My Plan to fill the new raised-raised beds...looking for comments

[z_willus_d]

Goats would be supreme. Fire retardant con compost maker con landscape beautifier all wrapped up into one stinky, cantankerous package.

[dice]

You just need a collar, a chain, and a hurricane anchor. Since the goat
does not have anything else to do, it will just eat everything in sight
out to the length of its chain. Keep a (metal) washtub of water within
reach of the chain.

I guess you could do that with a weedeater, but the goat would be
more interesting for the neighbors to watch. You could have it
drop by every couple of weeks, like a lawn service, until the arc
of the sun rotates around from the south to more overhead. By
then your plants should be big enough to ignore the weeds on
the top of the hill.

[z_willus_d]

My 5 cubic yard soil delivery came Friday, and today I finished preparing the bed, lining the retaining blocks with a double run of weed-block landscaping fabric. I only had time to prepare one wheelbarrow load, which consisted of the following:
- 8 full shovels of 2 cuyd Hasties Half-and-Half (1/2 forest humus, 1/2 premium topsoil mix) mixed with 1/2cuyd Hasties decomposed granite mixed with 1/2 cuyd Hasties Lava sand fines ; each shovel around 1.5 gal
- 4 full shovels of Hasties premium organic compost
- 5 gal bucket full of last year's aged horse manure
- 2 gal bucket of Perlite
- 2 gal bucket of Premier brand Spagnum Peat Moss
- 1.5 cups of Alfalfa pellets
- 1 cup of Espoma Garden Lime
- 1 cup of Espoma Green Sand
- 1 cup of Espoma TomatoTonen (new formulation)
- 1/2 cup Sul-Pol-Mag

After I've filled the trench, I'll turn-in rabbit manure, worm castings, and probably some coffee grinds. I have plenty of chipped redwood bark to mulch after the plants are established later in the year.

I measured the pH of the above concoction and found the values oscillated (depending on location) between ~6 and 6.8 (mean of 6.4). I expect the lime will raise that a bit with time, and I understand the cement from the retaining wall blocks can leach into the soil raising pH over time.

I'll post some pics of all this later tomorrow after I've had some time to really get into the filling work.
-naysen

[Crandrew]

It's going to be amazing!

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by Crandrew

It's going to be amazing!

Thanks C-

Here are some pics of my progress as of yesterday. I've managed only 13 wheelbarrow loads in a days work, mainly because of all the mixing and the distractions from all the other yard-work that gets in my way. I think I have 100+ loads to get those piles reduced from my driveway.

[Mlm1]

Naysen, you are going to have some happy plants. That is an amazing amount of work. I'll look forward to seeing it. I posted my grow list on Kath's thread. I always have extras so let me know if anything looks interesting.
Marla

[z_willus_d]

Hi Marla, yep I saw your list, even congratulated it in the thread.. I know your tomatoes will be happy, just based on how good the dregs were last year... better than my best.

I'll looking forward to the rewards of this new bed of work.
Take care,
Naysen

[Heritage]

That's inspirational, Naysen! Nice job! Best of luck with this years harvest.

Steve

[Crandrew]

Naysen,
You running irrigation?

Also that darker compost looks pretty good to me. I think you'll be happy with the mix you got there.
I'm not even a plant and the mix, after re-reading, is starting to sound yummy to me too.

[z_willus_d]

Hi C- I'll be laying down 3/4" SCH40 PVC pipe with risers every couple feet topped with micro spray heads. That setup seemed to work well for me in the other beds. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I still have some 87-odd barrow loads before I can start in on the pipe-works. I agree, the compost is nice. It's super light, fluffy and wispy dark matter. I'm sure the plants will be happy with the mix.

Thanks for noticing.
-naysen

[z_willus_d]

Steve, as always, I appreciate your encouragement. ... And the occasional odd seedling that makes it to my garden through circuitous routes.

[Crandrew]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Hi C- I'll be laying down 3/4" SCH40 PVC pipe with risers every couple feet topped with micro spray heads. That setup seemed to work well for me in the other beds. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I still have some 87-odd barrow loads before I can start in on the pipe-works. I agree, the compost is nice. It's super light, fluffy and wispy dark matter. I'm sure the plants will be happy with the mix.

Thanks for noticing.
-naysen

Sounds good to me If you weren't in shape before the haul, now you'll be.

[Annie]

I have a lot of old rabbit manure from last year. Is it still good to use on my beds and how much should I use.

[z_willus_d]

Annie,

I just picked up six 18-gallon totes full of fresh rabbit poo from a nearby farm. Today, I mixed in 5-gal of that into a 5'x10' raised bed at my work place garden. I just mixed it into the top layer of soil after turning the beds over. I like working with Rabbit manure, relative to the others I've dealt with; not as stinky as chicken, makes nice round pellets that don't smear too easily, not as much hay, sawdust or other junk mixed into the finished product as others... I've read and been told that it is one of only a few manures that you can use fresh without any pre-composting. No chance of burning the plants as with steer or horse manure. I'm sure you can use well composted rabbit manure as well. I know earth worms love the stuff, so maybe you'll get lucky and have some black gold mixed in with the old poo.

Good luck,
Naysen

[Annie]

Thanks, hopefully I will be planting my tomatoes at the end of this month. Ive got spring fever