Let's Talk Dirt

Today I went to our local nursery and pick up my usual concoction to fill the raised beds with. I was so early that the staff had to rip the bags open from the crates they were delivered in.


8 bags of humus (organic compost) and 1 cubic foot of peat moss.


First I pour in the bags of humus (black colored underneath the brown). It's black in color which tells you that it's really rich. Break up any large clumps. Then when it's 2/3 full add the peat moss and mix it together. Because this is next to the house, I need it to drain really well so I added some vermiculite as well.


The mixture should have a consistency like this where you can make it into a ball but then it breaks up really easily. *Keep in mind the soil type that your plants need. Some herbs and vegetables thrive in poor soil (such as carrots), so a rich soil like this won't work. To make it "more poor", stir in more peat moss and use top soil or dirty from your yard as opposed to organic humus or what stores call garden soil.


Evenly mixed. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so after it rains I'm going to cast some seeds in the bed. This bed is 1.5'x16'. I am going to sketch/note where I want each herb. The left of the bed is really rich and the right is less rich for the different types of herbs.

We also put together a raised garden bed for the main crops which I'll post soon.