I am building a large container garden in a narrow strip of my yard here in CenPho and need advice on what to fill it with. As you may be able to see in the attached photo the bottom and wood sides are lined with landscaping fabric and the block wall side is lined with plastic sheeting. The planter is 2.5 feet high and deep and 20 feet long and built upon about 4 inches of decomposed granite gravel. The narrow alley has walls on the north and south sides so I needed to make it 2.5 feet high in order to catch the low winter sun. I will be installing a shade canopy with 40% Aluminet for the summer months. So my question is does anyone have ideas on a soil mix for this planter? Obviously it will drain and dry out faster than an in-the-ground. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
You need to be a member of AZ Herb Forum to add comments!
Thanks for the advice Doreen. I went to Ken Singh's this Saturday and picked up a truck load of compost. Next Saturday I'll go back and get a load of soil, then a load of sand. Most everyone I've conferred with, including lifetime large-scale farmers in my family, suggested this combination. It was also recommended by Adam, the yard guy at Singh's. I'll water and mix it for a few weeks to leach out any salts and let the good bacteria grow. I'll probably start planting in August or September.
Thanks again everyone for all your advice. It's so great to be able to pull from so much knowledge available through this site!
What are you planning to plant in there? Most of my raised beds have a combination of peat moss, vermiculite and homemade compost in them. The peat and vermiculite help with water retention since the raised beds do dry out faster. I have another bed that I used part native soil and part compost that I got from Ken Singh in Scottsdale. All are doing just fine. I have strictly edibles planted in those beds. I think what you put in them depends on how much you want to spend as well. Buying a lot of stuff to bring in can get expensive for sure. Ken's compost is reasonable. I got a 3/4 ton truck packed full for I think $80. You also want to be careful about buying "topsoil". Number one, you can never be sure what it is; most likely it was scraped from an excavation site. Number two, removing topsoil causes erosion and is bad for the land. Just my opinion. You are better off using the soil you have and amending it with compost and mulch and nutrients.
Hope this helps a little . . .
Kelly
BTW - I use 40% Aluminet on my veggie gardens and they are loving it!!
Thanks so much for the information! I'm planning to use it as a vegetable garden - strictly edibles as you have. I have access to soil but was wondering if it would be better for the plants to just make a custom blend with compost being the main ingredient. The soil is from my family's commercial farm but I'd prefer to avoid using it in case there are lingering residues. I could treat it with EM, of which I've read on this site. Trying to do this as easily and inexpensively as possible, though. I like your mix of peat, vermiculite and compost. Is there any specific ratio for that mix?
Replies
Thanks again everyone for all your advice. It's so great to be able to pull from so much knowledge available through this site!
Aaron
What are you planning to plant in there? Most of my raised beds have a combination of peat moss, vermiculite and homemade compost in them. The peat and vermiculite help with water retention since the raised beds do dry out faster. I have another bed that I used part native soil and part compost that I got from Ken Singh in Scottsdale. All are doing just fine. I have strictly edibles planted in those beds. I think what you put in them depends on how much you want to spend as well. Buying a lot of stuff to bring in can get expensive for sure. Ken's compost is reasonable. I got a 3/4 ton truck packed full for I think $80. You also want to be careful about buying "topsoil". Number one, you can never be sure what it is; most likely it was scraped from an excavation site. Number two, removing topsoil causes erosion and is bad for the land. Just my opinion. You are better off using the soil you have and amending it with compost and mulch and nutrients.
Hope this helps a little . . .
Kelly
BTW - I use 40% Aluminet on my veggie gardens and they are loving it!!
Thanks so much for the information! I'm planning to use it as a vegetable garden - strictly edibles as you have. I have access to soil but was wondering if it would be better for the plants to just make a custom blend with compost being the main ingredient. The soil is from my family's commercial farm but I'd prefer to avoid using it in case there are lingering residues. I could treat it with EM, of which I've read on this site. Trying to do this as easily and inexpensively as possible, though. I like your mix of peat, vermiculite and compost. Is there any specific ratio for that mix?
Thanks again,
AJ