What to fill garden bed with?

Ghawdex · May 3, 2015

It's about time we got nice weather!

I just built a 8' by 4' plant bed. Right now I have my plants in containers using fox farms ocean forest (which the plants are loving!)

My question is, what should I use to fill the beds with? If I use fox farms ocean forest, I will be spending quite a bit of money.. which i don't want to do.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Stvrob · May 3, 2015

Garden soil.

Cole_Robbie · May 3, 2015

Many people use compost or composted manure of some sort. If it looks like it will be too mucky, it might be worth it to bust up a 3 cubic foot bag of perlite or two and mix it in. You can also add peat to aerate, but you'll want to add a bit of limestone to it first to buffer the ph.

heirloomtomaguy · May 3, 2015

Beware of the kelloggs garden soil brand. They purchase all of their fertilizer from the los angeles sanitation district as in biosolids or human composted poop. It is alluring because of its cost but for me i prefer no human poop in my veg beds

Gardeneer · May 3, 2015

Right Now I am filling a 4' by 5' raised bed. Not finished yet.

I use aproximately the followings:

--50 % pine bark (mostly fines )
-- 25 % cow manure (compost )
-- 15 % garden soil
-- 10% peat moss

I want something that will never get soggy, no matter how much it rains. But as a trade off, I will have to water it more often.

Alternatively you can use :
-- 50% compost
-- 50% garden soil (mostly top soil)
This is a basic , Generic raised bed fill. It is better than my mixture where you have a dry and hot climate.

Gardeneer.

zeuspaul · May 3, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

Beware of the kelloggs garden soil brand. They purchase all of their fertilizer from the los angeles sanitation district as in biosolids or human composted poop. It is alluring because of its cost but for me i prefer no human poop in my veg beds

Kelloggs has a lot of OMRI listed products which cannot contain biosolids. They got embarrassed several years ago and changed their formula and went organic. I believe they substituted chicken manure for biosolids. I believe the biosolids are now sold under a different brand.

heirloomtomaguy · May 4, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeuspaul

Kelloggs has a lot of OMRI listed products which cannot contain biosolids. They got embarrassed several years ago and changed their formula and went organic. I believe they substituted chicken manure for biosolids. I believe the biosolids are now sold under a different brand.

Its still in their Kellogg Nitrohumus, Gromulch, Amend and Topper. If you are using any of these products to build your soil biosludge is in it.

zeuspaul · May 4, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

Its still in their Kellogg Nitrohumus, Gromulch, Amend and Topper. If you are using any of these products to build your soil biosludge is in it.

Are you sure? Amend, Gromulch and Topper are all now OMRI listed which specifically does not allow biosolids nor compost derived from biosolids. The labels on the bags now list the specific ingredients in the compost. In the past the biosolids were hidden in the general compost ingredient.
http://www.kellogggarden.com/products/kellogg/soils/

Gardeneer · May 4, 2015

I think Kellogg's Raised bed filler is a good choice. It is not cheap, though.
I prefer it over other similar commercial brands. The following is a quote. from their site.
================================================== ===

KELLOGG GARDEN ORGANICS RAISED BED & POTTING MIX

Premium Outdoor Container Mix (0.30-0.10-0.10)

Specially formulated for raised beds and container gardening.

Ready to use in your raised bed or container garden—no mixing
All organic with added nutrients from: bat guano, poultry manure and kelp meal
Packaged in “Project-Size” 2.0 CF or 3.0 CF OMRI listed

INGREDIENTS: Recycled forest products, coir, perlite, dehydrated chicken manure, composted chicken manure, hydrolyzed feather meal, peat moss, kelp meal, worm castings, bat guano

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Father'sDaughter · May 4, 2015

Contact local nurseries, let them know you're looking for something to fill a raised bed to grow vegetables in, and see what they offer for bulk material. Hopefully you'll find one or more that carry a compost mix for gardening and sell it by the cubic yard and also deliver for a small fee if needed.

HeatherT · May 4, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Contact local nurseries, let them know you're looking for something to fill a raised bed to grow vegetables in, and see what they offer for bulk material. Hopefully you'll find one or more that carry a compost mix for gardening and sell it by the cubic yard and also deliver for a small fee if needed.

I went to the local "Landscape Material and Firewood Sales" that sells in bulk to professionals and the public and explained that I was looking for a mix that would be appropriate for use in Grow Bags. He suggested I contact a place called Mid-west trading as they do custom mixes to fit individual needs. http://midwest-trading.com/category/Growth_Media It may be worth your time to see if there is such a place in your area that offers custom mixing.

Heather

wormgirl · May 4, 2015

I think Farmer's Daughter has the best suggestion so far, see what you can get in bulk.

My local nursery suggests using Gardener & Bloome Planting Mix, which is a Kelloggs product but contains no biosolids, it is OMRI listed, and I'm quite happy with it.

In our town, the local municipality creates a soil amendment and a potting soil blend using our biosolids. They've branded it "Tagro" (Tacoma Grow) and have made it seem like an awesome, green thing to do. I have not used it myself.

Cole_Robbie · May 4, 2015

Greenhouse supply wholesalers will also offer bulk media. I order from Hummert International, which is near St Louis. The sell a specific raised bed mix. They also sell parboiled rice hulls, which I have not tried yet, but look interesting as a bed amendment.

You'll want to find the greenhouse wholesaler nearest you, in order to minimize the shipping cost. Hummert will drive a full pallet to me, 2 hours away, for just $35, if I schedule the delivery on one of the two times a month they come to my area.

McConkey is on the west coast. I'm sure there are a lot of other wholesale companies as well.

Gardeneer · May 4, 2015

Of course bulk soil mix, is cheaper if you can take a delivery by the yard.
For one Cu-yd ( that is what Gawdex needs ~ 8ft x 4ft x 1ft = 32 cu-ft = 1.2 cu-yd)
the cost of having it delivered will be prohibitive.

HD sell this thing called STEER MANURE blend, in i cu-ft bags for $1.47. It is really a very light compost and not genuine cow manure. Mix 20 bags of that that with a bale of peat moss, some pine bark mulch, and several bags of top soil you can have a pretty good fill, @ about 50 bucks.
Garden mixes sold at about $38 per Cu-yd, IFF you haul it yourself.

PS:
Today I am going to pick up several bags of that HD stuff ( @ $1.47/cu-ft) for my new RBed.
I have plenty of pine bark mulch and some peat moss and garden soil to mix with it.

Keep in mind that a newly made raised bed needs to be amended for the next couple of years, as it settles down.

Gardeneer.

Gerardo · May 4, 2015

I use the Kelloggs Raised Bed and Potting Mix as a starting point, add peat moss, perlite, sand, manure (chicken + steer), and a few amendments. I've had great results thus far. I've tried a couple of brands and in terms of what goes through the screen, Kellogg's Raised Bed and Potting Mix has the least foreign material (big wood chips/sticks, pieces of metal, large rocks, pieces of fabric, plastic, etc), the worst offender I've found to be the large white bag labeled "Potting Soil Mix" with a green stripe, it seems they'll throw anything in there to bulk it up. I also find some interesting things in those bags of steer manure blend and chicken manure.
And while the ick factor is there with biosolids, organic matter, irrespective of its origin, will work. If fecal-oral contamination routes are of concern to you, there's a lot of those in the supermarket and in our daily lives already--its hard to get people to wash their hands. So remember, its the fresh turds and lack of hand washing you have to worry about. Veggies produced in bed where Biosolids make up a small percentage won't hurt us. Besides, there's always the iodine drops that reduce any potential pathogen counts to a safe level. Bacteria and all their buddies are our friends, not our enemies. Good day to all.

May 3, 2015	#1
Ghawdex Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: NY Posts: 22	What to fill garden bed with? It's about time we got nice weather! I just built a 8' by 4' plant bed. Right now I have my plants in containers using fox farms ocean forest (which the plants are loving!) My question is, what should I use to fill the beds with? If I use fox farms ocean forest, I will be spending quite a bit of money.. which i don't want to do. Any suggestions? Thanks!

May 3, 2015	#4
heirloomtomaguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: glendora ca Posts: 2,560	Beware of the kelloggs garden soil brand. They purchase all of their fertilizer from the los angeles sanitation district as in biosolids or human composted poop. It is alluring because of its cost but for me i prefer no human poop in my veg beds __________________ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

May 4, 2015	#9
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,919	I think Kellogg's Raised bed filler is a good choice. It is not cheap, though. I prefer it over other similar commercial brands. The following is a quote. from their site. ================================================== === KELLOGG GARDEN ORGANICS RAISED BED & POTTING MIX Premium Outdoor Container Mix (0.30-0.10-0.10) Specially formulated for raised beds and container gardening. Ready to use in your raised bed or container garden—no mixing All organic with added nutrients from: bat guano, poultry manure and kelp meal Packaged in “Project-Size” 2.0 CF or 3.0 CF OMRI listed INGREDIENTS: Recycled forest products, coir, perlite, dehydrated chicken manure, composted chicken manure, hydrolyzed feather meal, peat moss, kelp meal, worm castings, bat guano --------------------------------------------------------------------

May 4, 2015	#12
wormgirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 245	I think Farmer's Daughter has the best suggestion so far, see what you can get in bulk. My local nursery suggests using Gardener & Bloome Planting Mix, which is a Kelloggs product but contains no biosolids, it is OMRI listed, and I'm quite happy with it. In our town, the local municipality creates a soil amendment and a potting soil blend using our biosolids. They've branded it "Tagro" (Tacoma Grow) and have made it seem like an awesome, green thing to do. I have not used it myself. Last edited by wormgirl; May 4, 2015 at 11:33 AM.

May 3, 2015	#2
Stvrob Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,413	Garden soil.

May 3, 2015	#3
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Many people use compost or composted manure of some sort. If it looks like it will be too mucky, it might be worth it to bust up a 3 cubic foot bag of perlite or two and mix it in. You can also add peat to aerate, but you'll want to add a bit of limestone to it first to buffer the ph.

May 4, 2015	#10
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,919	Contact local nurseries, let them know you're looking for something to fill a raised bed to grow vegetables in, and see what they offer for bulk material. Hopefully you'll find one or more that carry a compost mix for gardening and sell it by the cubic yard and also deliver for a small fee if needed.

May 4, 2015	#15
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,598	I use the Kelloggs Raised Bed and Potting Mix as a starting point, add peat moss, perlite, sand, manure (chicken + steer), and a few amendments. I've had great results thus far. I've tried a couple of brands and in terms of what goes through the screen, Kellogg's Raised Bed and Potting Mix has the least foreign material (big wood chips/sticks, pieces of metal, large rocks, pieces of fabric, plastic, etc), the worst offender I've found to be the large white bag labeled "Potting Soil Mix" with a green stripe, it seems they'll throw anything in there to bulk it up. I also find some interesting things in those bags of steer manure blend and chicken manure. And while the ick factor is there with biosolids, organic matter, irrespective of its origin, will work. If fecal-oral contamination routes are of concern to you, there's a lot of those in the supermarket and in our daily lives already--its hard to get people to wash their hands. So remember, its the fresh turds and lack of hand washing you have to worry about. Veggies produced in bed where Biosolids make up a small percentage won't hurt us. Besides, there's always the iodine drops that reduce any potential pathogen counts to a safe level. Bacteria and all their buddies are our friends, not our enemies. Good day to all.