Help with soil in raised bed please

My back yard is all patio apart from one 2m x 2m (and approx 70cm depth, but probably deeper as this was here before the patio was laid and the garden was just soil) raised brick bed. This is where the problem starts.

The soil in this bed is terrible, I think its clay going by your guide as its constantly wet/damp and slimy. It also has a gritty texture. I cannot get anything to grow in this raised bed apart from one single Eucalyptus tree (there were 3 but 2 slowly died off), and there is a very small patch of snowdrops.

This bed is also in a fair bit of shade as one side is a 6ft fence, the other is a shed wall and to the back is a brick wall.

Can anyone give me advice on the cheapest and easiest way to make this bed viable? I would love to grow some exotic/dramatic looking plants in this bed as it would suit the location (was thinking Gunnera, but not sure if its suitable?). The Eucalyptus will be going so if anyone local wants a 6ft tree they are welcome to it lol

Thanks

 

Hi Pinkbug,

A trailer load of spent mushroom compost would help. Some farms will deliver. I think we used to charge £15 a trailer, but that was about 20 years ago.

Any organic matter you can dig in will help. Clay is a bit of a nightmare, sticky in the winter & like concrete in the summer.

You might want to consider digging it all out and replacing it as its only a small area.

 

Thanks Ziggy

I'll try to find somewhere local that does mushroom compost.

Digging it all out is out of the question im afraid...as much as id love to i have no where to put the dug out soil or a way of disposing of it.

 

Come on now, you must have seen "The Great Escape" its on every Christmas

You could also ask your local council if they are doing a compost give away, ours dishes out the stuff made from the green waste that goes down the tip.

Do a google on free horse manure in your area, a lot of stables are only too glad to get rid of it.

 

Could try hiding it under my sheds

Seems our wonderful council is happy to take our green bins full of our garden waste for composting, but then that gets taken to Haddocks Wood which is a trade wholesale supplier of compost :th_scifD36:

Im gonna have a go at googling local stables i think and hope someone will deliver if i offer petrol money. I hate not being able to drive :(

 

Technically you are paying them to take it and process it, instead of paying them to put it in landfill (as you used to )

I wouldn't want the council-made compost back - I am not convinced that their process will kill Club Root and such diseases, and that people using selective weedkiller on their lawns don't put clippings in their bin (as the instructions on the weedkiller say you must not do because the active ingredient persists thorough the composting process).

But those things apart, people will put (accidentally, unwittingly or willfully) Glass, Plastic and other non-compostable junk in the composting-bins, and I don't really want to come across bits of glass when hand weeding years later - better it is used for purposes where such things don't matter in my opinion.

 

Technically you are paying them to take it and process it, instead of paying them to put it in landfill (as you used to )

I wouldn't want the council-made compost back - I am not convinced that their process will kill Club Root and such diseases, and that people using selective weedkiller on their lawns don't put clippings in their bin (as the instructions on the weedkiller say you must not do because the active ingredient persists thorough the composting process).

But those things apart, people will put (accidentally, unwittingly or willfully) Glass, Plastic and other non-compostable junk in the composting-bins, and I don't really want to come across bits of glass when hand weeding years later - better it is used for purposes where such things don't matter in my opinion.
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So much for them giving something back to the community :P

The non compostable junk wouldnt be much of a problem to be honest as i always garden with gloves on.

As for the weedkiller, i was under the assumtion that these degrade fairly rapidly? Can i ask if you use compost/ manure that has been eaten by herbivores that have eaten hay treated with herbicides? Because unless the compost has reached 150 degree heat the herbicides will still be active in the rotted manure

 

I look at it differently. If they are currently charging the Trade for the product then if they "gave it back to the community" the money they stopped making from the Trade would have to be raised elsewhere. (Whether they raise, or spend, money wisely is another matter - but efficient, or not, they still have to balance their books ...)

I don't want the stuff, and I certainly don't want to have to pay them to give it away

Aminopyralid (for example) is not broken down in the animal's gut, so is a risk to plants from the manure (even if the manure is composted for a relatively long period of time, or at high temperatures)

Aminopyralid is used as a selective weedkiller on pasture (in agriculture) and, not surprisingly, has been included in hay and silage harvesting, and then appeared in manure (despite the fact that the herbicide's instructions made it abundantly clear of the dangers it still got into manure offered to gardeners, allotment holders, and even "bagged 'organic' compost". (some further details: http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/Thread-Contaminated-manure-amp-compost-weedkiller-destroys-tomatoes-potatoes-beans-etc.html ) a temporary ban was bought in and, supposedly, better stewardship of the process and re-sale of waste products has been introduced - there were still instances last year of people being given manure that then killed their plants :( )

There is a similarly potent chemical in Verdone Extra (a domestic selective lawn herbicide) called Clopyralid. The instructions on Verdone Extra specifically state that lawn clippings must not be added to council composting bins ... but I can't see that being rigorously enforced by home owners!

Details of its persistence in "finished" compost:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clopyralid

 

On emptying the worm bin, filled mainly by my Sister, I found half a teapot lid, a teaspoon and a pair of trousers.

 

So in essence it doesnt matter where you get compost/manure etc from there is going to be things in there you probably arent too happy about being in there. "you pays your money, you makes your choice".

As for councils, My personal opinion of them is they are all corrupt. Ours do not even keep our compost local but move it over 25 miles out of county and do not offer it to us to buy back which is the problem i have. They only offer it to trade. As i said above im not really concerned as to whats in there as there are undesirable things floating about in rotted manure..herbicides that could be considered far worse than shop bought weedkillers if the reports are to be believed.

Even Ziggy's worm bin isnt safe!

 

Indeed - I could die of paranoia!

My manure comes, mostly, from an old-Donkeys'-home sanctuary ... but if it was from an intensive cow herd there might be issues to worry about with regard to Antibiotics / medication given to the animals, worming tablets, and so on. I don't suppose anyone was expecting "horse manure" to kill all their vegetables and render their veg plot unusable for a couple of years because of a herbicide (Aminopyralid) - until then folk universally thought of Horse manure as "organic"

I'm not sure I would want weed suppressing membrane on my veg plot - what happens when it breaks down? does it release a bunch of plasticisers into the soil? cardboard seems to be a better alternative - until I start worrying about whether the Chinese, that the original goods were imported from, used lead in the ink for the lettering? (as they did a couple of years ago on the paint on some toys that were imported)

What chemicals are in the preservative of the wood making up my raised beds?

We can only do our best - and, as you so rightly say, "pay our money, and make our choices"

Informed choices help though

Talking of Paranoia I, personally, do not share your view that Councils are corrupt, just incompetent. But that is no comfort :(

 

Im not at all paranoid in regard to councils and their employees. I speak from first hand experience where it was part of my employment to pass on proof of financial corrupt behaviour of many councils employees up and down the country (and incompetence, which interestingly is what they usually fell back on as an excuse for being corrupt).

So no, definitley not paranoid

 

This maybe your opinion, but it certainly is not mine. We will have to agree to differ im afraid. :thumb:


Up until recently we did have a local composting site, but they have decided that rather than let the locals have/buy back the stuff they make more money moving it and selling it to trade. They also would deliver for a small fee so disabled persons such as myself could access the compost they needed for their gardens. Now myself and many others are stuck with no compost for the project i have because we either have to order a huge amount which costs a fortune and is too much for the size of project or there is simply nowhere locally that will deliver in the amount needed.

As for it being bad quality...im willing to bet its a thousand times better than the soil i have now and as ive said before i always garden with gloves on. Id rather have a few bits of plastic and glass anyday than a 2mx2m (which takes up a large part of my very small garden) planter where nothing grows!