Any thoughts on my soil mix..

[cptncrackoff]

I probably should have filled my raised beds by now, but this weekend i will finally get round to it!!

I'm thinking at the moment, a mixture of moss peat, levingtons m/p compost and general soil from the garden

Can anyone offer any advice as to ratio's, additives, or any other options.

I don't need that much, only have 5 raised beds all 80x120cm and 20cm tall.

I sell J A bowers irish moss peat at work, as well as levingtons and JAB top soil, with a bit off staff discount i reckon I can fill all for £20 ish.

[sewer rat]

Depends on what you want to grow but as a general purpose fill, I would use 20% Irish Moss Peat, 4o% MP Compost and 40% topsoill - you can add fertilisers etc dependent on what you are growing.
Of course if you wanna be really fussy you could sieve the compost and the soil first - I am growing exhibition veg for the first time this year and am sieving everything!!

[cptncrackoff]

Hi sewer rat- nice name btw!!

Thanks for your reply, i'm planning on growing a small quantity of many different varieties of veg this year (last year I tried to grow lots of a few varieties and it went ok..ish).

I'm thinking lettuce, broad beans, courgette, spring onions, cauli and brussels. Thats it for the beds.
Although I do have some garlic and shallots that I may need to squeeze in somewhere.

[SarzWix]

Personally, I'd go for a higher proportion of topsoil, unless you're growing root veg like carrots. The topsoil will hold water and nutrients better than MPC. In fact, I would probably swap some of the MPC for farmyard manure. The MPC is only really any use for changing the texture of the soil - the nutrients in it will only last for a few weeks - and if the topsoil is a decent loam, it won't need the texture to be improved that much, it will just need slow-release nutrients which you would get from the manure.

That's just my thoughts anyway

[Two_Sheds]

cauli and brussels.

The brassicas need a really firm soil - concrete firm is what you're aiming for

[cptncrackoff]

As me and my 5 yr old woke up with stomach bugs today I thought I wouold get the beds sorted.

They're all slightly different, in the end I half filled with normal garden soild(and ahve now dug a pond ) then added levingtons mpc, J a b peat and high loam topsoil to each.

I managed to fill all of them (with the garden soil) for £22.

like i said some beds have more peat, some have more compost, others more soil...just for a bit of variety.
I have seived alot of stones out of the topsoil and allsorts of bits and bobs out of the compost, the peat went in 'as is' and the existing soil was lightly forked to break it up a bit.

Should I cover the beds over now?? Its only a few weeks til planting commences now.

thanks

jon

[Two_Sheds]

I wouldn't bother covering them, unless it's with plastic to warm them up

You can hand weed any that pop up

[SarzWix]

I would make sure that your brassicas (cauli and brussels) go in the bed with most soil, and not the one with peat - that's because apart from liking very firm soil as Two_Sheds said, they also prefer slightly alkaline conditions, and the peat is more acid.

[cptncrackoff]

I wouldn't bother covering them, unless it's with plastic to warm them up

You can hand weed any that pop up

I was thinking that, thanks!

I would make sure that your brassicas (cauli and brussels) go in the bed with most soil, and not the one with peat - that's because apart from liking very firm soil as Two_Sheds said, they also prefer slightly alkaline conditions, and the peat is more acid.

I had read a few threads suggesting brassicas prefer an alkaline soil, thanks for the advice!