Do you have acidic soil to begin with? I didn't do the math, but if it doesn't look odd, leave it. You will be adding compost whenever you plant anyway.

If you're worried, you could run a ph test, but I wouldn't bother. Good luck and enjoy your garden!

If you are worried, throw in some agricultural lime. Look at the directions on the package and calculate how much you need to mix in. If you already put the Mel's mix in the beds, you could top dress the first 3-4 inches with it. Also helps prevent blossom end rot.

It depends. What is your pH now? If it is, oh, 5.0 maybe. Otherwise, eh. You'll need supplemental fert in that for your fall crops, as there likely isn't enuf nutrients to get going your first year.

Dan

I made the same mistake 2 weeks ago with the peat, the only difference is that beds 1/2 the 8x4 is 12 inches deep and I added sand to the bottom 4 inches, and a couple of 50lb bags to the main soil as I could only afford 2cubic foot of the vermiculite! as the store brought compost is like brick! so hopefully it will aid the drainage?
te results in the first 2 weeks look promising, every thing healthy looking and already have a good inch of healthy looking growth on my cucs, and the tomato now have flowers, even my egg plants are happy!
My poor mans MIX! LOL!
2cf vermiculite
8 bags 50Ib sand, 6 in bottom on 12 inch bed, and 2 in the main mix
1 compressed 3.8 cubic foot peat most
rest was store brought composts,(mine is no where near ready)
the thing that has annoyed me most, is I have had fungal spores things appearing, which must have come from one of the ingredients! but no signs of damage yet, but I have fungicide on standby if necessary, but I am hoping this is not needed!
good luck and enjoy, I am quite excited by the idea of fall planting.

And don't let it dry out. That much peat will might make the soil water repellant. Once it dries out, it's extremely hard to get wet again. That doesn't mean to keep it sopping wet, just moist. A layer of mulch will help.

(Personal experience talking here. Many years ago I prepared a shrub border with more peat than necessary and ended up losing several nice Encore azaleas because it was so hard to get damp after it dried out in our summer drought.)

Sandy

Thanks for the advice. I checked again and the peat moss is actually 3.0 cu ft. I planted okra and southern pea seeds about two weeks agao and they are growing very well. I will see how they do. It is raining alot in FL now so no problem with the peat moss drying out. But before planting in August I may remove some of the mix and add more compost.

matrixman said

"If you are worried, throw in some agricultural lime. Look at the directions on the package and calculate how much you need to mix in. If you already put the Mel's mix in the beds, you could top dress the first 3-4 inches with it. Also helps prevent blossom end rot."

I thought peat moss was acidic? I know agricultural lime is acidic because I was told to mix that in with soil and peat moss because they are acidic fruit and it needs the added acid to help with that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jen's Victory Garden Blog

Ag lime increases the pH of acidic soil (the higher the pH the less acidic the soil) The extra peat may make the mix overly acidic. The lime sweetens the soil. That is what you are after. Dolomitic lime works too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ag lime wiki entry