| OK, you have built your raised bed but now you | | | | know I should not use it and this year I have tried |
| have to fill it with a soil mix. This is where you need | | | | organic growing medium but I am not as impressed |
| to be thinking before you build your raised beds of | | | | with it as with peat. I only used peat when setting |
| how deep to make them. A 3 foot deep bed takes | | | | up the raised bed vegetable gardens and this was |
| six times the soil mix than is needed to fill a 6 inch | | | | peat I had used in the greenhouse to grow |
| deep bed so get your planning right at the start. I am | | | | tomatoes and cucumbers in. I now grow my toms |
| going to discuss what I did when I sent my first High | | | | and cucumbers in organic growing medium and reuse |
| Density Gardening raised bed up. | | | | this in the garden as well. |
| My beds are 6 inches deep and I am amazed at | | | | The coir I used is great stuff and is made from the |
| what I grow but these are on the top of an old lawn. | | | | waste product during coconut harvesting. It is 100% |
| I would think about a deeper bed than this if you are | | | | organic and is fully sustainable. I buy it in compressed |
| building on a concrete base. | | | | blocks and re-hydrate it. The coir also has a great |
| If you followed the square foot gardening method, it | | | | moisture holding capacity and this helps in your raised |
| recommends a third peat, a third vermiculite and a | | | | beds. |
| third home made compost. If you want to be organic | | | | I used well rotted horse manure in the bottom of |
| you should not use peat and although it is 100% | | | | the beds. This is put down in a thin layer and then |
| organic it is not a sustainable product. The other | | | | the other ingredients added on top and I just mix it |
| problem you will have on first starting up your raised | | | | all together as best as possible but at the same time |
| bed garden is that you are unlikely to have any home | | | | trying not to disturb the horse manure in the bottom |
| made compost. Finally, vermiculite is made from a | | | | of the bed. |
| rock and is heated to a high temperature to expand | | | | Every time I now add a new crop I just mix some |
| it into the state we are all familiar with. I guess this is | | | | of my home made compost in to the soil mix which |
| organic but the use of the high temperatures, over | | | | does two things. The first is that it adds a source of |
| 1000 centigrade is not very environmentally friendly. | | | | food for the plants and the second is that it make up |
| What I did when I built my first raised bed in my High | | | | for settling of the soil mix and soil mix lost on plants. |
| Density Garden plot was to create a mix of the | | | | By using a soil mix like this one it is very light and |
| following ingredients. Top soil, peat, coir and well | | | | very friable or easy to work. Plant roots can easily |
| rotted horse manure. I mixed these in roughly equal | | | | grow down into your soil, moisture gets down to the |
| quantities of a quarter each. | | | | roots easily and the added coir helps to retain |
| The top soil is just soil I had lying around from earlier | | | | moisture in the soil mix and the final thing is that it is |
| gardening projects but I also bought a couple of bags | | | | very easy to pull weeds out as they do not have a |
| from a local garden centre to finish the top of the | | | | good hold in this light soil mix when young. If you get |
| raised bed off. However, do not make the same | | | | the soil mix for your raised beds right it makes |
| mistake I made. My father decided he would help out | | | | gardening much more enjoyable and easier and your |
| by brining me some top soil. He lives about 20 miles | | | | crops will be healthier for it. |
| from me and what happened is that I ended up with | | | | One final point is to get your home made compost |
| weeds in my raised bed which do not grow round | | | | pile started as you will need to use this in the future |
| here. The topsoil I bought in bags had been sterilized | | | | to add to your soil mix. You can download a free |
| so there were no weeds there. | | | | worksheet on how to build a hotbox composting bin |
| The peat I used was old peat I had used in the | | | | from the High Density Gardening website here. |
| greenhouse to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in. I | | | | |