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Square Foot Gardening

Redoing a raised bed

12 years ago

Okay, started out my first year of gardening with what was supposed to be a 4x4x10 raised bed, husband made 4x4x20. Plants did not do well at all. Made husband chop that one down to 4x4x10 (like I had wanted originally lol) and am redoing that box.

Now, here is my dilemma. The box had cardboard for the first layer with the weed fabric over it. Then purchased plain top soil, HD soil conditioner and perlite mixed together. Today I was trying to decide what to do with the original soil, as I was working it and realized the bottom several inches is just mud. The top several inches, dried out, cracked dirt. Obviously a drainage problem but I thought having a raised bed would solved that. It is the cardboard, the soil iself? I don't want to make the same mistake again. Thanks so much for the help! (And I'm so sorry this is so long)

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Comments (2)

snibb
12 years ago
I would get rid of your old soil, use it somewhere else, and start anew with the right medium in your garden. Compost, coarse vermiculite, and peat moss-equal portions of each. You cannot go wrong with it. You do have to make sure it doesnt dry out if you live in a dry climate. Then, use either the landscape fabric or the cardboard, but no need to use both. The cardboard will easily decompose within a years time and if you have covered the entire garden box area with it, you shouldnt have to worry about any weeds. I think what you essentially did was use twice as much as you needed for the bottom of your boxes.
georgiahomegarden
12 years ago
Here is how I built my beds and I was able to reuse old soil.

http://georgiahomegarden.blogspot.com/2011/04/2011-garden-square-foot-gardening.html

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden blog
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