I sampled soil from some of my raised beds with old, established soil that I’ve been adding compost to for years and also from my backyard tilled garden. I was a bit surprised to see the results were this good. I expected to need nitrogen because every soil test shows you need nitrogen. What I was most impressed with is my high organic matter percentages. Most farmland is under 5% with 1% being pretty typical.
I started off this year with an experiment of 2 identical raised beds. In one, I moved in garden soil from an established raised bed, and in the other, I filled with brand new soil mix from Living Earth. I planted 2 different varieties of onion on 2/2 and planted carrots, radish, lettuce, and beets on 2/6. We had pretty bad freezing weather for multiple days that killed a lot of the seedlings and about half of the onions. You can see in the picture how much better the old soil performs. The new soil has a lot of wood bark in it, and that wood is tying up all the nitrogen while decomposing. I’ve added blood meal to help, but you can see what a difference in growth is between the two.
The bed on the left is filled with old soil from a bed I moved, the one on the right is filled with new soil purchased from Living Earth. I planted 2 varieties of onion, half in each bed. This should be a pretty good comparison of the two.
I purchased 3 cu-yds of soil from Living Earth in Plano. Price was $62/yd
I assembled 2 beds from the formed concrete sides I made in the past. I also built 2 more beds from treated 2×12 lumber.
The beds I made ~8 years ago from cedar are starting to deteriorate to the point they are failing.
I’ve been adding more top soil to the backyard row garden so it drains better and is closer to the elevation of the shop building. The size is about 50′ x 40′ now. Several yards of organic material, mostly tree leaves and old straw, was added to the top of the soil and then tilled in. The organic matter should break down in the soil over the winter and add fertility for a spring garden.
With the help from a den of Cub Scouts, we set up 3 new raised beds. They are 4′ x 4′ and made out of treated 2×12 lumber. I filled them with planting mix from Texas Pure, which contains 50% compost, 25% sand and 25% top soil/loam.
The soil in the creek bed behind the house is probably the best soil in Collin County. It is soft and easy to dig. I appreciate the free donation from my neighbors at higher elevation. I’m going to dig a little out and move it to the area where I want my new garden beds. As a bonus, the depression I’m leaving should serve to slow the water down next time a big rain comes, so more ‘good top soil’ will settle in the area and provide me more.
