Newbie question......

[FLchook]

Well im gonna just jump right in, and pick your guys brain.

I have about a month and a half to get my garden ready for planting, so figured I should start now. We have terrible soil, its actually more just sand. It bearly grows decent grass, so good veggies are probably out of the question. I was thinking I would take some 2x8s that we have laying around and make a frame. Then bring in some compost from the dump, add some horse and chicken poo and let it sit for the next 6 weeks.

Now the compost would be about 6 inchs deep, the plants/seeds wouldnt even see the natural soil. Will this work?

Thanks,
Shannon

PS I live in Florida, so our planting season starts in Sept.

 

[Tutter]

Hi, FLChook, it's good to see you here! :coolsun

You will want to till the soil beneath the raised bed, so that the roots can go into it easily.

As for compost, most plants can grow in compost, or you can mix soil in compost, maximizing your compost.

I do wonder about compost from the dump, though. It seems kind of difficult to know what's in it.....is there another option for compost? If you're not sure, you can look in the phone book, and also ask your local nurseries.

Also, don't be too sure that your soil won't grow vegetables. It might, and maybe just tilling it and adding lots and lots of compost would do the trick.

I'm not discouraging raised beds, I love them. I'm just thinking out loud about your options.

And in the off seasons, you could plant cover crops, like Austrian field peas, vetch, clover, fava beans etc., to improve the soil more.

 

[coopy]

If your soil is that poor I would suggest using the lasanga (I probably spelled that wrong) or layering method. Works well for me.

 

[aquarose]

I think your plan is basically good! No, great! I would, however, mix in your existing soil with the rest of that stuff. You need the natural microorganisms from the soil to help decompose stuff. It will also extend your compost/manure mix. Just make sure you let it all sit at least 6 weeks so that the manure doesn't burn your plants. Raised beds are great, but they also dry out faster that gardens in the ground. Because you have sandy soil, that also drains really well. You might consider just tilling or forking in all that compost and manure directly in a bed in the ground to conserve moisture. It depends on how much rain you get or how much you plan to water. Like Coopy, I am also a great believer in the lasagne method. Basically all you have to do is this:first, determine where the perimeter of your bed is going to be be, next put down cardboard thick to kill all existing vegetation (sounds like you might be able to skip this step), next just start layering any organic materials that you have laying around (manure, compost, straw, leaves, peat moss, grass clippings, soil, seaweed (washed of salt), chicken coop litter, whatever. Just like making lasagne. You can build it pretty high and as it decomposes it will shrink. Good luck!