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romerjt_gw

improving soil - transplant needed?

17 years ago

I have 3 raised beds W30" x H16" x L28'(=218 sq ft) that I've used for over 10 years. Although I bought one of those battery operated soil testers and it doesn't show any major deficiencies and I've added peat moss, manure and chemical fertilizers . . . I haven't taken as good care of the soil as I should have and I'm thinking the soil may be exhausted - missing the minor but essential elements and it's time for something major.

TRANSPLANT - One option is to buy good soil and add it to the beds. Even considering bags of Miracle Grow soil and the bags are advantage - I just can't shovel a lot of dirt so buying good soil from a landscaping place would have to involve paying for it to be added to my beds perhaps canceling out cost considerations.

INSTANT FITNESS - The another option is adding stuff, more than typical garden variety fertilizer, to the soil for a âÂÂquickâ or at least somewhat quick restoration. Other than the obvious (compost)what might that be?

I would appreciate any insights, information or suggestions about this problem. Thanks

Comments (3)

  • 17 years ago

    3 suggestions: 1) compost 2) compost and 3) compost.

    10yr old soil is not old, when you consider that soil takes millennia to create and can last for millennia if not abused. Simply growing plants won't destroy soil.

    Adding synthetic fertilizers and peat moss are not always good things to do, but probably have not destroyed your soil.

    Compost adds the things that get used up: organic matter primarily, as well as the minor but essential elements that were incorporated into that organic matter by the living things that created it. That's things like phosphates, sulfur, calcium, copper, etc.

    If you think about soil in the wild, it grows plants without human intervention. No fertilizers, no soil amendments, no replacing the soil (well ok that last one does happen in things like landslides and floods but not often). How does wild soil keep producing towering forests and dense prairies? through the yearly addition of organic matter. All those leaves and twigs and roots and birds and mice and bugs that die off every year, go right back into the soil. No one rakes it off, no one harvests and carries it off. It stays where it falls, and animals and fungi turn it into compost, right on the spot.

    So, unless your soil tests show some particular element is in short supply, compost is your best bet.

    I am assuming that the original soil did have some mineral soil in it (what people call topsoil), and it wasn't all potting soil or peat moss or something like that.

    My soil science textbook says that minor element deficiencies rarely occur outside of gardens that rely solely on synthetic fertilizers. Adding peat moss doesn't add those minor elements, but compost and manure do. Steer manure can add a lot of salts to the soil, which can adversely affect the soil's ability to grow plants, but if you're in a high-rainfall area with good drainage that might not be a problem. My own preference is for composted chicken manure or mushroom compost. If you have access to rabbit or llama or alpaca manure, those are supposed to be excellent for the garden.

  • 17 years ago

    It is a well perpetuated myth that you can buy good soil. Good soil is composed of the mineral portion (the sand, silt, and clay particles) and organic matter. If you could find really good soil, highly unlikely since there is so little, it would be a mixture of 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay, and 5 percent organic matter, loam. What you need to do to your soil, no matter what you have, is add organic matter and if you add a sufficient quantity your soil will be a good soil that will be evenly moist and well drained and will grow strong and healthy plants without spending much of your money on "fertilizers". There are those that say, "But, you needto add organic matter all the time.", well yeah, because that OM is the only disposable part of your soils equation. As the soil bacteria (the Soil Food Web) work digesting the OM part of the soil releasing the nutrients held in that OM tehy also feed that to the plants, in the amount the plants need, when the plants need them.

  • 17 years ago

    I might add that the lowely earthworm will arrive as you add these organic materials. (not a bad investment)Free if you flood your yard for a while then pitch em into your garden.
    Think green and browns.
    brown being leaves, pine needles, crunched up bark, paper sacks, straw, hay......................

    Greens are things like lawn clippings, vegetables, green leaves,alfalfa, no weeds.

    If you can locate a center that receives brush and has one of those huge grinders, they might just sell it back to the public at a price the garden centers are paying for it.
    They do here and I have a yard dumped in my pickup for 30 bucks.
    Delivery will be an added cost later ..for me... but consider the investment of instant soil remediation that every thing you plant in it, excels. truth

    Even if you bought the bags at the store your benefit would far outweigh the effort. About a dozen bags as big as you can find would improve your soil no matter what the condition.

    Tom