension also suggests mixing topsoil with
compost. Ratio is about 1:00 to 1:00 to
maybe only about 20% compost andthen lightening up heavy soil
with peat Moss or cocoa corps. So those are our three
(08:03):
university extension, you know, recommendations fairly similar
to each other. If you look at some of the like
online experts, we have Nicole Burke from garden area and she
encourages filling the beds completely with soil and
compost. So using a weed barrier of some
sort at the bottom and then adding in, you know, basically a
(08:27):
one to one ratio of of topsoil and compost Also recommends
adding fall leaves in six inch layers and then topping it with
eight to 10 inches of the soil. Liz Jaros from Epic Gardening
also recommends layering cardboard at the bottom, filling
the taller beds halfway with logs and branches and leaves.
(08:48):
So this kind of forms a passive compost and then just making
sure that the top 12 inches contains a high quality soil.
She was emphasizing that the compost layer basically
comprises about 25% of that top layer.
And then we have Mel's mix. If you don't know Mel, this is
(09:09):
Mel Bartholomew. He was the originator of the
square foot gardening method. And the mix that he has always
recommended or had always recommended was 1/3 coarse
vermiculite, 1/3 peat Moss, and 1/3 blended organic compost.
And what they mean by blended compost is basically using about
(09:29):
5 different compost sources and blending them all together.
So getting, you know, mushroom compost and worm castings and
some forest products or whatever, and then blending
those all together and that being your compost source.
OK, so that's six different versions of what we should be
using and how we should be layering in our raised beds.
(09:51):
Some of them are similar to eachother, some of them are very
different. Is it any wonder that gardeners
are confused about what to use and which of these is going to
produce the best results, Right?How do we know?
So let's demystify this just a little bit by analyzing the
common components in each of these suggestions, and then
(10:14):
we'll modify those suggestions to account for like our budget
and maybe available materials. So excluding Mel's mix, which is
essentially A soyless mix, all of the other recommendations
include topsoil. So that's obviously component #1
the reason we want topsoil is not we don't just want a full
container of nothing but compost.
(10:37):
This is partly for texture and it's partly for the microbes.
We've talked before about the need for microbes in our soil to
help release the nutrients from our compost and move those
nutrients into the plant roots. If you pile nothing but compost
into your raised bed, you will eventually get soil, but it will
(10:59):
take about a year for that compost to really break down to
be a texture that plants like and to have nutrients readily
available for what we're planting.
And honestly, we don't want to wait that long, right?
So the topsoil we add is going to inoculate the other
components with the microorganisms that we need, and
(11:22):
it's going to contribute to thattexture that we want.
Your first choice for topsoil would be to take something from
your own yard. Yes.
Even if the texture isn't great,like the heavy clay that I have
here, that topsoil is going to have your native good little
buggies in it. That can go to work right away.
(11:44):
The compost and the other amendments will fix the texture
problem for all but the worst ofthe soils.
OK, your second option is to purchase local topsoil, which
you can often do from the same local places where you would buy
your compost. And then of course, the third
option is just to buy bags of topsoil from the garden center.
(12:06):
It does seem kind of weird to bebuying dirt, but a gardener's
got to do what a gardener's got to do, right?
So the second common component in all of these recommendations
is compost. Now, I think the Mel's mix is
actually on track with this whensuggesting a blend of different
(12:28):
types of compost. But use what you have available
to you, right? This is where we start to look
at availability of materials andalso affordability of the
materials, right? If the only thing that you can
get your hands on is a bagged compost from the garden center,
then use that. If, however, you have access to
(12:51):
that and some mushroom compost, then do a blend of both.
If you also happen to have a neighbor who has rabbits who is
willing to share the pellets, oryou live near a horse farm that
has like piles of aged horse manure, then add that.
Now notice that I said aged manure.
Well, composted manure. That's even better.
(13:14):
I would prefer that. But herbivore manure that has
been aged for about four months,that's fine too.
If you're going to be using thisbed very soon after building it
and not letting it sit for a minimum of four months, which
intent? This is why we're doing this in
the fall and not in the spring, right?
But if you're going to use it right away, then I really would
(13:36):
recommend sticking with things like rabbit, goat, alpaca or
sheep manure. It's got a little bit less
nitrogen content than like chicken manure or horse manure
or cattle manure, unless it's really well compested.
But if you're building it now and you're not planting until
the spring, then any of those aged manures will be fine.
(13:58):
I do not recommend fresh manure of any kind other than that
rabbit manure that we mentioned.And I will leave a link in the
show notes to the Focal Point Friday episode I did about that
a couple of years ago. That has all of the pertinent
information as to why. But just understand that fresh
manure is not a good thing to beadding to your raised beds
(14:18):
unless it has been aged other than the rabbit manure.
OK, so Next up we're going to talk about the places where
these recommendations kind of stray from each other and then
what I do in my own garden when filling new raised beds.
I am really turning into a raised garden bed girly for
sure. You know, I'm a little bit of a
(14:40):
data geek and I have seen such amajor difference in my yield per
square foot of garden bed between my raised beds and my in
ground beds that I am just continuing to convert more and
more space around my farm to planters.
It's why I decided to do this whole series and it's why I
reached out to my favorite raised bed company, Planter Box
(15:02):
Direct. Their beds are made in the US by
a small local New York business using 100% US steel and up to
30% of that steel is recycled, while all the steel used in the
bed construction is 100% recyclable.
So in 20 or 30 years, if the bedstarts to break down, then yeah,
(15:24):
it can be recycled into something else, maybe even a new
raised garden bed. Join the Raised bed garden
revolution by choosing from the wide range of options at Planter
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(15:47):
Planterbox direct.com with code Just grow 20.
The link is in the show notes. OK, so a few of these sources
that I pulled recommended addingpeat Moss to the bed mix.
Now, I love peat Moss for its water absorption capacity and
for like adding texture to the bed, but there are a lot of
(16:11):
concerns around the sustainability of the product as
a whole. So much so that it's now being
banned from being sold in Europeand I have generally stayed away
from it unless it's a component in my potting soil and it's only
being harvested from managed bogs in Canada.
That's highly specific, right? So what are our alternatives?
(16:32):
Coconut choir, worm castings, cocoa holes, rice holes, pine
bark, these all have different ways that they help with the
structure and water retention ofthe soils in the same way that
like peat Moss whip. So if the topsoil that you're
using seems very heavy and the texture needs to be broken up a
(16:56):
bit more so than what the mixture of compost is going to
do for it, and you don't have a good mix of composted materials
to use, try adding one or more of those suggestions that I just
made. If your topsoil contains a lot
of clay, then you might consideradding some sand to the mix as
(17:17):
well. Now before warned, sand is going
to really change how the soil drains and too much can actually
make it drain too much. So clay soil doesn't drain well.
So adding soil will help with this.
Just be sure that you have a bunch of other organic material
mixed in there, like the different components and stuff
(17:39):
that we talked about, along withthings like warm castings or
rice holes or whatever. Otherwise, clay and sand alone
will pretty much make concrete when you add water.
So let's avoid this, OK? And if you don't have very heavy
clay soils as your topsoil component, then there really is
no need to add sand right away. In fact, too much sand means you
(18:03):
likely won't hold on to nearly as much water or as many
nutrients as many a gardener in South Florida can likely attest
to. Now you may have noticed that
only two of our sources recommended any other natural
materials like leaves or twigs for our raised beds.
And I would venture to say that the reason for this is because
(18:26):
the university sources like to give recommendations that are
going to give you a fairly predictable outcome.
So recommending a specific ratioof compost to topsoil as your
main components makes sense. But you'll notice the gardening
experts from the other two non university sites are the ones
(18:48):
recommending adding leaves and other materials, likely because
they know a lot of us gardeners are looking to fill raised beds
as frugally as possible. And adding twigs and branches
and leaves is a good way to fillthe bed with some organic
materials that may be readily available and free.
(19:09):
And they're also going to eventually break down into those
nutritive components while they're filling up some space at
the same time at the bottom right.
I like this approach and it's something that we do here when
we're filling in our new raised beds, which I will talk about
here in a minute. Now, the only one of these
sources to recommend adding vermiculite is Mel's mix.
(19:31):
I think this is because this is specifically a mix that does not
include topsoil. It's a soil less blend and there
needs to be something in the blend that helps with moisture
retention and aeration and nutrient availability.
So vermiculite doesn't contain nutrients itself, but the
(19:53):
structure of the vermiculite traps and holds water and
nutrients and then it releases it back to the plant roots as
it's needed. Plus.
It's very lightweight and so that helps to just hold air
space within the soil for the plant roots to infiltrate into.
So I'm not opposed at all to using vermiculite if you need to
(20:15):
lighten up the soil in your raised beds.
As a matter of fact, I've actually advised garden clients
with in ground beds in specific situations to use vermiculite
for all the reasons I mentioned and more.
But if your goal is to do this as inexpensively as possible,
you may not want to add another purchase to the list.
(20:38):
So this is one of those components that I would say use
if needed or if you're specifically following the Mel's
mix formula. It's not my favorite because I
mean the Mel's mix itself, the vermiculite is fine, but the
Mel's mix itself is not my favorite because it is lacking
that topsoil components and I find that to be very important.
(21:01):
But to each his own. So what do I do with my raised
beds and how do I help my clients build theirs?
That's up next. So when building a new raised
bed, I will usually start with areally good layer of cardboard
at the bottom of the bed becauseit will help to choke out any of
(21:22):
the weeds that might be trying to come up, any of the native
grasses that might be there. And at the same time, it breaks
down quickly enough for those good guys to get through right.
You could also do this with, like we talked about last week,
burlap sacks or whatever. Even if your soil is absolute
junk underneath and you would never be able to grow anything
(21:43):
in it, it is still important forthe microbes and the worms.
Yes, there are likely worms in there, even if it's junky, to be
able to get up and get through into the soil that is eventually
going to be in your raised bed. So a good layer of cardboard is
great. I used to recommend putting like
a weed barrier down the bottom. I don't recommend that anymore
(22:07):
because I have seen how a lot ofthese weed barriers will break
down over time. Most of them are made out of
plastics of some sort. They tend to shred.
That's also leaving micro plastics in there.
So it is something that I no longer recommend.
A girl has a prerogative to change her mind, right?
OK, with more information we canrecommend different things.
(22:27):
So it doesn't really matter whatever size bed you have, I
always start with that cardboardand then I layer a base layer of
whatever carbon sources are available.
So for you, this might be thingslike twigs and sticks that are
laying around in the yard, largerotting logs if you're filling a
very deep bed. So if you want one of those tall
(22:49):
36 inch beds so you don't have to bend over, that's a lot of
soil to have to fill. So you know, old logs are
really, really good for this. Cardboard, shredded newspaper
and any other like non slick paper products, shredded leaves,
straw I've used chopped up like dried corn husks and the stalks
that go with it. Even the dried corn cops you can
(23:12):
use, like if you're building these beds right now, you can
use the dead dried plants from this year's garden to fill the
space in the bottom, just so long as they don't have any
like, plant diseases or any kindof bug infestations, right?
These things can all form the base layer of our garden beds.
They're dry, they're fibrous, and most importantly, they take
(23:33):
up space. OK.
And as they break down in the bottom of that bed, they are
going to provide the structure for the humans that will
eventually develop. This is why I don't understand
why none of the university extensions recommend this.
And I don't know if it's because, like, the availability
of these items is iffy. Not everybody has access to it.
(23:56):
That might be, I don't know. But, you know, this is very
similar to the role that these fibrous materials play in a
compost pile. So just about any brown material
that you would put into a compost pile can go in the
bottom of your raised bed as youfill it.
So these materials are not only going to save us some money in
terms of the cost of filling thebed, but they're also providing
(24:20):
air space for the other components to break down.
And that's going to give room for the little microbes to move
around and do their work. Plus they're also going to help
with some of that drainage, too.What I don't want you to do is
to follow the suggestions of people who say just to take
plastic nursery pots and put them upside down in the bed to
(24:41):
take space, especially when you're trying to fill those
really deep beds. Please don't do this like we
just talked about with the weed fabric, that plastic is going to
break down. It is going to leach.
We don't know what the consequences of that are at this
point and there's just not enough research.
So don't do this please, If you really need to fill space at the
(25:03):
bottom of a very large bed and you don't have, you know, logs
or or large limbs or anything, or something that's organic to
fill the space by a straw Bale. Take the straps off of it, set
it down into the bed, take the straps off of it and kind of
judge it apart and you know, letit fall apart a little bit in
the bottom of that bed and then start adding your other
(25:24):
materials. Yes, it's carbon.
It's going to break down eventually, but in a really deep
bed, it's not going to steal allof the nitrogen from the plants
because your plant roots are going to be in those top 6
inches for the most part, especially in the early part of
the season. And if you're doing this in the
fall to plant in the spring, that's less of a worry because
(25:45):
it's going to have the entire winter to start to break down.
So just don't use plastic, please.
If you want something permanently taking up that
space, then grab some large terracotta pots and turn those
upside down to take up the space, but just don't use
plastic, please. OK, now you want this first
chunky layer, right? All these chunky bits to take up
(26:06):
about all but the top 6 or 8 inches of the bed.
So let's think about that for a second.
We are recommending 18 inch deepbeds.
So you have about a foot's worthof space in those 18 inch beds.
Obviously more if you're doing avery deep 36 inch bed to fill in
with a bunch of chunky stuff, right?
That might seem a little high atfirst as it's piled up, but that
(26:29):
is OK. It is going to compress as you
add the other components on top,and then it's going to compress
even more as it begins to break down South.
This next layer is where I will add any aged or composted
manure. So the nitrogen from this layer
is going to be able to move in both directions.
(26:49):
So it's going to go down into that lower carbon layer beneath
it to start to break that stuff down, but it can also move up
into that next soil layer above.And this is what we want.
We want to go in both directions.
If you don't have any manure to add at this stage, that is OK.
We're going to move forward withthe soil components and this is
where a lot of gardeners end up getting tripped up, right?
(27:12):
What you put into this layer is what your plants, you know, in
that first season are mainly going to rely on for their
growing medium and for their nutrition.
So the thing that we want to steer clear of when we're adding
this soil component is using straight garden soil or black
(27:34):
soil or topsoil that you buy in the bags at the garden center or
have brought in by a truck or whatever, right?
If you get one of those bags andyou break it open, yes, it is
very dark, but it is very, very dense.
The structure of this soil is very dense and likely if you are
digging this up out of your yard, it is also likely going to
be very dense unless you were pulling it from an existing
(27:56):
garden bed, which would also be kind of a cool idea.
But you know, if you're purchasing these things, these
soils are intended to be used like as an additive to an in
ground bed to improve their structure.
So we only want to use this as just one component in the soil
layer of our raised beds. It should not be used by itself.
(28:16):
This also goes, by the way, if you're doing things in small
containers, like if you're growing things in a pot, like on
your back deck, you do not want to go out and just dig up your
soil and throw it into that pot and then try to grow something
in it. It will very quickly compact
because there's again, nothing holding that air space open.
And so you're going to have justa clump of soil in that pot,
(28:39):
which is going to continue to shrink down and shrink down.
And there won't be any space in there for those roots right now,
if you can find topsoil that is already being sold in
combination with compost, now we're talking.
OK, this is getting us much closer to creating this sort of
loose, well draining soil that is also full of nutrients.
(29:01):
This is exactly what we want. If you can find pulverized
topsoil, which basically just means that it has been ground
down to a texture that is nice and fine.
Not super chunky, that's even better.
But anything labeled topsoil should be fine.
Now you want to mix the soil. If you don't have, you know it
already pre mixed, you can't buyit pre mixed.
Then you want to get the topsoilor dig it up out of your yard
(29:22):
and then you want to mix it in equal parts with the compost.
OK, now we are getting close to that sort of texture and
nutrient content that we want. And like I said, if you have
decent topsoil from your own property that you can use, use
it. It is going to contain some of
those native microbes that are essential for getting the
nutrients to the plants. So if you have an area like
(29:45):
that, you need to level off, I mean, especially if you're
building a new raised bed area and you need to level that spot
out, then use that soil, right? Mix it into the beds.
Just make sure that you include that compost component with it.
That is a key. So carbon layer, manure layer,
topsoil and compost combo or youknow the just the topsoil and
(30:09):
then add your compost. And like we said, a mix of
compost is preferable, but use whatever is convenient and
within budget. Mix it into that topsoil layer
and the combination of those twoshould comprise the top 6 inches
of your bed. Now, Speaking of compost, if you
have compost that you have been making at home but it isn't
(30:33):
quite finished yet, go ahead anduse that, but use it as part of
that lower layer of bulk, right?It's not going to heat the bed
up so much while it's breaking down that it would be
detrimental to your plants and it's going to take up some of
that space. Just keep the unfinished stuff
in the lower portion of the bed,like where you would put the
(30:54):
manure. So if you have manure, then go
ahead and add your unfinished compost to that.
If you don't have menor, then let your unfinished compost take
that place. If you have finished compost
from your own pile, then you want to be using that in the top
six layers of the bed. OK, Hopefully it's making sense
to you the way that we're layering this.
(31:14):
Once all the components are in place, I highly recommend
putting the bed to bed for the winter with a layer of mulch.
I love straw mulch. Use whatever you have, but think
of it in terms of like tucking the soil away for the winter to
break down and prepare for spring.
The mulch protects the soil. It helps insulate those microbes
(31:36):
and retain the moisture that they need to be able to move
around and do their jobs, and italso protects that soil from
blowing off with any heavy winter winds.
Then in the spring, just pull back the mulch, mix the top few
inches up a little bit just to kind of check the texture and
you really should just be ready to start planting now.
(31:57):
If you don't love the texture inthe spring and you feel like it
needs more time to really be ready, but you're ready to plant
now, there is nothing wrong withadding a layer of regular
potting soil to the top couple of inches to help keep this, you
know, move the spring planting along a little bit.
(32:17):
This soil layer we're talking about should be the top 6 inches
of your container. We want a good texture and a
good nutrient content there. So the reason that I might use
potting soil as one of those components is because it has
that great texture. If you're using the right
potting soil, be particular here, OK?
But it also likely contains vermiculite.
(32:38):
And of course, we already talkedabout how that's going to aid in
the structure and the water retention.
And it also has some nutrients that are usually added to it and
that's going to be immediately available to those plants.
So even if you're waiting for that compost down there to
become a little bit more active,you may just be able to use the
potting soil on the top and there's going to be some of some
(32:59):
nutrients immediately available,right?
You may not need to do this at all.
You might uncover your bed in the spring and it's beautiful
and glorious and you can start planting right away and it's no
big deal. But if you uncover the bed in
the spring and it just doesn't seem ready, or maybe you waited
too long to put the beds together and they haven't had
enough time to sit like as long as they needed and you need to
start planting. Potting soil is a really good
(33:22):
way just to kind of jump start abed that you're going to be
using right away. So your raised bed layers,
chunky brown carbon layer, followed by manure if available,
and any unfinished compost if you have it, followed by a
combination of topsoil and finished compost and then top
(33:44):
that with mulch. That's it.
Refresh it at the end of the season with some fresh compost,
put it to bed for the winter with a new layer of mulch, and
you will have raised garden bedsfunctioning for you for years to
come. Look, if you found today's
episode helpful, if I answered any questions for you, and you
have a new gardener who is looking to a build a raised bed
(34:06):
or two for next year, send this episode to them please, or even
share it to your socials. I truly believe anybody can be a
successful gardener with just a little bit of knowledge, and
raised beds are a really productive way to do this.
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.
In the first week of this special series on raised bed
gardening, we talked about how to decide the proper dimensions
for creating a new raised bed inyour garden.
Last week we talked about the different materials that we can
use to build those beds and options for purchasing or
repurposing. This week we tackle one of the
biggest questions in raised bed gardening.
(00:20):
How do you fill it? It can be daunting staring at
this gaping box, trying to figure out how you're going to
fill 18 inches or even 36 inchesof depth without going broke.
So today under Score Something, we're digging into the dirt
literally, on how to fill your new raised bed.
We'll cover the different materials that you can use to
(00:42):
get your garden bed off to its best start for your plants sake,
but also for your wallet's sake.And we'll talk about the
materials that you don't want touse, even if it's just to fill
space in the bottom of a very deep bed.
And the alternatives? By the end, you will have a
pretty good idea of where to start and where you'll end up so
your raised bed materials can settle in over the winter and
(01:05):
become the beautiful loamy soil you'll want to plant into in the
spring. Let's dig in.
Hey, I'm Karen, and what startedas a small backyard garden 20
years ago turned into a lifelongpassion for growing food.
Now, as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help
you do the same on this podcast.I am your friend in the garden,
teaching evidence. Based techniques to help you.
(01:26):
Grow your favorites and build confidence in your own garden.
Space. So grab your garden.
Journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow
something. So before we dig in, I have a
little bit of a maintenance tip for you as we head into the
fall, specifically for your tomatoes and your Peppers and
(01:48):
eggplants and some of the other veggies that may take longer
than 30 days from the time they flower to the time you will get
the finished fruit. So if you have something that is
going to take longer than 30 days, then if when you are about
four to six weeks prior to your next or your first anticipated
(02:09):
frost, which is what we're at right now, at least in my area,
now would be the time that you want to start pruning and
topping those plants. If we think about this in terms
of the energy availability in the plant, if you have a flower
that is going to take say 45 days to produce a fruit and you
(02:32):
are only 30 days ahead of when your first frost is supposed to
hit, then obviously that fruit is not going to get to maturity
before the plant dies off. So we want to conserve that
energy. We don't want the plant putting
any energy into those new blooms.
And I know that this is painful because right now, if you have
had any break in your summer heat at all, you're likely
(02:56):
seeing a bunch of your plants suddenly putting on all of these
blooms. I know my tomatoes and my
Peppers specifically right now are doing this.
I have tons of brand new blooms all over the place, but our
first usual frost date is aroundOctober 20th or so.
That's only about four weeks away.
I know that none of those flowers are going to get to
(03:21):
maturity at this point. So my best bet in order to give
all of that energy, redirect allof that energy out of the plant
into those existing fruits that already are on the plant and are
working on getting to maturity, is by removing all those other
blooms. You can do this really easily by
(03:43):
just walking across the tops of your plant.
So that's usually where you see is like this fresh green growth
going on and all these new blooms, you can just kind of
start lopping off the tops of them and that is going to
redirect that energy down into the existing fruits.
You might have to do this several times because you know
what happens when you cut off the top of one of some of these
(04:05):
plants where it's going to try to send out these side shoots
around where that topping happened, right?
And then it's going to try to flower.
So this might be something that you have to do a couple of
times. But I have seen really good
results with doing this, like I said, in like tomatoes and
Peppers and even eggplant, just to sort of let the plant utilize
(04:26):
its energy in a way that is mostbeneficial to me as the
gardener. We want it pushing that energy
into creating more mature fruitsthat we'll be able to go ahead
and harvest. You can do the same thing too.
If you still have like winter squashes or pumpkins that are
flowering but very obviously arenot going to get to maturity at
this point, you can either just remove those blooms or you can
(04:51):
chop the vines if necessary. You can cut them off where that
brand new growth is going and just allow them to continue to
put their energy into the fruitsthat are closer to the root zone
that, you know, might have a chance to actually, you know,
finish before the end of the season.
My only caveat to that is with those sort of more succulent
(05:13):
types of of vines, like winter squashes where they're really
thick, you might be opening up that plant to the possibility of
some diseases if you have pathogens that can enter into
the vine from the areas where those get cut off.
So if you're only growing a few of these squash plants, my
(05:34):
advice would be just to take theblooms off and allow them to
finish growing out the rest of the squash and pumpkins.
But if you have a ton of them and it's just faster for you to
go through and just sort of chopthem all off, then, you know, be
my guest. But either way, we want to be
pruning and topping anything that is going to take longer
than 30 to 45 days to get from flowering to fruiting.
(05:55):
And we want to do this about four to six weeks prior to our
first anticipated fall frost. OK, so I know what I normally
use to fill up my new raised beds, and I know what I advise
my clients to do and what I helpthem do in their own gardens.
But to prepare for this episode,I really did kind of want to do
(06:15):
a little bit of a deep dive intothe different gardening forums
and places where, you know, these questions are being asked,
just to see what questions were being asked about this topic so
we could address them. Questions about soil recipes and
cheap ways to fill beds absolutely dominated the
discussions around this. OK, so gardeners were often
(06:37):
asking about what the ratio of topsoil to compost is and
whether or not they should add sand to the mix and how to layer
in the materials. So let's take a look at 3:00
university Extension Service recommendations and three
gardening expert recommendationsand we'll kind of compare them
(06:57):
and we'll see. We'll see what each one of them
says and we'll figure out where to go from there, Right.
So UMN Extension recommends filling beds with roughly 2/3 to
1/2 topsoil and 1/2 to 1/3 plantbased compost.
They also said to add sand if your native soil is very clay.
They warn that too much compost can dry out very quickly and
(07:20):
that potting soil alone also dries out very quickly.
UMD extension suggests mixing compost and purchase topsoil in
a one to two or one to one ratio.
So pretty close to what UMN recommended.
They basically said the only difference was if you're talking
about filling beds that are on hard surfaces to do equal parts
(07:41):
compost and a soil less mix and then add about 20% topsoil.
And then UVM extension also suggests mixing topsoil with
compost. Ratio is about 1:00 to 1:00 to
maybe only about 20% compost andthen lightening up heavy soil
with peat Moss or cocoa corps. So those are our three
(08:03):
university extension, you know, recommendations fairly similar
to each other. If you look at some of the like
online experts, we have Nicole Burke from garden area and she
encourages filling the beds completely with soil and
compost. So using a weed barrier of some
sort at the bottom and then adding in, you know, basically a
(08:27):
one to one ratio of of topsoil and compost Also recommends
adding fall leaves in six inch layers and then topping it with
eight to 10 inches of the soil. Liz Jaros from Epic Gardening
also recommends layering cardboard at the bottom, filling
the taller beds halfway with logs and branches and leaves.
(08:48):
So this kind of forms a passive compost and then just making
sure that the top 12 inches contains a high quality soil.
She was emphasizing that the compost layer basically
comprises about 25% of that top layer.
And then we have Mel's mix. If you don't know Mel, this is
(09:09):
Mel Bartholomew. He was the originator of the
square foot gardening method. And the mix that he has always
recommended or had always recommended was 1/3 coarse
vermiculite, 1/3 peat Moss, and 1/3 blended organic compost.
And what they mean by blended compost is basically using about
(09:29):
5 different compost sources and blending them all together.
So getting, you know, mushroom compost and worm castings and
some forest products or whatever, and then blending
those all together and that being your compost source.
OK, so that's six different versions of what we should be
using and how we should be layering in our raised beds.
(09:51):
Some of them are similar to eachother, some of them are very
different. Is it any wonder that gardeners
are confused about what to use and which of these is going to
produce the best results, Right?How do we know?
So let's demystify this just a little bit by analyzing the
common components in each of these suggestions, and then
(10:14):
we'll modify those suggestions to account for like our budget
and maybe available materials. So excluding Mel's mix, which is
essentially A soyless mix, all of the other recommendations
include topsoil. So that's obviously component #1
the reason we want topsoil is not we don't just want a full
container of nothing but compost.
(10:37):
This is partly for texture and it's partly for the microbes.
We've talked before about the need for microbes in our soil to
help release the nutrients from our compost and move those
nutrients into the plant roots. If you pile nothing but compost
into your raised bed, you will eventually get soil, but it will
(10:59):
take about a year for that compost to really break down to
be a texture that plants like and to have nutrients readily
available for what we're planting.
And honestly, we don't want to wait that long, right?
So the topsoil we add is going to inoculate the other
components with the microorganisms that we need, and
(11:22):
it's going to contribute to thattexture that we want.
Your first choice for topsoil would be to take something from
your own yard. Yes.
Even if the texture isn't great,like the heavy clay that I have
here, that topsoil is going to have your native good little
buggies in it. That can go to work right away.
(11:44):
The compost and the other amendments will fix the texture
problem for all but the worst ofthe soils.
OK, your second option is to purchase local topsoil, which
you can often do from the same local places where you would buy
your compost. And then of course, the third
option is just to buy bags of topsoil from the garden center.
(12:06):
It does seem kind of weird to bebuying dirt, but a gardener's
got to do what a gardener's got to do, right?
So the second common component in all of these recommendations
is compost. Now, I think the Mel's mix is
actually on track with this whensuggesting a blend of different
(12:28):
types of compost. But use what you have available
to you, right? This is where we start to look
at availability of materials andalso affordability of the
materials, right? If the only thing that you can
get your hands on is a bagged compost from the garden center,
then use that. If, however, you have access to
(12:51):
that and some mushroom compost, then do a blend of both.
If you also happen to have a neighbor who has rabbits who is
willing to share the pellets, oryou live near a horse farm that
has like piles of aged horse manure, then add that.
Now notice that I said aged manure.
Well, composted manure. That's even better.
(13:14):
I would prefer that. But herbivore manure that has
been aged for about four months,that's fine too.
If you're going to be using thisbed very soon after building it
and not letting it sit for a minimum of four months, which
intent? This is why we're doing this in
the fall and not in the spring, right?
But if you're going to use it right away, then I really would
(13:36):
recommend sticking with things like rabbit, goat, alpaca or
sheep manure. It's got a little bit less
nitrogen content than like chicken manure or horse manure
or cattle manure, unless it's really well compested.
But if you're building it now and you're not planting until
the spring, then any of those aged manures will be fine.
(13:58):
I do not recommend fresh manure of any kind other than that
rabbit manure that we mentioned.And I will leave a link in the
show notes to the Focal Point Friday episode I did about that
a couple of years ago. That has all of the pertinent
information as to why. But just understand that fresh
manure is not a good thing to beadding to your raised beds
(14:18):
unless it has been aged other than the rabbit manure.
OK, so Next up we're going to talk about the places where
these recommendations kind of stray from each other and then
what I do in my own garden when filling new raised beds.
I am really turning into a raised garden bed girly for
sure. You know, I'm a little bit of a
(14:40):
data geek and I have seen such amajor difference in my yield per
square foot of garden bed between my raised beds and my in
ground beds that I am just continuing to convert more and
more space around my farm to planters.
It's why I decided to do this whole series and it's why I
reached out to my favorite raised bed company, Planter Box
(15:02):
Direct. Their beds are made in the US by
a small local New York business using 100% US steel and up to
30% of that steel is recycled, while all the steel used in the
bed construction is 100% recyclable.
So in 20 or 30 years, if the bedstarts to break down, then yeah,
(15:24):
it can be recycled into something else, maybe even a new
raised garden bed. Join the Raised bed garden
revolution by choosing from the wide range of options at Planter
Box direct.com and use this month's special code Just Grow
20. From now until October 15th you
will save 20% off of your order and get free shipping.
(15:47):
Planterbox direct.com with code Just grow 20.
The link is in the show notes. OK, so a few of these sources
that I pulled recommended addingpeat Moss to the bed mix.
Now, I love peat Moss for its water absorption capacity and
for like adding texture to the bed, but there are a lot of
(16:11):
concerns around the sustainability of the product as
a whole. So much so that it's now being
banned from being sold in Europeand I have generally stayed away
from it unless it's a component in my potting soil and it's only
being harvested from managed bogs in Canada.
That's highly specific, right? So what are our alternatives?
(16:32):
Coconut choir, worm castings, cocoa holes, rice holes, pine
bark, these all have different ways that they help with the
structure and water retention ofthe soils in the same way that
like peat Moss whip. So if the topsoil that you're
using seems very heavy and the texture needs to be broken up a
(16:56):
bit more so than what the mixture of compost is going to
do for it, and you don't have a good mix of composted materials
to use, try adding one or more of those suggestions that I just
made. If your topsoil contains a lot
of clay, then you might consideradding some sand to the mix as
(17:17):
well. Now before warned, sand is going
to really change how the soil drains and too much can actually
make it drain too much. So clay soil doesn't drain well.
So adding soil will help with this.
Just be sure that you have a bunch of other organic material
mixed in there, like the different components and stuff
(17:39):
that we talked about, along withthings like warm castings or
rice holes or whatever. Otherwise, clay and sand alone
will pretty much make concrete when you add water.
So let's avoid this, OK? And if you don't have very heavy
clay soils as your topsoil component, then there really is
no need to add sand right away. In fact, too much sand means you
(18:03):
likely won't hold on to nearly as much water or as many
nutrients as many a gardener in South Florida can likely attest
to. Now you may have noticed that
only two of our sources recommended any other natural
materials like leaves or twigs for our raised beds.
And I would venture to say that the reason for this is because
(18:26):
the university sources like to give recommendations that are
going to give you a fairly predictable outcome.
So recommending a specific ratioof compost to topsoil as your
main components makes sense. But you'll notice the gardening
experts from the other two non university sites are the ones
(18:48):
recommending adding leaves and other materials, likely because
they know a lot of us gardeners are looking to fill raised beds
as frugally as possible. And adding twigs and branches
and leaves is a good way to fillthe bed with some organic
materials that may be readily available and free.
(19:09):
And they're also going to eventually break down into those
nutritive components while they're filling up some space at
the same time at the bottom right.
I like this approach and it's something that we do here when
we're filling in our new raised beds, which I will talk about
here in a minute. Now, the only one of these
sources to recommend adding vermiculite is Mel's mix.
(19:31):
I think this is because this is specifically a mix that does not
include topsoil. It's a soil less blend and there
needs to be something in the blend that helps with moisture
retention and aeration and nutrient availability.
So vermiculite doesn't contain nutrients itself, but the
(19:53):
structure of the vermiculite traps and holds water and
nutrients and then it releases it back to the plant roots as
it's needed. Plus.
It's very lightweight and so that helps to just hold air
space within the soil for the plant roots to infiltrate into.
So I'm not opposed at all to using vermiculite if you need to
(20:15):
lighten up the soil in your raised beds.
As a matter of fact, I've actually advised garden clients
with in ground beds in specific situations to use vermiculite
for all the reasons I mentioned and more.
But if your goal is to do this as inexpensively as possible,
you may not want to add another purchase to the list.
(20:38):
So this is one of those components that I would say use
if needed or if you're specifically following the Mel's
mix formula. It's not my favorite because I
mean the Mel's mix itself, the vermiculite is fine, but the
Mel's mix itself is not my favorite because it is lacking
that topsoil components and I find that to be very important.
(21:01):
But to each his own. So what do I do with my raised
beds and how do I help my clients build theirs?
That's up next. So when building a new raised
bed, I will usually start with areally good layer of cardboard
at the bottom of the bed becauseit will help to choke out any of
(21:22):
the weeds that might be trying to come up, any of the native
grasses that might be there. And at the same time, it breaks
down quickly enough for those good guys to get through right.
You could also do this with, like we talked about last week,
burlap sacks or whatever. Even if your soil is absolute
junk underneath and you would never be able to grow anything
(21:43):
in it, it is still important forthe microbes and the worms.
Yes, there are likely worms in there, even if it's junky, to be
able to get up and get through into the soil that is eventually
going to be in your raised bed. So a good layer of cardboard is
great. I used to recommend putting like
a weed barrier down the bottom. I don't recommend that anymore
(22:07):
because I have seen how a lot ofthese weed barriers will break
down over time. Most of them are made out of
plastics of some sort. They tend to shred.
That's also leaving micro plastics in there.
So it is something that I no longer recommend.
A girl has a prerogative to change her mind, right?
OK, with more information we canrecommend different things.
(22:27):
So it doesn't really matter whatever size bed you have, I
always start with that cardboardand then I layer a base layer of
whatever carbon sources are available.
So for you, this might be thingslike twigs and sticks that are
laying around in the yard, largerotting logs if you're filling a
very deep bed. So if you want one of those tall
(22:49):
36 inch beds so you don't have to bend over, that's a lot of
soil to have to fill. So you know, old logs are
really, really good for this. Cardboard, shredded newspaper
and any other like non slick paper products, shredded leaves,
straw I've used chopped up like dried corn husks and the stalks
that go with it. Even the dried corn cops you can
(23:12):
use, like if you're building these beds right now, you can
use the dead dried plants from this year's garden to fill the
space in the bottom, just so long as they don't have any
like, plant diseases or any kindof bug infestations, right?
These things can all form the base layer of our garden beds.
They're dry, they're fibrous, and most importantly, they take
(23:33):
up space. OK.
And as they break down in the bottom of that bed, they are
going to provide the structure for the humans that will
eventually develop. This is why I don't understand
why none of the university extensions recommend this.
And I don't know if it's because, like, the availability
of these items is iffy. Not everybody has access to it.
(23:56):
That might be, I don't know. But, you know, this is very
similar to the role that these fibrous materials play in a
compost pile. So just about any brown material
that you would put into a compost pile can go in the
bottom of your raised bed as youfill it.
So these materials are not only going to save us some money in
terms of the cost of filling thebed, but they're also providing
(24:20):
air space for the other components to break down.
And that's going to give room for the little microbes to move
around and do their work. Plus they're also going to help
with some of that drainage, too.What I don't want you to do is
to follow the suggestions of people who say just to take
plastic nursery pots and put them upside down in the bed to
(24:41):
take space, especially when you're trying to fill those
really deep beds. Please don't do this like we
just talked about with the weed fabric, that plastic is going to
break down. It is going to leach.
We don't know what the consequences of that are at this
point and there's just not enough research.
So don't do this please, If you really need to fill space at the
(25:03):
bottom of a very large bed and you don't have, you know, logs
or or large limbs or anything, or something that's organic to
fill the space by a straw Bale. Take the straps off of it, set
it down into the bed, take the straps off of it and kind of
judge it apart and you know, letit fall apart a little bit in
the bottom of that bed and then start adding your other
(25:24):
materials. Yes, it's carbon.
It's going to break down eventually, but in a really deep
bed, it's not going to steal allof the nitrogen from the plants
because your plant roots are going to be in those top 6
inches for the most part, especially in the early part of
the season. And if you're doing this in the
fall to plant in the spring, that's less of a worry because
(25:45):
it's going to have the entire winter to start to break down.
So just don't use plastic, please.
If you want something permanently taking up that
space, then grab some large terracotta pots and turn those
upside down to take up the space, but just don't use
plastic, please. OK, now you want this first
chunky layer, right? All these chunky bits to take up
(26:06):
about all but the top 6 or 8 inches of the bed.
So let's think about that for a second.
We are recommending 18 inch deepbeds.
So you have about a foot's worthof space in those 18 inch beds.
Obviously more if you're doing avery deep 36 inch bed to fill in
with a bunch of chunky stuff, right?
That might seem a little high atfirst as it's piled up, but that
(26:29):
is OK. It is going to compress as you
add the other components on top,and then it's going to compress
even more as it begins to break down South.
This next layer is where I will add any aged or composted
manure. So the nitrogen from this layer
is going to be able to move in both directions.
(26:49):
So it's going to go down into that lower carbon layer beneath
it to start to break that stuff down, but it can also move up
into that next soil layer above.And this is what we want.
We want to go in both directions.
If you don't have any manure to add at this stage, that is OK.
We're going to move forward withthe soil components and this is
where a lot of gardeners end up getting tripped up, right?
(27:12):
What you put into this layer is what your plants, you know, in
that first season are mainly going to rely on for their
growing medium and for their nutrition.
So the thing that we want to steer clear of when we're adding
this soil component is using straight garden soil or black
(27:34):
soil or topsoil that you buy in the bags at the garden center or
have brought in by a truck or whatever, right?
If you get one of those bags andyou break it open, yes, it is
very dark, but it is very, very dense.
The structure of this soil is very dense and likely if you are
digging this up out of your yard, it is also likely going to
be very dense unless you were pulling it from an existing
(27:56):
garden bed, which would also be kind of a cool idea.
But you know, if you're purchasing these things, these
soils are intended to be used like as an additive to an in
ground bed to improve their structure.
So we only want to use this as just one component in the soil
layer of our raised beds. It should not be used by itself.
(28:16):
This also goes, by the way, if you're doing things in small
containers, like if you're growing things in a pot, like on
your back deck, you do not want to go out and just dig up your
soil and throw it into that pot and then try to grow something
in it. It will very quickly compact
because there's again, nothing holding that air space open.
And so you're going to have justa clump of soil in that pot,
(28:39):
which is going to continue to shrink down and shrink down.
And there won't be any space in there for those roots right now,
if you can find topsoil that is already being sold in
combination with compost, now we're talking.
OK, this is getting us much closer to creating this sort of
loose, well draining soil that is also full of nutrients.
(29:01):
This is exactly what we want. If you can find pulverized
topsoil, which basically just means that it has been ground
down to a texture that is nice and fine.
Not super chunky, that's even better.
But anything labeled topsoil should be fine.
Now you want to mix the soil. If you don't have, you know it
already pre mixed, you can't buyit pre mixed.
Then you want to get the topsoilor dig it up out of your yard
(29:22):
and then you want to mix it in equal parts with the compost.
OK, now we are getting close to that sort of texture and
nutrient content that we want. And like I said, if you have
decent topsoil from your own property that you can use, use
it. It is going to contain some of
those native microbes that are essential for getting the
nutrients to the plants. So if you have an area like
(29:45):
that, you need to level off, I mean, especially if you're
building a new raised bed area and you need to level that spot
out, then use that soil, right? Mix it into the beds.
Just make sure that you include that compost component with it.
That is a key. So carbon layer, manure layer,
topsoil and compost combo or youknow the just the topsoil and
(30:09):
then add your compost. And like we said, a mix of
compost is preferable, but use whatever is convenient and
within budget. Mix it into that topsoil layer
and the combination of those twoshould comprise the top 6 inches
of your bed. Now, Speaking of compost, if you
have compost that you have been making at home but it isn't
(30:33):
quite finished yet, go ahead anduse that, but use it as part of
that lower layer of bulk, right?It's not going to heat the bed
up so much while it's breaking down that it would be
detrimental to your plants and it's going to take up some of
that space. Just keep the unfinished stuff
in the lower portion of the bed,like where you would put the
(30:54):
manure. So if you have manure, then go
ahead and add your unfinished compost to that.
If you don't have menor, then let your unfinished compost take
that place. If you have finished compost
from your own pile, then you want to be using that in the top
six layers of the bed. OK, Hopefully it's making sense
to you the way that we're layering this.
(31:14):
Once all the components are in place, I highly recommend
putting the bed to bed for the winter with a layer of mulch.
I love straw mulch. Use whatever you have, but think
of it in terms of like tucking the soil away for the winter to
break down and prepare for spring.
The mulch protects the soil. It helps insulate those microbes
(31:36):
and retain the moisture that they need to be able to move
around and do their jobs, and italso protects that soil from
blowing off with any heavy winter winds.
Then in the spring, just pull back the mulch, mix the top few
inches up a little bit just to kind of check the texture and
you really should just be ready to start planting now.
(31:57):
If you don't love the texture inthe spring and you feel like it
needs more time to really be ready, but you're ready to plant
now, there is nothing wrong withadding a layer of regular
potting soil to the top couple of inches to help keep this, you
know, move the spring planting along a little bit.
(32:17):
This soil layer we're talking about should be the top 6 inches
of your container. We want a good texture and a
good nutrient content there. So the reason that I might use
potting soil as one of those components is because it has
that great texture. If you're using the right
potting soil, be particular here, OK?
But it also likely contains vermiculite.
(32:38):
And of course, we already talkedabout how that's going to aid in
the structure and the water retention.
And it also has some nutrients that are usually added to it and
that's going to be immediately available to those plants.
So even if you're waiting for that compost down there to
become a little bit more active,you may just be able to use the
potting soil on the top and there's going to be some of some
(32:59):
nutrients immediately available,right?
You may not need to do this at all.
You might uncover your bed in the spring and it's beautiful
and glorious and you can start planting right away and it's no
big deal. But if you uncover the bed in
the spring and it just doesn't seem ready, or maybe you waited
too long to put the beds together and they haven't had
enough time to sit like as long as they needed and you need to
start planting. Potting soil is a really good
(33:22):
way just to kind of jump start abed that you're going to be
using right away. So your raised bed layers,
chunky brown carbon layer, followed by manure if available,
and any unfinished compost if you have it, followed by a
combination of topsoil and finished compost and then top
(33:44):
that with mulch. That's it.
Refresh it at the end of the season with some fresh compost,
put it to bed for the winter with a new layer of mulch, and
you will have raised garden bedsfunctioning for you for years to
come. Look, if you found today's
episode helpful, if I answered any questions for you, and you
have a new gardener who is looking to a build a raised bed
(34:06):
or two for next year, send this episode to them please, or even
share it to your socials. I truly believe anybody can be a
successful gardener with just a little bit of knowledge, and
raised beds are a really productive way to do this.
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.
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