alpha010

I'm planning on making a 10'x40'x1' raised bed this year and I am having a trusted local nursery deliver 2 yards of good topsoil next week. I am planning on dumping 5-10 40# bags of mushroom compost in and giving a good mixing and letting things settle for a month before I use it.....now......can anyone think of anything else I should add to the mix for awesome veggies? I'm planting heirloom toms, cukes, brocs, cauls, and hybrid bell peppers and carrots incase that info is needed.

Shaggy

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TomK

That's pretty much how I started mine.

But, 2 CY of topsoil is not going to come close to filling in a 10 x 40 x 1 raised bed. 5-10 bags of compost won't put a dent in it either.

10 x 40 x 1 is about 15 CY of material.

alpha010

hmmm, 15 CY?? the nursery said 2 Cy, but the yards they are talking are roughly 5' long x 3' wide x 3' deep front loader bucket heaped waaaay over. and no one near me has CY loads of compost, only bags.

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TomK

I don't know what your nursery guy is talking about with yards. A cubic yard is what I'm talking about and is the standard in the dirt industry (i.e. construction). Length (ft) x width (ft) x height (ft) / 27 = CY.

Either way, if we take the loaders bucket @ 5' x 3' x 3' / 27 = 2 CY.

Maybe he's trying to use some fancy lingo, I dunno. I deal with big earthwork companies fairly regularly for a living and I've never heard of whatever they're trying to calculate. I'd get him to re-explain it to you. Suppose it couldn't hurt to order too little and then have to get another order to top it off. Don't want to order too much and have stuff all over the place though.

Getting bags of compost is fine, I just don't think you'll have enough. Try to eyeball the physical size of the bags versus your bed. I have a relatively small 4 x 8 bed and the last time I amended with compost, I used about 3 40# bags. The bags are easy since you can get them from Lowe's/HD - if you buy too few, just go pick up more. No rush since you're going to let it cook for a month anyhow.

sandy0225

If you need a source for pepper plants and heirloom tomato plants, I know someone who sells them and does shipping....lol...
It wouldn't matter if your raised bed was totally raised this year. That would be plenty of amendments to make sure that you got a good yield especially if you tilled that into the existing soil in your bed. You could always add more next year or even in a few years when that gets exhausted. If you fill it to the top, then there's no room to add more in a few years.

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alpha010

Good thinkin sandy ;o) but got my seed already for the tomatoes.
Tom, you are right, it is strange the way this guy measures out. actually all the ones around my area measure like that. When I was working in landscaping, we had a few houses that we needed to install grass but had clay so we removed about 3 inches over the entire 140' x 140' yard and only replaced it with 3 "yards" of topsoil......didn't sound like enough but we were actually overstocked with it. Plus, I have a rock pull-off on the side of my house and it only took 2 yards of 1" limestone to fill it and it is roughly 15' x 30' x 1'.....

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Bob

My Veg garden(not raised) is about the same size. I would consider adding about 6 bags (240 lbs) of greensand. This is a mined from old sea beds and contains i believe about all the trace elements you could want. It only needs to be added about every 4 years , it's not water soluble. Richard could confirm this . I'd also recommend getting a soil test done by your cooperative extension done maybe next spring. That will be your soils real "report card". Then you'll get an idea if you need to lime etc. Good luck with it. Let's see some pics when you get it going.

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alpha010

thanx bob, ill look into the greensand.

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jasonlotp

I would recommend changing your 10' by 40' into 2 x 5' by 40' or some other breakup. Otherwise you won't be able to access the veggies deep in without walking on the raised bed.
For wood you can use clean salvaged redwood instead of brand spanking new redwood, it cuts down the cost drastically.

alpha010

Good ideas jason, but, problem is the redwood and cedar around this area is scarce...aka expensive, salvaged or not would cost me almost 5-10 times more for the frame than I am paying. I'm using #2 2" x 12" x 10' boards and #2 2" x 4" for vertical staking. If I have read correctly I saw somewhere that they don't use arsenic in treated lumber anymore so it should be safe enough to use for veggies. As for the wide bed...I'm going to mulch a path down the middle only wide enough to walk, turn and squat. With the way the economy is nowadays, and with my work hours being cut I gotta watch what I spend on this project.....at least this year.

Thank you all who have given tips so far.....I'm still a puppy at any type of hort. so any secrets hints tips on anything green is more than welcomed and appreciated!

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TomK

You should be able to buy untreated 2x material...give you a little more piece of mind, that was my reasoning anyway. Sure, the treated will last longer but untreated lumber will last a few years too. On my second year of being in the ground and the lumber doesn't look too worse for the wear.

My next veggie bed I'm going to experiment with using "stacked" palm trunks from my Areca Palms.

I'd break it up the way jasonlotp suggested rather than a mulch lane but that's my personal opinion. Again, see how your current plan goes and, if needed, you can adjust it the next growing season. That's part of the fun, figuring out what works best for you!

alpha010

I actually had a big layout going on up until my company started laying off and cutting back, That setup, just for standard 2x lumber would run roughly $1,000 and about 10 loads of dirt. it was 12 beds in different semi-geometrical shapes covering 25' x 28' and all paths mulched and degrassed. now I cut this one down to $100 for one big one versus $200 for 2 decent sized ones.

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Michael_Andrew

I have the square foot gardening book and use some of the methods. You can grow a lot in smaller spaces than your typical layout. Here is their website:
Welcome To My Garden! | Square Foot Gardening

alpha010

I have read through some of the chapters of that book and had somme good ideas. I really really wanted this design:


but that is an expensive design regardless of type of wood. I was going to incorporate sq ft. gardening into the design but decided otherwise for this year at least.

Shaggy

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Michael_Andrew

So take 1 or 2 or 3 sections depending on budget and add the rest at a later time. I may have to drive down there with my Milwalkee and make some of those angle cuts for ya!

alpha010

lol mike, you are more than welcome man! Hop on 23 south to turnpike and go to exit 218, im 3 miles from there, only a 3 hour drive ( i should know, drove that way every week to ann arbor for almost 5 years). Next nice day we have here I'm gonna post up some before pics and some possible scape ideas using naners and such.

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mskitty38583

thats a lot of work. im doing mine as an edible landscape. corn, beans, squash will be tucked together between iris', peppers, nana peppers, hot chili peppers, jalapons( haha cant spell) between dwarf cavadishs, herbs will be tucked between basjoos, and for the rest....im not sure. but they will find a home.

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Lagniappe

Me too, Sam!
Ima try to choke out the weeds with Basil and Okra this year. I bought several packs of 'Little Lucy" okra for in between bananas.

Michael_Andrew

Let me know when your doing it Shaggy and I'll see if I can make it. I have a few obligations for weekends this spring but don't have confirmed dates. I'm putting in Swiss Chard the red kind, Collards, and just found some Purple Basil too for fill around my other plants. I read somewhere this lady planted collards as fill and then the bugs left her cannas and other plants alone. Just don't think it get hot enough here for okra. I planted some year before last and only one plant made it it it only produced one fruit. It was a huge producer for me in my Oklahoma garden.

Michael

sirmoebly

We should post pictures this year of gardens. But there better be a nanna plant in there.