How to amend + add soil without spending a dime?

[Holachicka]

So... This year because we moved, then had a new baby, and other projects over the last year and a half... my vegetable garden is going to be in wine barrel halves. NEXT year, We should be able to trench water lines to the REAL garden plot, 60'x40'... but until then I will make due. my problem is that the wine barrels are only half full of soil. So I'm looking for some alternatives because we can't afford to purchase anything right now! So far I've gathered a couple of black garbage bags of composted horse manure. I was thinking to dump all the barrels of dirt, mix it with the horse manure, dig up some dirt on our 5 acres (clay and rock soil) filter out the rocks, and hope there will be enough to fill the barrels back up. plus maybe fluffing up the soil will add some volume, but I would really appreciate any advice about gathering soil without costs!

 

[digitS']

I guess I don't understand the issues: how many barrels, already one-half full, are you trying to fill?

Access to 5 acres should provide enough soil to fill some wine barrels.

Composted anything will continue to decompose and lose volume. That is probably why these barrels are only one-half full right now. They probably had compost making up the other half at one time.

If you have a couple of garbage bags of composted horse manure, can you get more?

Fluffing the soil? Are you just talking about air? Well, that is going to give the appearance of volume until is is soaked with water and settles.
Maybe it is because it is so early in my day here . . .

Steve's digits

 

[boggybranch]

Is there no area, on your 5 acres, that has "decent" soil to use?
Maybe Cailfornia, being a pro-recycle state, has a compost recycling program at your county "yard". Course, given the state of Cal's economic condition, it's prob not free to the public, if they do have the program. Our county offers free wood chips and compostables on a first- come basis.
I have gotten soil from areas where the county has cleared roadside ditches by shoveling them out and leaving the soil "on site".
In your daily commutes, keep your eyes open for oportunity and take advantage when the occassion arises.

 

[Holachicka]

Sorry for confusing you! I have about 20 barrels, plus several smaller empty pots I need to fill... The soil on my property is a rare occurance called Gabbro soil, It only occurs in my area, and is high in ph, but very low in all other nutrients. go figure. I'd like to use as little as possible of this soil.

http://ceeldorado.ucdavis.edu/files/21308.htm

I could get a little more horse manure, but it might not be as well composted. Makes sense about the continuing of the soil to compost, I was wondering what happened to it! I'm pretty certain that the county will charge for the compost... I guess I'll justhave to keep my eyes open for more opportunities. Thanks again.

 

[wifezilla]

Can you take out what is in the barrels, put in compost and refill? That way the plants wont be touching the compost for a while??

 

[boggybranch]

http://ceeldorado.ucdavis.edu/files/21308.htm

Wow......you do have a challenge. Don't know about getting "free soil" but it seems your best bet is raised beds.

 

[lupinfarm]

Due to the nature of my dads business and how money flows into our household it can be a tad erratic at times to say the least. Anyway, there are months where we have absolutely no money coming in and for compost in that month (since we have horses, goats, chickens, ducks) I picked manure out of the field from the winter time. It had been baked and turned by hooves and looked pretty good, but by no means was it fully composted! I just mixed it into my carrot bed and guess what? My carrots are freakin' huge.

I'd say grab yourself more horse manure!

 

[digitS']

See if any of these ingredients for potting mixes are available to you:

Attra Organic Potting Mixes

Scroll down about 3/4 of the page . . .

If there is someone tearing out a lawn, for example, "turf compost" is really good stuff. Coarse sand may not be too far away. You could probably count what is already in the barrels as "top soil."

Here is Wishing You the Best of Luck.

Steve

 

[Whitewater]

In my neck of the woods, there is ALWAYS 'free dirt' or 'free fill' on Craigslist in the 'free' section. . . www.craigslist.org, and then choose the city nearest you from their list. Free to post, free to email, Craigslist (if you haven't heard of it) is like a big ol' online garage sale, and around here there's a gazillion entries daily in just about all of their catagories.

I hear you on not having a ton of money -- when Hubby and I bought this house, our first one, we didn't have ANY extra cash for ANYTHING, but there was stuff we needed to keep our new property from getting even more icky (it had been vacant for just shy of 3 years and was a foreclosure).

What to do? We had no money. But I found a brand new Wet-Vac, a brilliant dishwasher (gives our dishes the best wash EVER), a 2-cycle lawnmower and a bunch of gardening tools (rakes and shovels and stuff) plus a bunch of little things . . . for $80 TOTAL.

Try Craigslist and see if you can't get free dirt from somebody who needs to get rid of theirs (maybe they just put in a pond, or a swimming pool, or is making a patio and bought too much from the local garden store . . . who knows?) .

It's been a lifesaver for us!


Whitewater (trying VERY hard to resist the veggie, fruit, and flowering plants currently offered in my area . . . I have no more room!)

 

[Holachicka]

I think I totally lucked out, I thought I'd just use some of the the wood chips we had chipped earlier this year to fill in some space at the bottom, and when I was making my way down to the pile, I found a VERY old pile of wood chips! they are about 75% composted, and I will fill my barrels half way with this and the other half with the dirt/manure. I'll probably still need more dirt, and will start scouting out craigslist for clean fill dirt. Thanks a bunch everyone!