Adding compost to soil to enrich for veg growing for next Spring

Tobias Greeshman

Hi folks,

I recently dug out what were flower beds out the back. Long story bought the house over a year ago, and the beds were in a bad state, so got around to digging them out (so turning over soil, removing weeds, supposed flowers stones, etc).

Now I would love to grow fruit/veg in them, and what I plan on doing is loading a good bit of compost in them, covering them up with weed cover/plastic for the winter and hopefully next spring the soil will be enriched enough to make getting a decent veg harvest a possibility.

Now what type of compost would be worth adding to the soil now?

livinsane

If you live near a beach, seaweed is brilliant for the garden. Just take the stuff that's washed up, not actually growing. I laid it on a bed last autumn and had wonderful results this year.

Well rotted farmyard manure is another great option if you can get some.

looksee

What kind of soil is it? Clay? Does it look impoverished? If it just needs improving a bit, a couple of bags of the processed manure would probably do fine. It depends on how much area there is. You could plant a green manure crop (not actually manure, just a green plant that is then dug in to improve the soil) https://www.quickcrop.ie/blog/2014/09/what-are-green-manures/

lazybones32

Compost doesn't make an awful lot of extra nutrition available to the plant but provides a better growing medium, so that the roots can penetrate easier; the soil can warm up a bit quicker; drains easier while retaining moisture etc.

A workable soil would be more important imo for growing veg but if you are growing on old flower beds, the soil should be in good enough shape so maybe a bit of extra feed might be all you need for next Spring.

A lot will depend on what you are trying to grow and what your soil type is. You can't go wrong with cow-dung for growing most fruit/veg, so if you know any farmer go and ask for some. If you're an urbanite, just buy some slow-release fertiliser

Hocus Focus

I'm intending to get a tunnel, very soon. A friend who is a farmer told me that he backfilled his (approx 3' high, I think) beds with straw, and advised me to get a round bale which would be enough to do the beds in a 16' x24' tunnel. I thought I would do this, then realised that I have a mountain of well rotted grass cuttings, can anyone tell me why I shouldn't use these in the base of the beds?

looksee

Well-rotted grass cuttings are more akin to silage than rotted straw, not the same thing at all.