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

[z_willus_d]

Hello,

I'm nearing the goal-line on a multi-month project to build a 2+ foot side retaining wall on the right side of my backyard and atop that two 24'x2'x16" (LxWxD) raised beds out of cinder block. You can see how that's coming along in the first set of pics I've posted.

Today, I had a local delivery of the following (also in pics):
- 1 yd3 of Black Forest Humus
- 1/2 yd3 of course "Arena sand"
- 1/4 yd3 washed fill sand
-1/4 yd3 of decomposed granite

(Those components were all mixed together in the right pile).

- 2 yd3 of horse manure.

I don't plan to use the manure in my soil mix, at least not immediately or necessarily even this season, but it was cheaper to buy the $10/yd3 and get free delivery vs. pay for just the 2 yd3 of what I needed.

So, I've got those components to work with, and I managed to get a great deal at Lowes on their 2.2 cu ft Premier-brand Spagnum peat moss (price matching H.D.'s not currently available 3cu foot bags of the same. With my 10% discount, I got each of the 2.2 cu ft bags for less than $7 each. Not bad. I picked up 20 compressed bales.

I also located a local, recently opened hydroponics shop not 2 miles from my house where they were really nice and gave me their employee discount on:
- 10 4 cu ft bags of Perlite ($13.50 a bag)
- 1 50lb bag of dolomite lime ($7.50)
- 1 50lb bag of Alfalfa Pellets ($17)
- 1 50lb bag of Alfalfa Meal ($18)

All and all, I think I've done well in my procurement phase.

I spent half of today moving the stinky horse SH * T to a place in my backyard -- something like 40 wheelbarrow runs. Tomorrow I plan to start filling my raised-raised beds. Here's my mix plan. Note, I'm aiming to use water soluble fertilization this year (continuous), though I'm not yet sure whether to use something organic like the Fox Farm's GrowBig/BloomBig/TigerBloom series or go with a commercial fertilizer, e.g. a 20-10-20 h2o-soluble. Also, I should mention my mix ratios are inspired by the user, "Hermitian," off the recommendations in this thread: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...=18991&page=3/ . I'll appreciate your thoughts on this mix for my application. I plan to grow mainly heirloom tomatoes with a few hybrids (mostly larger sized, though a few medium and a couple cherries too). The mix I'm planning:
- 2 Parts Black Forest Humus
- 1 Part Arena Sand/Fill Sand/Decomposed Granite
- 2 Parts Spagnum peat moss
- 3 Parts Perlite

I will also add the following to the mix:
- Some of my fresh worm castings, mainly to inoculate some worms into the mix.
- 2 cups of Dolomite Lime per 2'x2' square, which happens to be the space I plan to devote to each tomato plant. Any idea if this is too little or too much? I guess that's an ambiguous question. I'll take answers for the amount of DL as well as the plant area.
- Some undecided amount of Alfalfa pellets/meal per 2'2' square to provide something for the worms to munch. Any idea how much alfalfa I should integrate? I don't want to really feed the plants too much with it so much as add some organic matter for the beneficials.

I will throw in some Mycorrhizae powder with the plant at transplant. In addition, I'll be looking to soil drench with a combo of Actinovate/Myco-grow/Biota-max. I'll do that at initial plant out and maybe a second time after the plants start to bloom. Any better schedule? I'll probably throw down some Epsom salts (maybe a 1/4cup per plant), as well as some of that Sul-Po-Mag that Hermitian was advocating for potash. I'm also considering the root enhancers, such as the very expensive Root Excelurator. Any thoughts on that? And I'm trying to decide what if anything to do with Humic/Fulvic acids. Again, any thoughts about this? How to apply? What products to consider? Etc.

Of course, I'll also have to come up with a game plan to ward off and get ahead of disease/fungus/bacteria/blight and the like. That's another thing for another time though.

Alright, that's my plan. I'd appreciate any input on the mix ratio, components, and regiment I have in mind. This will be my first year growing in a spot that gets more than 5-6 hours of direct sunlight. I'm very excited to start doing it right, end-to-end, front-to-back, root-to-tip.

Thanks all,
Naysen