KNOL: Amending Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Soil (Yearly!)

Transfered from my Google Knols to be stored on this blog.

Raised beds are outstanding for many reasons. In this case, you can concentrate all of your resources to a bed. The peat moss and composted materials will go exactly where you want them to go and they will only be used by the planted vegetables. This fact, is one way raised bed gardening saves you money.

Amending Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Soil (Yearly!)

By Gary Pilarchik LCSW-C

 

 

Visit my garden blog for updated articles and ideas at The Rusted Vegetable Garden

 

Amending Your Garden Plot with Peat Moss and Humus (Moisten!)

Every year I add to my garden's soil. I use raised beds and can concentrate resources right to the beds. Last year I re-dug the beds to 2 feet deep. You don't have to do that yearly. Because I am using a raised bed and don't walk in it, the soil stays loose. However, I do have clay soil. Great for micro nutrients but it is heavy. I want to improve the soil of my beds and I work on that yearly.

 

Every year I amend it with peat moss and composted materials and grass clippings. This freshens up my planting beds and it reworks the top 12 to 24 inches of earth, depending on what I am planting. This is how I do it. There is no exact science or measurements to this. Don't stress out over pefection.

 

Below are pictures of the beds and supplies. These are 4 x 6 raised beds. They have to be cleaned out. I have a bag of 3 cubic feet of dried compressed peat moss. The cost is about $10 a bag. The other 2 bags are composted humus and manure. The cost is about $2.75 a bag. The blue container is used to mix the peat moss with water. I can't stress this enough... moisten your peat moss before you use it.

Step One: Clean out the beds  

What can I say... clean them out. I would bag all debris and put it curb side. This reduces the risk of over wintering disease and bugs, coming to life.  Skip composting for the first spring clean out. Unless you know your material will be thoroughly decomposed by the time you use it.

Step Two: Prepare the peat  moss (moisten!)

Peat moss is baked dry I believe. It is dry dry dry. Dusty and dry. You want to add water to it so it goes into the garden moist. If you put dry peat moss in your garden, you get a dust storm and it actually initially struggles to absorb water. When you plant seeds in dry peat moss and then water it, the peat moss actually floats up on the water and it can mess up your seeds. So moisten it. You could substitute peat moss with other materials if you wish. It should be in a form of very fine particles like peat moss.



This is a large container that is probably 25 gallons. Peat moss is hard to moisten because it floats. Fill your container halfway so you can reach your arms into it and turn it easily. Put in a good amount of water and then mix by hand. The trick is to sort of pet the peat moss in big circles. This rolls the water and peat moss together. Just mixing it under doesn't work. You have to rub the particles into the water. It is THAT DRY! The peat moss should be moist not soggy. When you squeeze it, water should not run out of it.

 

Step Three: Dump in the moistened peat moss

The darker pile is the moistened peat moss. It expands when wet. That is how you want your peat moss to be when amended into your soil. Notice the lighter brown pile, that is the dry peat moss. In a 4 x 6 plot you want to put in about 1/2 a bag of peat moss in to start. I have clay soil. If your soil is in better shape... use less. Worse shape... use more.

Step Four: Spread the moisten peat moss out

If you don't have enough to cover the plot by about a 1/2 inch, you can add more. There is no science to this. Keep in mind peat moss is acidic. It is a good idea to sprinkle a few handfuls of pulverized lime on top of the spread before you mix it under.  I put lime down and the end of the season. Lime is alkaline. Peat moss is acidic. You typically want you garden soil neutral but that is another blog and Knol entry.

Step Five: Turn it under to at least 12 inches deep

Grab a shovel and turn it under to 12 inches or more. This is for the roots and worms.

 

Step Six: Add some more moisten peat moss to the turned bed

I used nearly the rest of my peat moss bag. I saved some (like 4 shovels full) for the composted humus and manure. You will have to remember to moisten the peat moss. Cover the space of your bed and work it in to the top 4-6 inches. You can see where the shovel is, that it has been worked in to the garden. I do it with my hands. I like the process of breaking the clay and mixing the soil by hand. It also lets me find rocks to remove.

Step Seven: Smooth and admire the finished bed

This bed is ready for planting.  The composted humus and manure will be used at planting time. Notice the difference between the amended front bed and the untouched bed in the back. Remember... moisten your peat moss.

 

The composted humus and manure could be mixed in with the peat moss if you want too. There is no science to this. I use the composted manure when I plant the seeds and plants. This is your choice. If you want use the composted materials during this stage... add a bag to Step 4 and add a bag to Step 6. I prefer to use mine at the time of planting and will demonstrate that method in another Knol.

*Fertilizing can also be done at both Steps 4 and 6. You can add what every type of fertiziler you want as per the directions.

 

 

 

 

Amending Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Soil (Yearly!)

Asaparagus: Clearing Last Year's Bed and Eating This Year's Shoots

Asparagus takes about 3 years to establish itself and provide enough shoots for eating and growing. It is important you let several asparagus stems grow to maturity and thrive all Summer long. This is how your asparagus plants recharge themselves for the following year.

Asparagus should be cleaned up in the beginning of March at the latest in our area. The reason being is that new shoots start coming up, for this year's picking, and cleaning the bed later makes it harder.  Your shoots won't be as green as they can be because last year's stems will block the sun from the new shoots.

Here is a look at my asparagus from a few days ago. I had to clean it up slowly as not to break or smash the new shoots.

Last Year's Asparagus Plants - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik

Clearing it Reveals the New Asparagus Shoots: Gary Pilarchik

Cleared Asparagus Bed: Gary Pilarchik

This is one of my asparagus beds. You can see what is there once I removed the old debris. This bed is younger than the other one I am about to show you. The shoots are a bit thin but still I picked several stems for a snack. The sun is on them now and the bed should produce for a good 30 days if not longer.

Asparagus Clump One: Gary Pilarchik

Asparagus Clump Two: Gary Pilarchik

Asparagus Clump Three: Gary Pilarchik

This is my raised asparagus bed dedicated to asparagus (of course) and onions. The asparagus is a bit pale because I failed to clean it up before the shoots came up. It is still delicious.

You pick asparagus by gentle bending it till it naturally snaps. After cleaning the beds, I had some raw asparagus.

Bend Asparagus Till it Snaps or Cut it as Soil Level: Gary Pilarchik

Asparagus in Hand - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik

FROST!: A Few Degrees of Vegetable Frost Protections - CUPS!

Frost doesn't typically bother the cool weather vegetables. They can handle it. Perhaps you fell prey to the nice weather and put something in that can't take a light frost. Or you just want to protect your plants. Here is one method in pictures to protect your plants. The cups create a mini dome worth a few degrees protection.

The cups serve two purposes. One a few degrees of frost protection and... now you can put blankets on them and they won't get crushed.

Beware... Put the cups on around 3 or  4pm if you have full sun and temperatures in the 60's. You don't want to cook your plants. If it is cloudy or in the 50's, don't worry about putting them on too early.

20-24 Ounce Clear Cups for Frost Protection: Gary Pilarchik

Twist the Cup in to Firm it in Place: Gary Pilarchik

Frost Protected Celery - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik

I haven't grown celery before. I am guessing it can take some frost but guessing always turns out to be a risk. I purchased the cups for them and added some on peas just to see, if it matters. I'll leave some peas unprotected this week and cover others. I put the domes on below around 3:30pm. Moisture is collecting in them. Don't forget to take the domes off in the morning or you run the risk of disease and cooking your plants.

Protecting Celery from Frost - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik

Celery Under a Cup - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik

Peas Protected From a Frost: Gary Pilarchik

What Do Good and Bad Tomato Seeds Look Like?

Good and Bad Tomato Seeds: Gary Pilarchik

The seeds to the left are healthy looking tomato seeds collected last Summer. The tomato seeds to the right are gray and shriveled and that makes the unhealthy. Tomato seeds should look like the 'Russian Oxheart' variety I collected myself on the left. The seeds on the right, basically dried out, but they were the seeds I used for last year's plants and they are also 'Russian Oxheart' seeds for comparison sake. You want to keep tomato seeds and all seeds in air tight containers (like in the picture) and they will last up to 3 years.

A bad looking tomato seed will show it signs.

What Do Onion Bunches Look Like?

Onion Bunches - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik

Just another way you can buy onions for planting. This is a 'bunch' also called a 'set' sometimes. They were 50 onions for $3.00. A good deal. They can be planted a 1/2 inch to an inch down in finger holes.