Nick
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What to use?I have some empty raised beds. Can't source topsoil without paying a million pounds. Someone has mushroom compost available, would that do to fill them up? Only about 6 inches deep, then decent normal soil beneath them.
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gz
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Yes, but check Ph if I remember rightly 
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tahir
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Fine, but you want to be planting into the soil, not the compost
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Chickem
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 Hi Nick
Have a look at your local free-cycle website
Our local site here in sunny Devon often has Topsoil
worth a try!! 
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tahir
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Re: What to use? | Nick wrote: | | I have some empty raised beds. Can't source topsoil without paying a million pounds. Someone has mushroom compost available, would that do to fill them up? Only about 6 inches deep, then decent normal soil beneath them. |
What are you doing growing veg????? 
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Cathryn
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New job, new gardener obviously.
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baldybloke
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Could get some compost from your local recycling centre which you could dig into your soil. When I made my raised beds I was lucky to have an old compost heap in the corner of the garden. Sifted through that, removing any weeds, and had just enough to fill 2 x 12ft x 2ft 6in beds.
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Nick
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They have something called Soil Improver. That likely to be compost, effectively?
And, no, the pigs dug the area for me, I built the beds last year, and as I get as old as some of you, I feel I should at least try to garden. The kids want a bed each, I need some asparagus, the wife will run one or two, and there's only 6. So, I might not have to do much.#
And, yes, I have a gardener...
(have checked. It is compostish, but £2 a sack....)
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Treacodactyl
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Can't you get some soil from elsewhere in the garden or could you dig the soil from between the beds onto the beds and then put something down as a path?
If you put some shroom compost down now, and lightly forked it in, the worms will start to mix it in for a few weeks before you plant so that should help. It'll probably contain chalk so it'll be alkaline but that shouldn't matter too much for veg.
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Jonnyboy
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| Nick wrote: | They have something called Soil Improver. That likely to be compost, effectively?
And, no, the pigs dug the area for me, I built the beds last year, and as I get as old as some of you, I feel I should at least try to garden. The kids want a bed each, I need some asparagus, the wife will run one or two, and there's only 6. So, I might not have to do much.#
And, yes, I have a gardener...
(have checked. It is compostish, but £2 a sack....) |
Asparagus, cool. I'll visit in 2011 when you get some.......
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James
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| Nick wrote: | They have something called Soil Improver. That likely to be compost, effectively?
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Soil improver isn’t compost. It’s generally a course material made from green household waste. The waste (everything from vegetable peelings to old hedges) is shredded and quick baked. Apparently the baking kills pathogens. Due to the variable nature of the input material, the nutritional levels cannot be guaranteed. So you could get a bag of mostly hedge clippings.
The levels of heavy metals might be higher in soil improver than with standard compost. A good reason to use it in a blend of other things- keep the total level of soil improver low.
I’ve used it and its very good stuff if its mixed with normal soil. Due to it’s course texture, its particularly good at breaking clay. Over a given area, I’ve spread out to a thickness of about 3 inches then mixed it in well to a spit or more depth. I’ve never used it on vegetable beds (…and I wonder if I ever would….)
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Nick
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| James wrote: | | Nick wrote: | They have something called Soil Improver. That likely to be compost, effectively?
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Soil improver isn’t compost. It’s generally a course material made from green household waste. The waste (everything from vegetable peelings to old hedges) is shredded and quick baked. Apparently the baking kills pathogens. Due to the variable nature of the input material, the nutritional levels cannot be guaranteed. So you could get a bag of mostly hedge clippings.
The levels of heavy metals might be higher in soil improver than with standard compost. A good reason to use it in a blend of other things- keep the total level of soil improver low.
I’ve used it and its very good stuff if its mixed with normal soil. Due to it’s course texture, its particularly good at breaking clay. Over a given area, I’ve spread out to a thickness of about 3 inches then mixed it in well to a spit or more depth. I’ve never used it on vegetable beds (…and I wonder if I ever would….) |
Thanks, I shall avoid it then. I think I'll head for the mushroom compost, with some mixed in top soil from elsewhere about the plot, and let nature, rather than my back, do the mixing.
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yummersetter
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the first year I did a raised bed, about 20 years ago, I topped up the heavy clay soil with loads of mushroom compost (dug in), planted potatoes and covered it with black plastic with holes for the potato leaves to grow up through. A few weeks later it looked like a top-loading washing machine with too much detergent - all round the edges it was frothing with mushrooms, the best I've ever tasted - the potatoes were delicious too, if a bit scabby.
Makes me think I'd like do it again - veg beds haven't been limed for a while so it could only do them good
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Rob R
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I have some topsoil, much cheaper than a million 
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Behemoth
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Oo oo I might need a couple of tons in a few months.
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fallscrape
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Make sure your local stables haven't been buying feed with that horrible herbicide stuff in it, then pile in the manure.
I used a bed heaped high with fresh manure, can't grow lots of varieties for the first year but usually it's free.
I grew potatoes, sweetcorn, squash and beans with no problems.
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vegplot
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Re: What to use? | tahir wrote: | | Nick wrote: | | I have some empty raised beds. Can't source topsoil without paying a million pounds. Someone has mushroom compost available, would that do to fill them up? Only about 6 inches deep, then decent normal soil beneath them. |
What are you doing growing veg????? |
This might be a silly question but why the shock?
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sean
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Because Nick's quite famous for regarding gardening as something that other people do.
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Rob R
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Must be going up in the world, getting a gardener...
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sean
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I think that he's just demoted his butler for failing to iron the newspaper properly in the mornings.
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Nick
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| Rob R wrote: | | I have some topsoil, much cheaper than a million |
As ever, geography is against us.
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Nick
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| sean wrote: | | I think that he's just demoted his butler for failing to iron the newspaper properly in the mornings. |
No, long story short is the place is a bit of a mess, and the old boy form the farm next door has lost his income, so we've taken him on for 2 days a week til it gets sorted. It's now done, so he's gonna do a day a fortnight for us, and I'm going to have a go at the veg patch. Historically, this has not been the case.
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